John Mayer Guitars & Gears | What Equipment Does He Use?

john mayer guitar and gears

What kind of guitar does John Mayer use?

John Mayer has a wide range of guitar selections. In his gigs, he usually plays Fender Stratocaster, but he uses Charvel, Jackson, Gibson, Duesenberg etc. guitars.

John Mayer has used a Martin OM28-JM as his main acoustic guitar for almost 20 years. As the JM initials at the end of the model number indicate, it is a signature model made by Martin Guitars for John Mayer.

What was John Mayer’s first guitar?

John Mayer’s first guitar is a Washburn acoustic. His first electric guitar is a Fender Squier. He soon set his sights on the SRV Strat which he purchased on October 3, 1996 (Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Birthday) Mayer now owns over 200 guitars and a few really cool SRV limited replicas.

What Stratocaster did John Mayer use?

He has a 2004 Fender Black One Stratocaster

Does John Mayer play a dreadnought?

His latest Custom Signature Edition guitar, the D-45 John Mayer dreadnought, celebrates a bolder, more traditional sound that Mayer puts to good use in his current role as co-guitarist for Bob Weir’s Dead & Company.

 


John Mayer Equipment

Eddie Van Halen Guitar & Gears

MXR Phase 90

$129.99
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Chris Buck Guitars & Gears

Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe

$351.82
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Billy Duffy Guitars & Gears

Boss CE-2W Waza Craft Chorus Pedal

$224.10
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Ed Sheeran Guitars & Gears | What kind of guitar does Ed Sheeran use?

PRS JM Silver Sky Signature Series Electric Guitar Tungsten w/gig bag

$2,649.00
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Billy Duffy Guitars & Gears

Fulltone Full-Drive2 V2

$252.23
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Barry Stock Guitars & Gears

Ibanez TS808 Overdrive Pedal

$149.90
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Is John Mayer a maestro of the guitar?

“He’s a master,” Clapton recently stated of Mayer. ‘His facility is phenomenal. I don’t think he even knows how good he is..” He got himself into this mess because of the blues.


What PRS guitar does John Mayer play?

On Dead & Company tours, Mayer uses PRS Super Eagle II models as his main electrics, but the experience of playing Garcia’s songs has left a lasting influence on him, as he described to Dean Delray.


Who taught John Mayer how to play the guitar?

In this episode, the In Time podcast returns from a break to speak with Tomo Fujita, a guitarist and Berklee College of Music professor. Tomo is a blues, funk, and R&B specialist. He’s been tutoring guitarists like John Mayer and Eric Krasno for almost three decades.

Tomo Fujita, John Mayer's guitar teacher


How many hours did John Mayer practice guitar?

“I’ve been going for a while and it’s been such a joy to go back to playing guitar for 4 to 5 hours a day,” Mayer stated of his current practice.


How did John Mayer develop his guitar skills?

He claims he began playing the guitar at a young age and was immediately taken to it. He put in a lot of practice time and struggled with the guitar for a while. Then he jammed with his mates and learned by doing so. He eventually decided to study guitar at the Berkeley School of Music.


Is guitarist John Mayer self-taught?

While his first guitar remains unknown, he owned a 12-string Takamine as well as an SRV Signature Stratocaster. Villanova Junction was the first band to perform. He was mostly self-taught, though he eventually enrolled at Berklee College of Music and was awarded a partial scholarship.


When John Mayer began playing guitar, how old was he?

Mayer grew interested in the guitar after seeing Michael J. Fox’s performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future. His father rented one for him when he was 13 years old.


What is the best way for me to study guitar like John Mayer?


Is John Mayer a capable guitarist?

John Mayer is a phenomenal guitarist who demonstrates a deep passion for and respect for the instrument. JM, on the other hand, does not have a distinct guitar voice or a distinct playing technique. Guitarists with distinct styles are not rare. Many are self-taught or have only a rudimentary understanding of the subject.


How does John Mayer manage to employ so many chords in one song?

The most usually overlooked aspect of rhythm playing is open chords. We have a habit of obsessing with Barre Chords and how many extensions and alterations we can employ in a piece of music. John Mayer consistently demonstrates his mastery of open chords by blending excellent voicings with finger-picking. Suspended (sus) chords are a fantastic method to broaden your chord vocabulary and may be used to replace either a major or minor chord because they lack a third or minor third.


What are the scales that John Mayer use?

Dorian, a little Lydian, a lot of blues pentatonic, natural minor, and a lot of broken up “Hendrix” style chords and double-stops.


How am I supposed to sound like John Mayer?

Using a clean tube amp with a lot of headroom is the key to getting a John Mayer guitar tone. Then, as needed, you can utilize drive and boost pedals to saturate your tone (covered later). You won’t need to hunt for anything with lead or drive channels because John uses single-channel amps.


Who Was John Mayer’s Inspiration?

Blues superstars such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and the mysterious Robert Johnson influenced him when he was first starting out. Hendrix quickly understood that he needed to get his hands on an electric guitar because the acoustic guitar was difficult to hear in a band environment.