John Mayer Talks To Rolling Stone, Slams Guitar Hero

One of my favourite guitarists/artists of late has been John Mayer with his easy, bluesy tunes and riffs.  As part of Rolling Stone’s Secrets of the Guitar Heroes series, they chat briefly with the man himself.  According to him, the perfect guitar tone sounds like this:

There’s so many clichés about this, which I hate, like “molten glass.” But I want it to sound like a voice. That’s all. And you want that voice to speak back to you in a tone you don’t expect — so it doesn’t sound exactly like you. You want to listen to what it’s saying back to you.

While he lists Metallica and Clapton among his musical influences, he says about his music, that it is not just about the guitar:

I’m gonna leave my mark on sort of the combination of lead playing, rhythm playing, vocal. I’m just trying to build one solid sound out of these elements of singing, songwriting, chord changes, lead playing, rhythm, melody, harmony, all these things that really are trying to get funneled into one sound. And like that one sound — I feel like that’s my mark.

He also takes a swipe at the Guitar Hero phenomenon that’s sweeping the US – urging fans to play the real thing.  Tell ’em straight, John.