Play Like John Mayer With CAGED in 10 Days
Learn the system behind John Mayer's playing.
Intermediate
For players looking to capture Mayer's sound. You don't have to be a CAGED master to take this course.
10 days
Daniel will guide you through 10 days of step-by-step instruction with interactive TAB and daily practice exercises.
Bend it like Mayer
You'll leave this class with Mayer's go-to guitar moves, a new outlook on soloing, and greater fretboard fluency.
Take the next step
Once you've mastered this course, keep learning with more challenges and guided Learning Pathways.
What you'll learn
Each day, your mentor Daniel McLaughlin will break down essential Mayer techniques through the lens of the CAGED system while using an iconic song as your canvas.
- Target color tones to solo with intention.
- Blend major and minor pentatonic scales.
- Adapt Mayer's go-to techniques into your own style.
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Curriculum
Stay focused with this step-by-step learning program designed by our expert team of music educators.
Your guided learning experience
This course is designed to help you tap into John Mayer's techniques and blend them into your own unique playing style. Each day, Daniel will reverse engineer an essential Mayer guitar move through the lens of the CAGED system and guide you through how to get it under your fingers.
Note: Intermediate players who aren't familiar with the CAGED system can still take this challenge.
That sweet Mayer vibrato
We'll ease into the class with John's approach to bending and vibrato.
You'll use the C shape to dial in expressive lead lines to the tune of Rosie (from The Search for Everything.)
Mayer's pentatonic equator
John Mayer is a master of tasteful pentatonic soloing.
In Day 2, you’ll work on connecting the A and G CAGED shapes to access more melodic range and break out of the pentatonic box.
Your canvas today will be Slow Dancing in a Burning Room (from Continuum).
Funk moves
In Day 3, you'll shift focus to the world of rhythm.
Specifically, you'll focus on a D-shape triad to capture the bubblegum funk sounds in New Light (from the album Sob Rock.)
Days 4-10. More Mayer moves
Throughout the next seven lessons, you'll continue on your tour through John Mayer's discography while dialing in his influential soloing style through the lens of CAGED.
- Day 4. Color tones – Practice targeting specific scale degrees.
- Day 5. Minor CAGED – Dance with the darker side of the musical rainbow.
- Day 6. Classic box – Explore relative major/minor relationships.
- Day 7. Hendrix-isms – Learn about Hendrix's influence over John's playing.
- Day 8. Major/minor/Mixolydian – Blend 3 distinct sounds over a dom7th chord.
- Day 9. Major to minor switches – Explore parallel major/minor scales.
- Day 10. CAGED outliers – Tackle concepts that don't fit neatly within CAGED.
Performance pieces
To cap off the course, you'll take what you learned and apply it in a purely musical context by learning solos over Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, Gravity, and I Guess I Just Feel Like.
Day 1. That sweet Mayer vibrato (C shape)
Kick off the course with fundamental expressive soloing techniques.
It’s no secret that John Mayer can shred, but one of his greatest powers is the tasteful simplicity he brings to the lead guitar parts on his records.
We’ll ease into the course by diving into the expressive techniques that bring his simple lines to life. In this lesson, you’ll use the C shape to explore melodic bends, hammer ons, and that sweet Mayer vibrato in Rosie (from Mayer’s 2017 album The Search for Everything).
Day 2. Mayer’s pentatonic equator (A to G shape)
Break out of the classic pentatonic box
The A and G shapes live on different sides of what Mayer calls the “pentatonic equator”. The interconnection of these two shapes will open up more melodic range in your soloing and help you break out of the box.
In this lesson, you’ll get a feel for connecting the A and G shapes via the pentatonic equator with Slow Dancing In A Burning Room (from Mayer’s 2006 album Continuum) serving as your backdrop.
Day 3. Funk moves (D Shape)
Add a dash of less-is-more rhythm to your playing.
The D shape can be hard to visualize since it’s the only D-string root of the CAGED system. In this lesson, you’ll learn to harness the triadic power it holds for funk strumming.
You’ll dial in a funky rhythmic approach like John uses on New Light (from his 2018 album Sob Rock). Nailing that funky New-Light feel requires rhythmic intention – you'll focus on using ghost notes to leave space in between the notes you strike.
Days 4-10
Continue your exploration of techniques from Mayer's discography.
Day 4. Color tones (E shape)
Every interval has an impact on the mood of a song. Using color tones adds an emotional sophistication to your soloing.
Today, you’ll use the E shape to add a colorful sense of longing like John does on Edge of Desire (from his 2009 album Battle Studies). You’ll focus on targeting notes like the 7th and 2nd to yield the unresolved yet cool quality that’s familiar to Mayer’s style.
Day 5. Intro to minor CAGED
Today, you’ll explore the darker side of the musical rainbow with minor CAGED shapes. Luckily, moving from major to minor CAGED doesn’t take much – you only change one note for each shape.
Parallel major/minor scales come into play in this lesson. They share the same root note yet unfold a different tonality from that point. You’ll dive into the parallel C major and minor pentatonic scales in the E shape to tap into the sounds from both worlds.
Day 6. Classic box (G/Em shapes)
John Mayer is known for playing with light and dark in his songwriting, both lyrically and harmonically.
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room allows us to navigate both major and minor tonalities within one song. The tonal center shifts – emphasizing both C# minor and its relative major cousin, E major.
Today, you’ll take a second look at this epic ballad and explore the relative relationship between the G and Em shapes.
Day 7. Hendrix-isms
John Mayer is an excellent example of how inspiration can be channeled into a uniquely original voice. Whether it’s Hendrix, SRV, or even Jerry Garcia, he can transcend the clichés and find a unique personal connection to famous guitar forefathers' approaches.
Today, you’ll get insight into how Mayer’s love of Jimi Hendrix informs his playing using Wait Until Tomorrow (covered by John Mayer Trio on his 2005 Try! album.) You’ll work over a classic Hendrix progression: E, G, and A. It’s one Mayer also uses in his songwriting.
Day 8. Major, minor, and Mixolydian (E shape)
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to play three distinct sounds – major pentatonic (uplifting), minor pentatonic (traditional rock feel), and Mixolydian (the best of both worlds) – over a dominant 7th chord.
By the end of this lesson, you’ll know when and how to choose between these sounds as you start to blend them into your own unique voice.
Day 9. Major to minor switches
In this lesson, you’ll continue your exploration of parallel major/minor scales with Mayer’s mega-hit Gravity (from his 2006 album Continuum) as the backdrop.
The key to this lesson is understanding when to use G major vs. G minor to capture the right mood. This concept will enable you to play with greater intention behind your soloing – the hallmark of a confident lead guitarist.
Day 10. Mayer CAGED outliers
To cap off the class, you'll explore some John Mayer moves that don’t fit neatly into the CAGED system. After all, music is about breaking rules.
You’ll work on double-stop slides, harmonized 6ths, and a tasteful tapping lick in the exercises.
Performances
Tie a bow on the course by digging into three Mayer-inspired solos: Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, Gravity, and I Guess I Just Feel Like. For each solo, you'll get a lick-by-lick breakdown from Daniel along with interactive TAB to learn it for yourself.
REAL students
Don’t take our word for it, take theirs
What guitarists love about this course
FULL REFUND, NO QUESTIONS ASKED
Improve your playing or get your money back
We’re so confident that we can improve your playing that we’re underwriting your membership with a 60-day satisfaction guarantee.
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Your Instructor
Daniel McLaughlin
Daniel is a versatile guitarist who's here to break down John Mayer's signature sound through the lens of CAGED.
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