MAYER JOHN, ROOM FOR SQUARES. TABLATURE
TRANSCRIPTIONS SUPERVISED BY JOHN MAYER.
Transcribed by Andy Aledort and Steve Gorenberg, under the Supervision by John Mayer.
Transcriptions Supervised by John Mayer
Series: Play It Like It Is TABLATURE
Publisher: Cherry Lane Music
Artist: John Mayer
Inventory #HL 02500529
ISBN: 9781575605845
UPC: 073999899696
Width: 9.0"
Length: 12.0"
104 pages
We proudly present the guitar matching folio to acclaimed singer/songwriter John Mayer's major label debut. Includes a biography, photos and note-for-note transcriptions with tab supervised by Mayer himself! 13 songs, including -Your Body Is a Wonderland, the Grammy winner for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and: Back to You - City Love - 83 - Great Indoors - Love Song for No One - My Stupid Mouth - Neon - No Such Thing - Not Myself - St. Patrick's Day - 3X5 - Why Georgia.
Since the release of his major label debut, Room for Squares, in 2001, 25-year-old singer/songwriter John Mayer has become a full-fledged phenomenon, slowly rising from obscurity to stardom, and doing it on his own terms.
His memorable first single, "No Such Thing," begins with the recollection of a life lesson from a high school guidance counselor: "Welcome to the real world/She said to me/Condescendingly." Mayer's ascent proves that the real world can occasionally be bent into unlikely, wondrous shapes. As of this writing, Squares has passed the two million plateau and continues selling tens of thousands every week, while Mayer has moved from solo sets in listening rooms to rapid sellouts of 10,000-seat amphitheaters. And this is no flavor-of-the-month, fast-burn success story; his still-growing stardom is based on substance. In an age of ephemera, Mayer is a bona fide career artist, and there's no doubt that this guy is making a connection.
Mayer has built a passionate fan base, from adoring teenagers to discerning boomers who've finally encountered a young artist who lives up to their decades-old memories. The lack, until recently, of media attention and next-big-thing status have actually been a benefit to this aspiring artist, allowing him to fly under the radar and enabling people to discover him in an organic way, thus forming a bond between performer and fan that is extremely rare in this fickle era. Reviewing Mayer's L.A. House of Blues set in April 2002, Bud Scoppa of HITS Daily Double noted, "Perhaps the most remarkable single aspect of the show was the way the crowd sang along with every word, in tune and in unison, so locked in that it sounded rehearsed. I've never seen an audience more hooked up with an artist."
Mayer, who grew up in Fairfield, CT, by way of Bridgeport, is the second of three children born to an English teacher mother and high school principal father. His first musical epiphany came at age 13, when he discovered Stevie Ray Vaughan, then badgered his dad into getting him an electric guitar. The kid turned out to be a quick study: two years later he was doing solo turns in local clubs. After high school, Mayer spent a few months at Boston's Berklee School of Music before dropping out and moving to Atlanta, where he quickly clicked on the area's club circuit. During this time, he began amalgamating the key elements of his influences-notably, Vaughan, Hendrix, Clapton, Elton John, Ben Folds, and Dave Matthews-into a wide-open approach that somehow meshed fluent guitar playing, fat grooves, conversational narratives, heady improvisation, and emphatic hooks into a remarkably expressive whole.
JOHN MAYER
"Connecticut's where I built the parts, Boston's where I assembled them, and Atlanta is where I sold them to people," he quipped about his own Field of Dreams scenario.
In 1999 Mayer cut Inside Wants Out (reissued by Columbia in 2002) to sell at his shows. What's startling about these early solo performances is how utterly complete they are, a vivid testament to his elevated songcraft and to the rich, expressive guitar style he'd developed by that time. Indeed, Mayer's guitar lines on the early versions of "No Such Thing," "My Stupid Mouth," and "Neon" provided detailed blueprints for the full-band arrangements on Room for Squares.
The buzz spread across the South, and caught the ear of the record biz, when Mayer played a masterful set at Austin's South by Southwest (SxSW) Music Conference in March 2000. Soon afterward, he signed with Aware Records and began traversing the U.S. and winning over fans one by one, night by night, while recording his first official album with producer John Alagia (Dave Matthews, Ben Folds) between legs on what would turn out to be two full years of touring.
He decided to call the album Room for Squares, a characteristically wry take on jazz sax player Hank Mobley's 1963 LP No Room for Squares. "It made sense to me because I feel unsteady in coolness," he explained.
The album initially came out as an indie release on Aware in the spring of 2001 and was reissued by Columbia four months later, with the addition of the stunning track "3X5," new packaging and a limited edition bonus EP featuring covers of songs by Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. By year's end, the media began to pick up the scent. In a benchmark review that December in Rolling Stone, critic Anthony DeCurtis proclaimed the album "instantly likable and accessible. But it's no less smart and affecting for that. These 13 songs are a travelogue of discovery, of love, identity, and purpose."
Then, in 2002, all hell broke loose, and John Mayer broke through.
"Every day someone says to me, 'I just want you to know this never happens,''' Mayer said last April. "And I go, 'Well, what do you mean? It's happening to me.'''
Back To You
City Love
83
Great Indoors
Love Song For No One
My Stupid Mouth
Neon
No Such Thing
Not Myself
St. Patrick's Day
3X5
Why Georgia
Your Body Is A Wonderland
104 pages
Song List:
Back To You - Words and Music: John Mayer - 1999
City Love - Words and Music: John Mayer - 2001
83 - Words and Music: John Mayer - 2001
Great Indoors - Words and Music: John Mayer - 2001
Love Song For No One - Words: John Mayer – Music: John Mayer, Clay Cook - 1999
My Stupid Mouth - Words and Music: John Mayer - 1999
Neon - Words: John Mayer – Music: John Mayer, Clay Cook - 1999
No Such Thing - Words: John Mayer – Music: John Mayer, Clay Cook - 2001
Not Myself - Words and Music: John Mayer - 2001
St. Patrick's Day - Words and Music: John Mayer - 2001
3X5 - Words and Music: John Mayer - 2001
Why Georgia - Words and Music: John Mayer - 2001
Your Body Is A Wonderland - Words and Music: John Mayer - 2001
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