John Mayer Takes Jab At Guitar Hero

It's not like his music could even be featured on Guitar Hero anyways. He probably asked if they could do a Guitar Hero: John Mayer and Activision said no and now hes pissed. lol. Wouldn't suprise me. lol. :P

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HAHAHAHA...John Mayer sucks

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This means nothing coming from John Mayer. Last time I checked, he was a nobody anyway! Now, Dave Mustaine, he's an awesome guitarist, and he even likes guitar hero. Maybe John Mayer's problem with guitar hero, is that he sucks at the game. The only reason people bash games, is because they are no good at them.

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Wow, I don't even know who Jon Mayer is.
And I bet he didn't know that Slash was so addicted to Guitar Hero at one point that he locked it in his closet because he played too much. When this John guy is better than Slash he can talk

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While it is a silly comment to make, just think about how cool it would be if people put as much time into learning a musical instrument as some do playing guitar hero. Speaking from experience, thrashing a hefty solo on a guitar is way more gratifying than beating "through fire and flame" on expert. This goes without saying that guitar hero is still really fun to play...just an observation...

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I don't claim to be able to read John's mind, but I think I see where he's coming from. It's just a blanket statement that applies to the masses and not the hardcore gamers. First, I'm a fan of music games. So far between PSOne and PS2 I have PaRappa the Rapper, PaRappa the Rapper 2, Um Jammer Lammy, Frequency, Mad Maestro, and Gitaroo Man. I really feel that these music games and others (such as Amplitude and Rez) at the very least appeal to the gamer because it focuses on a mix of gameplay, quirky characters, storyline, and presentation which most games do. But when those elements are being replaced by human ego, that's when the player is feeding off of himself than the entertainment of the games. From my experience, the typical casual gamer (and even non-gamer) plays an FPS to be that bad mofo with the gun, plays a sport game to be the jock he never was to get the chick, or play the music game to be the rock star he'll never be. This by no means imply that gamers cannot appreciate a music game such as Guitar Hero. But most casual gamers and non-gamers do not play a game for what it has to offer, but more-so plays a game to be what they are not. And Guitar Hero's style of gameplay offers that illusion over the previously mentioned gaming elements.

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I don't think the guy understands the premise of a pastime or fun.
Playing a guitar and playing Guitar Hero are both very different experiences, and both are equally valid as pastimes.
But really, i think he's just being a jerk to get his name out there. Anyone here remember the last time you heard that name? No, me either.

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@ ThePoetRazel

Actually, I think John does understand the premise of pastime and/or fun because of his talent and love for music. And I can relate where he's coming from. I, myself, am a fine artist as a painter outside of my day job. Ever heard of an artist named Bob Ross? He was (past away) a landscape painter that had a 30 minute show on PBS. What he paints is pretty and fast (within that 30 minutes), but there's no personality behind his work while it could be duplicated by anyone else in a very short period of time. Painting is way more than making carbon copies of someone's work. As an abstract/landscape artist, I would rather not have others to think that this is what art is all about becuase I believe in art, and there is more to it behind the paint. It's not the belief that John doesn't understand the premise of pastime and/or fun, but it's more-so the possible false perception some people might have of guitar playing from games like Guitar Hero which potentially forms a less appreciation of guitar playing than if they has actually learned to play a real guitar. Is this to mean that we shoudn't have games like Guitar Hero? Of course not because I'm not saying that, and we all can always use our time "better." But he has a point in which if you believe in something, you want it to be seen for what is and not watered down for the sake in what you believe in.

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Last edited by Jordahn on 6/6/2008 8:50:58 AM

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So what you're saying is that John Mayer just has a very poor opinion of the general public, thinking that this game will make them think the real thing is easy?
The general public know the difference between game and reality. I myself am a poet (hence the name), and i've seen that even people with no knowledge of poetry can tell that it's not an easy thing to do. Even though people make up rhymes all the time, they still respect my skill.
John Mayer should have a little more respect for the public if that is his opinion.

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I suppose there a number of different ways to interpret Mayer's comments, but he just comes off to me as someone who really DOESN'T understand the purpose of Guitar Hero.

What I get from his statement is that he thinks it lets people fool themselves into thinking they can play the guitar. This is an insult to the gaming public, in my eyes, because it assumes we're all kids (or grown-up dolts) who can't appreciate the difference.

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Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 6/6/2008 10:09:45 AM

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John might or might not be a gamer, casual or hardcore. If he's not, I see you and others who agree with you having a valid point since he might not have a better understanding of gaming. This does fal in line with my thinking. I still think that there are SOME (not all) who thinks they can be rock star just because they are successful with Guitar Hero. But I do hope that John isn't taking this too far.

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ThePoetRazel, let's put it like this. Whatever you do for a living the only people who can truely relate to your job and its situations are those in those similar jobs if not the same. And it is human nature to take a lot of things for granted to begin with. Just like how some people can take for granted the skills, work, and passion when playing guitar which I can relate some since I used to play some bass when I was in high school. Just like how some people can take your situation for granted when they don't understand what you go through. This could be his poor opinion of the general public, but then again how can we tell for sure since we cannot judge the hearts of others? Nothing personal and I'm just saying that maybe you missed judged John. But at the very least, taking things for granted is a part of human nature, and I think this is where John is coming from.

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i love guitar hero, but i also have a lot of respect for john mayer. I didn't think he was a good guitar player until i was watching him play on t.v. one night and I realized that he really is an amazing guitar player. But I also think that to be able to see what a great player he is you have to have a decent knowledge about guitar yourself. I really have a lot of respect for him, and his abilities. I think what he's trying to say is that people would be better off if they actually learned to play guitar, as opposed to spending hours on guitar hero. There's something special about making music that you can't fully understand unless you've done it, and guitar hero kind of takes away from that. but i love guitar hero, i bought the first one right after it came out and i've been hooked since then. There's just a feeling you get from actually playing guitar that you can't get from guitar hero, and i think john is just saying that people should feel it.

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oh jeez.
i hate this so much, random people bagging on a guy just because he makes a comment in an interview that asks about guitar hero.
yeah, i wonder how much of you actually know that this little excerpt is taken from Rolling Stone Magazine, and john wasn't just blasting Guitar Hero randomly out of the blue. It was his own opinion that was asked about guitar hero, and see how much it tells about yourself to be blasting any person just on the facts of a completely subjective news update which took excerpts and not the full of an interview. He NEVER called the general public talentless, that was just a quote from the writer of this article, adding to the subjectivity. and the statement john made was fully justifiable, not insulting anyone. whether you like it or not, the game was made for the masses without having to put anything into it. thats what makes the game so fun, just picking up and rocking out. thats what the game is meant to do, make you feel like a rockstar. does john say anywhere that this is bad? no, he says himself that he plays the game. theres nothing wrong with playing guitar hero. what he is saying, and i understand because i'm a guitarist myself, is that playing the guitar is an experience all by itself. He's just a guy trying to expand his craft, to let more people into it. what he is saying is that more people should play guitar. im sure poets would say people would say people should write more poetry, and painters that people should paint more. there is nothing wrong with an artist trying to bring his craft to the public, and all he is saying is that playing a plastic guitar is nowhere in the same area...so why dont you try to pick up a guitar? i see nothing wrong with that. and if you keep on bagging on john mayer just because you think of the guy as a d bag or whatever past conception you have, put that aside and see what he is actually trying to say. oh, and john mayer is a sick guitarist. look at his live performances with the john mayer trio on youtube and tell me that he "sucks at guitar".

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We don't need the defensive fan telling us what we're thinking.

We know what he said, and we understand the difference of opinion and situation. That doesn't change the fact that the implication of his statements is painfully obvious to anyone with half a brain. And for the record, I'm not "bashing" on anyone; I really don't know about this guy's music, nor do I know anything about him personally. I'm just saying the comment makes assumptions about those who play the game. ...assumptions most gamers won't appreciate. So take it or leave it.

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Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 6/6/2008 1:34:59 PM

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Funny.. I hate both John Mayer AND Guitar Hero.

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You guys are analizing this way too much. All he ment by his comment was guitar hero is extremely over rated and maybe some of those kids that play it 8 hours everyday should actually play real guitar.

John mayer is a good musician, and anyone who is a real musician knows that. Now I'm not saying I'm a john mayer fanatic, I listen more to jfac, and the facless stuff, but he does know how to play a guitar.

Everyone needs to chill.

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I saw no offensive indication from his quote. I think some people are reading a bit too much into it.

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Well as a gamer i don't see anything in his comment that would be seen as factually wrong. I must have less than "half a brain"... (personally i see that statement far more insulting than john's) And I never said the writer was bashing anyone, i said that he wrote a subjective news update. I'm just not sure why this comment is news worthy. I doubt that you'd put something up if i said something that was just implied about a game. Sure he's speaking about a game, but if you really dont give a sh!t about the guy why bother putting it up?

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Go read a book!!! lol

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