John Mayer has an exceptional nose for guitar talent. In the past, he’s championed the likes of Madison Cunningham, Justus West and George Collins.
Therefore, when he dishes out praise, you know it’s reserved for the best of the best. And in a recent interview with Guitar World, he heaped acclaim on a British guitar ace who’s racking up quite the list of admirers.
“Chris Buck,” Mayer replies when asked who he’s listening to at the moment. “He’s great. He’s freaking phenomenal. The guy’s bending? He’s curving the bullet.”
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The Cardinal Black guitarist is one of the hottest blues-rock stars working the circuit. His ultra-melodic style, which pivots between fingerstyle and pick action, brims with tastefulness and a vocal sensibility.
But his technique, particularly his bending, is top class. Mayer is particularly in awe of the way Buck is able to use the same tools at everyone’s disposal but go beyond the confines of the fretboard. It’s a skill that only the very best can master.
“They bend a little bit, but ultimately, you have six vertical lines and 22 horizontal lines,” Mayer adds. “If you can make your instrument sound like it’s circular, like it’s a ball, I’m done.
“Bill Evans played the piano as if you never saw a piano before. You would not think that that’s the instrument he was playing on. That’s even harder to do. He only had pressure, velocity, and could curve the bullet.
“It’s like, I love baseball pitchers because they can do things with a baseball that you can’t imagine. Those are physics. I love people who just have this other take on the physics of the instrument.”
Mayer isn’t the only one who has singled out Buck for praise. Guns N’ Roses guitar hero Slash is also a big admirer. In fact, he was so impressed by his playing that he helped Cardinal Black solve their visa issues when they were planning their first US tour last year.
Elsewhere in his Guitar World interview, Mayer listed the other contemporary guitar heroes that he’s currently listening to.
“I saw Marcus King playing with MonoNeon,” he reveals. “There’s a band called Improvement Movement that blew me away.
“In terms of guitar players, when Bill Frisell plays, I don’t scroll. When Charlie Hunter plays, I don’t scroll. I don’t scroll when I see Blake Mills play. I don’t scroll when I see Doyle Bramhall play, or when Julian Lage plays.”
Mayer was speaking to Guitar World about his newest Silver Sky collaboration with Land Rover Defender – which, as the timeline confirms, was not a dig at Fender.
