Watch John Mayer play one guitar solo with two guitars
The guitarist seamlessly switches from a Charvel San Dimas to a prototype PRS Silver Sky while soloing to All Along the Watchtower.
Credit: Sojahsey1 / YouTube
John Mayer is one of the most proficient electric guitar players alive today, so it’s hardly a shock when he jumps up on stage and plays an impressive solo.
What was a shock last weekend, however, was when Mayer, during a cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower live with Dead & Company, played one solo on two guitars, pulling a switcheroo halfway through to give each six-string some airtime.
The feat – which took place halfway through the band’s set at Wrigley Field in Chicago last Saturday (10 June) – saw the guitarist start his solo using his custom Charvel San Dimas model, employing a selection of techniques one might not typically associate with Mayer, including two-handed tapping, some whammy bar flutters and even a divebomb.
Shortly afterwards, Mayer hands his Charvel to a stagehand, who hands him a prototype Advanced Research Division PRS Silver Sky to finish his solo, with which he settles into more familiar territory, offering a series of his tried-and-tested single-coil fuelled blues licks.
For the gear nerds, Mayer’s Charvel San Dimas model – which is reportedly inspired by a skateboard deck he owned when he was younger – sports a pair of EVH Wolfgang humbuckers, a Floyd Rose trem and a custom paint job, while the Moc Sand-finished Silver Sky is the same guitar that had us suspecting a second version of Mayer’s popular Silver Sky signature model.
Keen audiophiles will auto notice Mayer wearing a pair of over-ear monitor headphones, a decision he took before the tour to be “more connected to the band, the music, and the moment”, as he explained in an Instagram post in 2021.
“I’ve got a pair of stereo mics that pick up everything around me. And I’m getting the front-of-house feed. I’m IN the live recording!” he told one commenter.