1 hour chat with John Mayer's guitar teacher Tomo Fujita!

See highlights and exercises from this video tabbed out further down this page, along with clips of Tomo jamming with John Mayer!

I had the opportunity to chat with guitar educator Tomo Fujita and create some guitar lesson content together. The whole chat was so insightful and full of Wisdom that I figured I'd make the full chat available here - I hope you enjoy it!

Tomo has been teaching guitar at Berklee College of Music since 1993. He taught John Mayer in 1 to 1 lessons during Mayer's time at Berklee in 1998.

10 years later in 2008, John Mayer came back to Berklee to give a guitar clinic, and Tomo accompanied him during these lessons, many of which you can watch in the videos embedded further down this page!

Tomo’s philosophy, distilled into a one-liner, is that music is not just about playing; it’s about emotional expression. He teaches students to inject emotion into every phrase, whether the style is blues, jazz, funk or rock.

For more from Tomo - check out his Guitar Wisdom website here and his youtube channel here

Clip 1 - SRV style blues

Clip 2 - Jazz chords

Clip 3 - Slow blues with muting

Clip 4 - Chuck Berry thing

• John Mayer talk 00:00

• Reverb 04:54

• Funk influence 06:30

• SRV 07:35

• Funk influence 10:21

• Mayer 10:23

• Muting 16:51

• Practice routine for students/30 day challenge 19:46

• Metronome 23:48

• Mayer 26:08

• Singing notes 27:54

• Blues influence 29:43

• Rhythm 32:21

• BB King 33:33

• Play below 12th fret 36:40

• Fundamentals and limitations 37:23

• Recommended listening 39:23

• Practicing and keeping yourself accountable 45:28

• PMA/positive picks! 47:30

• Self analysis 49:55

• Goals 52:47

• Quick fire questions 55:05

See a selection of videos with Tomo and John Mayer below, plenty to learn from watching these too!

John Mayer & Tomo Fujita - Blue jam at Berklee

Gravity performance - John Mayer & Tomo Fujita

"How To Build A Guitar Solo" - Berklee Clinic 2008

Check out 4:27 for Tomo's solo!

Tomo Fujita on the Backstage Podcast with Rhett Shull

Finally, here's an interview with Tomo on the fantastic Backstage podcast with Rhett Shull - highly recommended!