“When I hear a great guitar solo on a tune in 2024, I get very excited”: John Mayer praises top-tier lead effort from young Berklee grad as one of this year’s must-hear guitar solos

John Mayer has heaped praise on a new indie pop track for its tasteful electric guitar playing, which he says includes one of 2024's must-hear guitar solos.

During his SiriusXM show, Life with John Mayer, last Tuesday (September 17), the blues/pop/rock guitar great gave air time to BabyJake’s Don’t Hurt Me So Bad! – a new single that features the six-string talents of one George Collins.

Collins – a young British Berklee grad who’s currently fulfilling his life-long dream of becoming a session guitarist in Nashville – was tasked with treating the track with his sultry solo lines, which arrive in the form of not one, but two tastefully phrased solos.

With their subtle Mayerisms and soulful structures, it's no wonder that Collins’ solos struck a chord with Mayer. Now the Sob Rock star has used his SiriusXM platform to highlight the solo – and in the process has offered an insight into his own thoughts on modern guitar solos.

“This is a song that delighted me,” Mayer says by way of introducing the track. “Not just for the song that it is, but for the alchemy of the song that it is and the guitar playing on top of it. Yes, I am biased. When I hear a great guitar solo on a tune in 2024, I get very excited.”

Mayer’s thoughts on the contemporary guitar solo scene – which have been placed under a new microscope over the past year or so – aren’t particularly well-documented.

What is known, though, is Mayer’s personal ‘formula’ for what he believes constitutes a great guitar solo in this day and age.

“I think pitch, repetition, motif, all these things have a lot to do with which parts of your emotional map a solo is hitting at any given time,” he once said in an interview with Guitar World. “I mean, if you start high, there’s nowhere left to go, right? So I see it as building a ramp.”

Mayer has also previously dived deep into his solo philosophy while in conversation with Guitar World, during which he emphasized the importance of not overplaying – something that resonates with Collins' own playing priorities.

“While it’s fun – just primally fun – to get more time to play a solo, I become deeply upset with myself when I start to hear myself thin out. I don’t tolerate it in myself,” Mayer told Guitar World.

“The ear is the boss. And my ear goes, 'I will simply not tolerate a solo that’s twice as long as it needs to be. I heard you lose your motifs. I heard you lose your lyricality. I heard you lose your phrasing.’”

In the age of social media shredding when quantity can be quite often prioritized over quality – and solos can sometimes be seen as technical feats rather than musical compositions – Mayer’s preference for Collins' chops is highly relatable.

Don't Hurt Me So Bad! - YouTube

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Of course, all of this will no doubt thrill Collins, who is a self-professed John Mayer superfan.

“This might be the most surreal moment I’ve ever experienced and I’m lost for words,” he wrote on social media after the shout-out. “John Mayer talking about the song ‘Don’t Hurt Me So Bad!’ By @itsbabyjake which I had the pleasure of playing guitar on.

Furthermore, speaking to Guitar World earlier this year, the young Berklee graduate – who is now working as a session guitarist in Nashville – discussed the life-changing moment he first witnessed Mayer’s guitar playing in the flesh.

“When I was 16, I took the day off school and went to see him at the O2 in London,” Collins recalled. “He played a bunch of stuff from Continuum and Born and Raised, and I just fell in love. I was like, ‘Woah, he’s the best musician I’ve ever heard in my life.’ After that, I got obsessed.”

Head over to George Collins' Instagram account to hear more of his playing, and visit SiriusXM to tune into Life with John Mayer.