Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

John Mayer, 2006, from Continuum. Solo by John Mayer.

Tense, stinging phrases over a minor groove give Continuum's darkest ballad a solo that lingers.

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room is the darkest ballad on John Mayer's Continuum, and its solo is built from tension. Over a steady, minor-key groove, Mayer plays short, stinging phrases with a clean yet biting tone, leaving plenty of space between lines. He draws clearly on blues players like Stevie Ray Vaughan and B.B. King, but keeps the solo restrained and focused on mood. The phrases feel almost conversational, answering the song's lyric about a relationship falling apart. Listen for the sharp, vocal bends and the way Mayer lets notes ring into silence, and for how the solo slowly intensifies without ever tipping into showiness, lingering after the song has ended.

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer is featured in our Pop (#22) list. The solo is played by John Mayer and the song was released in 2006.

In our lists

• The Most-Taught Solos — #17
• The 25 Greatest Pop Guitar Solos — #22
• The Best John Mayer Guitar Solos — #2

Sources