donewithfashion,

Dont you think that your opinion that Mayer was a "better" player back when he started comes from the fact that maybe he just isnt surprising you anymore?
When AGT came out and the coveted CIR solo was heard for the first time, I had personally never heard electric guitar played that way. I just thought electric guitar was for hard rock until I heard John play. (That just came from ignorance to the musical style in my upbringing)

And so we were blown away by that, but not only because it was good, but because we, or at least I, had never heard it before.

So now it's years later, and its hard for an artist to keep surprising his fans year after year after year, especially when its guitar chops and especially when people are looking at you through a microscope waiting for the next guitar line to say you copied from someone.

I think John has concentrated a lot on song writing, just like he has from the beginning.

Just my personal thoughts man.