Blog Five

            While John Mayer has a similar style in all of his songs, “Wheel” and “Shadow Days” have very different qualities to them as well. “Wheel is a more slow paced song with a jazzy, relaxed, and melodic rhythm while “Shadow Days” has a medium tempo with an upbeat and somewhat funky rhythm. The drums are a source of rhythm for both songs.

            In “Wheel” the instrumentation that drives the song are the guitar and drums while in “Shadow Days” it is the drums and vocals. So while the drums are key in both songs to drive it forward they both incorporate other sources of instrumentation to help push the song along. “Shadow Days” follows the traditional method of song structure, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, refrain, with the chorus repeating in the end. Mayer does incorporate a guitar solo in between the second round of the chorus and the refrain, which is signature in John Mayer’s music to have a guitar solo. In comparison, “Wheel” does not follow the traditional story structure and varies with the mood that Mayer is trying to convey with his lyrics, this helps to build an emotional architecture in the pattern of a circle, similar to a wheel. “Shadow Days” once again follows what would be considered the traditional emotional architecture in music, a build up to the turning point of the lyrics and a drop at the turning point, followed by a rebuilding of tension to the conclusion.

            The heights of both songs are similar in that the guitar provided the high frequencies while the bass percussion provided the low frequencies. While “Wheel” was deep in it’s meaning, it did not have much depth which added to the simplistic soulfulness of the song while “Shadow Days” had more depth provided by the wide instrumentation.

            The song that I enjoy more is “Wheel” because of its deep message, soulful lyrics, and pure feel to it. It was not beefed up by more instrumentation to make it more appealing as a popular song. It is a soulful piece that touches me because of its message of departure and finding your way back to those you love. It is a beautiful song filled with great musical qualities.