Just under a year ago, Hudson Freeman’s life changed forever when one of his guitar riffs blew up on TikTok. The song was only a demo, but the music world was listening – John Mayer included.
Reflecting on the landmark moment, Freeman has heaped praise on Mayer, who co-signed the riff and helped speed up its virality.
Described as “country Nirvana”, the riff – from his song, If You Know Me – captured the imaginations of the masses, racking up some 1.7 million views. Played on a guitar tuned to C#, F#, B, E, G#, B, the riff hinges on a real hammering of that open sixth string.
Naturally, seeing such a prestigious player covering his riff will have been a mind-blowing moment. Yet, more importantly, Freeman is eager to highlight the wider sentiment behind the cover.
“I have a lot of respect for him being a major artist who co-signs younger, unknown artists,” Freeman tells Guitar.com. “It doesn’t feel like a lot of legacy artists go out of their way to do that.
“Most people know who John Mayer is,” he adds. “He’s probably the last seriously palatable guitarist on a mainstream scale, so for him to co-sign If You Know Me was cool.”
Mayer is set to return to the Las Vegas Sphere next year, having recently shredded Van Halen on his Custom Shop Music Man guitar, and inducted Paul Reed Smith into the Guitar Center RockWalk Hall of Fame.
Mayer has also encouraged fans to hack away at his best-selling Silver Sky guitars – just don’t think that the instrument’s new Land Rover makeover is a dig at Fender, which remains under scrutiny for its cease-and-desist campaign.
