Shadowing Practice: How John Mayer uses his signature plugin - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

403 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

If I was in a pinch, I will always use this plugin, and I have already on records.

I'm just not going to tell you which ones they are, and I don't think you'll know.

So there are two main ways to use the plugin.

The first is in standalone, where it just becomes a replacement for an amplifier, which I love.

That's the way that I first envisioned using it in my house.

And to some extent, it is the way that I use it.

But if you try it with your DAW, now you have two things that are working for you.

The first is that you were able to record an idea in a heartbeat.

I used to take out my iPhone and hit the voice recorder

and put it on a table and try to turn the thing up so the voice recorder could catch it.

And it was a lot of me messing with the iPhone to record across the room.

When you're running the plug -in through a DAW, all you have to do is just hit record,

and it's immediately going down the same way you hear it, and it's going down as a DI,

unless you were to set it up so that it was printing that way.

You now have flexibility where you can come back and fix the sound a little later if you want.

You could get a guitar part you really liked, use it on a record.

So now you could be at home messing around

and your guitar riff could make it on a record

because you have the printed direct signal and you have the plugin that's saved inside of the chain,

all from the same experience of picking up a guitar and just playing through what feels like an amp.

It's the same experience intellectually of picking it up and playing and it's right there, except in the background, I hit command to space bar,

I'm recording the idea.

What's really cool about using the plug -in in a DAW is that the Archetype plug -in works really,

really, really well as the first stage of a signal chain.

I can very easily open any plug -in I want that is in effect.

Using the Archetype plug -in as the first stage,

it gives this kind of water pressure to the rest of the sounds you want to put on top of it.

It really buffers the signal super well

so at home all i have is this laptop with the plug -in on it an interface

and two studio monitors and as someone who's been playing guitar for

so many years you know it has had patch cables nine volt batteries different uh pedals

you forget to unplug the pedal you know

you forget to unplug the pedal you take a little break playing at home

you go into the other room then you hear the delay pedals dying

and all these different things and i've had amps where the reverb circuit was messed up

and you'd turn it on

and it'd go you'd have to put the reverb down to zero things

that were just always in kind of disarray at home and i've

looked forward to the year i would be able to simply have one cable a laptop

and two speakers and have that be the whole rig

and it's what i use at home so i thought i'd bring it in

and show you how i use it so the first thing

that i want to talk about when it comes to this plugin is

that it is capable of doing everything from clean to very saturated distortion.

The ear tends to go immediately to what it can do in terms of saturation.

It's really fun to play high gain stuff.

I do it.

We all do it.

What ends up happening, I think, is you put the guitar down a little sooner because there are no dynamics.

All you have is just a blowtorch.

And I love it.

I'm not saying to change a thing.

I think if you have the plugin or

if you've had the 14 -day trial

and you haven't opened it up in a

while there is something about just setting a sound

and letting your ear join to that sound

and the sound join to your ear it takes a second just like

when when you've got a real amp in the room you can a b all day

and you can kind of lose your way

and then you just want to go get a sandwich

because all you've done is a b

so first thing i want to show you is this is the setting that i use at home

it's set to a certain place i think the reason i like it is

because i can control when the note gets saturated

so yeah it's really easy to put both the halfman overdrive

and the teal breaker at the same time who doesn't love it

but what i do is i

and i think this has been the same setting for a couple of weeks

now uh i have it set up in pro tools

because what i'm able to do in pro tools is record whenever

i have an idea i cannot recommend this enough

if you use this in pro tools all you have to do is hit record

if you have an idea it's brilliant i want to get into

that part of it a little later what i want to show you is i don't have a set thing

i play

i don't have a set thing that i play

when i pick up the guitar i purposefully don't have a set thing

that i play i'm okay sucking for four or five minutes to find something so what i'll do is

just start with a smaller dynamic than you'd think

and i would pick up and this is really what i'll i'm gonna pretend i just sat down in my house,

and I just turned on the guitar.

I'm just saying hello to the thing.

I don't even, I'm not using my pick.

I want to feel what the string is doing, how it's responding.

And I know I'm putting myself in a situation where you might make fun of me.

And I want you to know that I'm okay with that.

And I want you to live a life where you express yourself,

where you're okay if people make fun of you for expressing how you like to play music.

So I just take a second.

I have a sound that I like.

This plugin can do it.

Let it do its thing.

Almost don't even look at the screen turn away from the screen.

I just like A, the key of A on the guitar, and I just...

I don't mind being wrong, doesn't matter, we're all just playing, just play.

that's

when I'll change

it I'm

100

being intentional that's what I'm trying to learn to do as

101

a guitar player is be as intentional as I can possibly be hey guess what the sound is set

102

that's what's great about the plugin it's there it's the same sound

103

now you get to consider how you want to play based on

104

that sound that's the same sound for two weeks how am i playing inside

105

that sound how does the guitar feel inside of

106

that sound i also have it set up so that

107

if i want the note to to to get a little distorted just a little overdriven as an effect, then I can do that.

108

So I'm going to turn up to 10, and I'm going to try that kind of same idea again.

109

that's clean that

110

didn't change anything

111

same patch all i'm doing is playing the guitar differently so on the same patch

112

Thank you.

113

So that's the first thing

114

I want to tell you is one patch can really do a lot just like any amp

115

because the plugin is created to replicate amps

116

i think about these just like i would an amp i don't play for a second on an ac30

117

and go wheel in the wheel in the bad cat

118

i don't say wheel in the marshall you get a piece of gear

119

and you get to know it but that's where the plugin gets really cool

120

because there's also hundreds of other sounds in here but

121

if you take just one and make it your amp build your sound around

122

that as you move through all these patches any one of these could last you a month

123

and you could write song after song after song for so many years people wrote records using one amp

124

And I think that's the message I want to send, is that there's so much possibility if you just look away from the screen.

125

Let it be about the guitar.

126

And all I was doing is going between A and G.

127

And I'm not afraid to mess up.

128

I don't care anymore about messing up.

129

I hope you don't care anymore about messing up.

130

It doesn't mean you're not a great player.

131

It means you're going looking.

132

You're going just looking.

133

We're not performing if you're in your room

134

and you want to play your guitar and put it on camera

135

and put it on social media you're just playing no one thinks you suck

136

if you can play like this we know that's good

137

you're allowed to suck on the next thing you're looking around

138

you just played something good I know you're good look around didn't change the patch either it sounds more distorted

139

if I told you I put

140

more distortion on you'd

141

believe me

142

how about

143

that this is just my session from home is using a doubler on it so

144

and then it suddenly becomes

145

it reminds me it's

146

It's kind of got that people get ready thing.

147

So let me show you why this is really cool.

148

We are now recording.

149

I now have that just as you heard it, but I can still go back in and change the effects

150

if i want so i want to take the doubler off let's do this no doubler i don't like the

151

that's what it sounds like without the archetype plugin i think that's the best example of what this thing does

152

off on that's wild so let's put back in and i can add more to it you know that

153

let's try it again let's put everything back on

154

let's say i got a sound i really like i got this groove i really like Let's go.

155

Okay, I got a thing I like, which I sort of liked there.

156

this so you can use it again as a second instance

157

so you're going to keep opening this plug -in multiple times with different personalities

158

so i want to put a lead on top of it

159

let me go into let's say a little more gain all right let's use both let's have fun

160

and let's use the signature 83

161

okay so i've got a loop

162

that i liked playing this is all still in my living room pretend

163

but i can without putting the guitar down without opening up another piece of software it's all right here

164

that i could play on top of it

165

Thank you.

166

saved saved idea if you have an idea

167

and you want to be able to layer on that idea or record

168

that idea in the first place you do not have to open another piece of software to find out

169

that it must be updated and there therefore you must also log into your account

170

and you must also oh can i upgrade oh i can upgrade for 39 i don't even know where

171

that old license was do i just buy the new one did they go to 4 .0 what's my oh

172

i was 2 .3 was no it's all right here

173

now i can walk around for the rest of time

174

i can bring my laptop in the studio

175

i can just be like i want to show you this thing

176

i was working on can also change i could take off the distortion

177

It's all there in the session.

178

it can be called back up in a heartbeat and you can continue to change the sound if you like

179

So that's why I love the plug -in for just living inside of Pro Tools.

180

For me, I can open it up.

181

I just play.

182

What's the difference between playing and recording anymore?

183

Just open the plug -in up inside of a Pro Tools session that's saved as a template

184

or a session that you like.

185

Open it up.

186

Put it on record.

187

You never have to record.

188

I listen through studio monitors at my house.

189

That's the end of amps in various states of disrepair

190

and cables and screws and those little cables

191

that go from like 9 -volt ports to little battery things that are taped under your pedal board and the pedal board.

192

And nobody wants to hit a tube screamer with a naked foot.

193

I can also use this on sessions in one of two ways.

194

I can just put the plug -in on the computer in the studio I'm working in

195

and I can play into it and therefore the engineer

196

and the artist has that direct signal and the plug -in instance as an insert.

197

Or I can just bring my laptop as an output device using an interface, and I get to control what the engineer gets.

198

Sometimes I do like baking the decisions into the guitar track.

199

I'm a big fan of, like, make your decision and put it down.

200

Too many things can be moved around and changed.

201

It's nice to commit sometimes.

202

I just did a session for an artist, a friend of mine, and I played a big, fat guitar track on it

203

and it was funny to send him one track

204

there's not close mic for mic one far away mic for mic one

205

and then doubled for two and three

206

and a room mic it's it's one stereo track

207

and you could probably email it you could probably text it to someone because it's all printed that way

208

And if you like your presets and you want to play on someone else's record,

209

it is a cool way of the best of both worlds of getting the tone you want

210

and making sure you don't hear it come back in a way

211

that you don't visualize or didn't imagine in your mind what it was going to sound like.

212

So suddenly, I get to go to any studio I want with one guitar and a laptop in the guitar bag, and I'm good to go.

213

I build my presets in fact i'm building my presets now more than i did before the plugin came out

214

when i started

215

uh playing through people's presets when i first got the plugin i realized that mine totally uh

216

they suck and i'm gonna write a lot more presets

217

because i have been very inspired by

218

so many artists coming up with such great sounds for the plugin my argument was the plugin is my preset

219

i didn't know how much you'd like presets and

220

so i want you to know

221

that in a future update you will have some some very cool presets

222

i understand i didn't get it at first

223

and then i heard how good the presets were and i realized

224

that i was so busy making the darn plugin that

225

when it was time for presets i had like 20 minutes

226

so i'm apologizing to you i'm an honest guy what can I say?

227

Okay.

228

Okay.

229

Hold on.

230

I want some room.

231

I want to hear a little room.

232

guitar solo Let's put it through Smooth Operator,

233

let's put a lot of bass on it,

234

and let's, the thing about the Smooth Operator is that volume knob is very true to what those amps do.

235

the other day i was playing like a grateful dead thing at home

236

i wanted to get the sound of like early fillmore style grateful dead saint stephen dimed guitar amp

237

and instead of using pedals i turned the volume of the smooth operator up

238

and i was like oh this thing is responding completely differently it's actually acting like an amp

239

that has the volume turned up more than an amp on five with distortion pedals

240

but let's see what the smooth operator does with even an L5 so

241

now that's actually breaking up like a like a I mean that's what it sounds like

242

that is so authentic sounding that I'm scared I'm gonna blow a speaker

243

here's what's interesting about the gain stuff

244

i just want to double check i don't have any oh let's take the boost off okay

245

and let's really get the volume knob to set the kind of throatiness we want

246

now we can use the output we have two outputs we have the output of the amp

247

and we have the output of the actual plug -in

248

so that's two separate ways of speaking with the note the

249

first one coming out of the amp is going to change the character of the amp somewhat

250

so I actually don't even want to I'm going to turn

251

the output of the plug -in up just a little bit Thank you.

252

Thank you.

253

piano plays softly

254

guitar solo

255

That's what I'm going to get.

256

I'm going to play.

257

I'll be right back. Do

258

-do

259

-do

260

-do

261

-do

262

-do

263

-do

264

-do

265

-do

266

-do

267

-do

268

-do

269

-do

270

-do

271

-do

272

-do

273

-do

274

-do

275

-do

276

-do

277

-do

278

-do

279

-do

280

-do

281

-do

282

-do

283

-do

284

-do

285

-do

286

-do

287

-do

288

-do

289

-do

290

-do

291

-do

292

-do

293

-do

294

-do

295

-do

296

-do

297

-do

298

-do

299

-do

300

-do

301

-do

302

-do

303

-do

304

-do

305

-do

306

-do

307

-do

308

-do

309

-do

310

-do

311

-do

312

-do

313

-do

314

-do

315

-do

316

-do

317

-do

318

-do

319

-do

320

-do

321

-do

322

-do

323

-do

324

-do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do -do

325

It's an L5 through smooth operator, getting a little quieter on the first stage, opening it up a little bit in the last stages so

326

that you're not pushing the note too hard in the preamp all the dynamics all the physics are

327

so similar to a real amp i invite you to get in there

328

and if you turn the volume up all the way here

329

and you turned it down a little bit here turn the output

330

and it opens

331

up like one of one of those real amps

332

because it's not compressed like a distortion pedal I guess I'm doing

333

so you've got an amp

334

you've got a workstation you've got something you can bring into studios

335

and play immediately I mean I I think

336

this plug -in lives somewhere different than just inside of your recording setup i think

337

because it's uh such a natural authentic emulation of amps

338

it just does what amps do except it's already chained in to being able to just record it

339

and have all the flexibility i want to see how fast and clean maybe this actually is one of my presets like

340

Ultra Clean get

341

a little more low end out of that

342

Thank you.

343

Thank you.

344

oh we go until we till we die

345

it's just like call of duty zombies it just send in more waves until you're overtaking the speed of

346

that is faster

347

and more responsive than most real amplifiers i know

348

i don't know how to feel about it either one thing i want to say is

349

that this plug -in was never designed to replace an amplifier

350

it is not a moratorium on the tube amp it is not a commentary

351

I think more options are better when it comes to technology taking the place of very heavy,

352

expensive things that spend a lot of time in the shop.

353

There is always going to be a really, really good reason to use amps.

354

I will always continue to use amps.

355

I don't believe you'll see me on a stage playing in an arena with a laptop.

356

I don't think that's that cool.

357

but if you want to pick up your guitar and play

358

and you've had the experiences

359

that I've had where the trip to being able to start playing involves the batteries in your pedals the patch cables,

360

the wiring how long has the amp been on, are the tubes blowing how do you get the amp to the session

361

if I was in a pinch I will always use this plug -in

362

and I have already on records I'm just not going to tell you

363

which ones they are and I don't think you'll know

364

That is not meant to replace an amp.

365

I'm still going to always play tube amps.

366

It's meant to give you more options.

367

It's meant to bring the experience of owning a tube amplifier and owning this gear into your home, no matter who you are.

368

It's meant to democratize the gear.

369

Something really interesting happens when you democratize access to the gear.

370

You realize that everyone has their own sound.

371

You'll also realize that I have not mentioned any of the tones that made the songs I've already made.

372

Barely interested in that.

373

I think it's super fun to find out that, yeah, you can pretty much nail some of those sounds.

374

What's really interesting now that you've kicked the tires and you go, cool, it does that.

375

What's your sound?

376

You know what it reminds me of is That's what you wanted

377

Yeah Dynamics.

378

So, one more thing I want to show you.

379

I have a guitar on.

380

It is capable of playing anything I can imagine, and yet I am not playing.

381

Am I doing nothing?

382

No, I'm not doing nothing.

383

I'm sitting, and I'm just thinking about what the guitar can do.

384

Now, that is some woo -woo stuff, but it's true.

385

I love this feeling as soon as you know

386

when i was growing up i would watch tv

387

and i would just have the guitar on me and i'd play during the commercials so i'd mute and i just

388

now i'm not playing so what do you want to play everything's dialed in you got the patch you like

389

you got the plug -in you like you got the sound

390

you like everything is ready to go the guitar is tuned speakers are ready to play whatever

391

you give it take a minute

392

and have some fun with what your intention is going to be this is my favorite part of playing guitar

393

i'm about to do it i don't know quite what it's going to be

394

so i'm just going to let it lead and i'm going to say goodbye to you

395

with a song and i don't know what the song is going to be

396

i was like in b i hope i can stay in b oh i got the band hits

397

Hey, man.

398

thank you very much i hope this was helpful in some way to add a little more uh color

399

and dimension to the already great videos i've seen people do this plugin is made to last forever

400

because music's made to last forever i love each

401

and every one of you i love your criticisms i love the dirt you throw i love this whole world

402

when i die whenever that is your dumb comments will flash before my eyes

403

when i think about my whole entire life i love you no matter what keep playing guitar I'm John bye

Download App

Everything you need to speak fluently

AI PronunciationScore every sentence

IPA PracticeMaster every sound

VocabularyBuild your word bank

Vocab GameLearn while playing

Scan QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

FOR YOU

Recommend Video

109 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “How John Mayer uses his signature plugin”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: amp, guitar, sound, plug, plugin. This video has 403 sentences and 3981 words to shadow. The speech runs for 35:50. The speaker talks at a steady 111 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
guitar noun	/ɡɪˈtɑɹ/	A stringed musical instrument, of European origin, usually with a fretted fingerboard and six strings, played with the fingers or a plectrum (guitar pick).
plug noun	/plʌɡ/	A pronged connecting device which fits into a mating socket, especially an electrical one.
amp verb	/ˈæmp/	To amplify.
pedal noun	/ˈpɛdəl/	A lever operated by one's foot that is used to control or power a machine or mechanism, such as a bicycle or piano.
patch noun	/pæt͡ʃ/	A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a…
output noun	/ˈaʊtpʊt/	Production; quantity produced, created, or completed.
laptop noun	/ˈlæp.tɑp/	A laptop computer.
smooth adjective	/smuːð/	Having a texture that lacks friction. Not rough.
tube noun	/tuːb/	Anything that is hollow and cylindrical in shape.
operator noun	/ˈɑpəˌɹeɪtɚ/	A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
distortion noun	/dɪsˈtɔːʃən/	An act of distorting.
gear noun	/ɡɪɚ/	Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
suck verb	/sʌk/	To use the mouth and lips to pull in (a liquid, especially milk from the breast).
dynamics noun	/dɑɪˈnæm.ɪks/	The branch of mechanics that is concerned with the effects of forces on the motion of objects.
tone noun	/ˈtəʊn/	A specific pitch.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
mess up verb	To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss.
pick up verb	To lift; to grasp and raise.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.
go down verb	To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.
look around verb	To inspect a building or area.
play through verb	To overtake a slower group of players ahead of one's own group, rather than waiting for them to finish the hole before proceeding.
break up verb	To break or separate into pieces.
come back verb	To return to a place.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

I'm not saying to change a thing.
I don't even, I'm not using my pick.
I don't care anymore about messing up.
I hope you don't care anymore about messing up.
It doesn't mean you're not a great player.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has had · i've had · you've had
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is just hit · was messed · is hit

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 120 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: smooth /smuːð/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: distortion /dɪsˈtɔːʃən/, intentional /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəl/, flash /flæʃ/, intention /ɪnˈtɛnʃn̩/, dimension /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: operator /ˈɑpəˌɹeɪtɚ/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, flexibility /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/, intentional /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəl/, commentary /ˈkɑ.mənˌtɛ.ɹi/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like guitar, plug, amp.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How John Mayer uses his signature plugin - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

Tonex Plug Headphone Amp | First Impressions and Review

John Mayer, 'Recovered Ego Addict' | msnbc

I think AI slop is about to trigger a renaissance, actually

I Connected Claude AI to Revit - The Results Scared Me

I Used This iPod for a Year and It Changed My Life

Obsidian Narrator Full Demo

why you hate your recorded voice (and how to fix it)

Nvidia's New Laptops - RTX Spark

How I use a pocket brush pen

Jeff Waters from Annihilator's influence

I built my dream podcast studio in Austin.

The Ricoh GR IV is a Worthy Successor!

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?