Song Breakdown: How John Mayer Blends Blues and Jazz in Gravity

Over G, his fills draw from the home key: chord tones (G, B, D) for grounding, with A and E drifting above for that familiar add9/6 shimmer.

Over C, the melodic weight shifts towards the C, E, G notes. They become heavier because they are in the C major chord. A and especially D ring in the upper voices, which is why charts often read C6add9. However, you might also hear an occasional F♯.

Theoretically the G major key has a C lydian scale on the 4th degree. That scale adds a raised fourth (F♯) so upper lines can open up while the chord underneath stays the same. For instance when going from the notes G to F♯ to E on C major chord, resolving into D on the G major chord.

Mayer plays towards the two chords rather than jumping between them. G often sustains as a common tone (root of I, fifth of IV) while the bass moves. D is the other glue note—fifth of G, ninth of C—so a held upper line can ride across the change. Anything that goes from one chord-tone to another works, with variations anywhere it fits.

The chorus

Am7 → D7 is straight-forward jazz progression in the home key. The ear expects G major next; but he withholds it. Instead the harmony sidesteps into Gm/B♭ and E♭maj7. The moment those flats arrive, the useful pitch map is no longer G major alone. Think of the collection under E♭maj7 as E♭ aeolian (natural minor on E♭): the same notes Mayer is borrowing when parallel G minor color finally shows up on the staff.

Both flats come from modal mixture—chords borrowed from parallel G minor while the song is still framed in G major. G major has B and E natural; G minor swaps them for B♭ and E♭. Same letter name on the tonic (G), different emotional shade. If the chorus felt like it was leaning downhill, this is the slope made audible.

Gm/B♭ is where you hear that shift. The triad is G minor (G–B♭–D), often with B♭ in the bass. One flat in the harmony is enough to darken the mood without a full key change. 

E♭maj7 is the ♭VI chord in G minor (E♭–G–B♭–D)—hymnal, heavy, unmistakably soul-tinged. It sets up a classic move: ♭VI → V7. E♭maj7 melts into D7, the dominant of G, which pulls back to the major tonic and the G – C loop. The flats were never random; they were G minor peeking through for two bars, just long enough to make the return feel earned—and to release the tension the chorus had been circling all along.

Why it works

Underneath the production, Gravity is almost stubbornly simple: two triads in G major, a slow 6/8 pulse, and most of the motion in the upper voices. Mayer keeps the harmony still so you notice small shifts—how long D hangs over C, when F♯ brightens a fill, how G can ring through the change as a common tone.

The chorus lands because the frame stayed bright for so long: Am7 and D7 raise the stakes, Gm/B♭ and E♭maj7 borrow from parallel minor, and D7 resolves back to the loop. Simple and effective.

Practice it in Sonid

Open the metronome in 6/8 and loop G–C. Pick one note at a time and hold it through the change—not to name what you are playing, but to feel what each pitch does against the chord underneath. An A over G sits differently than the same A over C.

Playing an F♯ over either chord will give tension which wants to resolve up or down depending on which chord you're on. Can you feel it?