Pat Metheny Quotes

I realized that equipment really had little to do with why I sound like the way I sound

I hate the way chorus boxes sound

Most guys at Berklee are going to wind up truck drivers.

Jazz music will continue to thrive, possibly in unexpected ways.

My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.

I saw A Hard Day's Night 12 or 13 times.

More and more as time has gone on, I realize that playing is really more about listening than it is about playing.

From 1962 to 1965, the guitar became this icon of youth culture, thanks mostly to the Beatles

I think jazz is actually quite unforgiving in its disdain for nostalgia. It demands creativity and change at its highest level.

I think I have a basic sound aesthetic that is in most of what I do

My older brother Mike is an excellent trumpet player. By the time he was 12, he was playing around Kansas City in classical situations. He was already an amazing talent.

The main thing in my life...is that I really need to go home and practice.

I think I represent a more left-wing view of what jazz is

I have to admit that more and more lately, the whole idea of jazz as an idiom is one that I've completely rejected. I just don't see it as an idiomatic thing any more...To me, if jazz is anything, it's a process, and maybe a verb, but it's not a thing. It's a form that demands that you bring to it things athat are valuable to you, that are personal to you. That, for me, is a pretty serious distinction that doesn't have anything to do with blues, or swing, or any of these other things that tend to be listed as essentials in order for music to be jazz with a capital J.

As much as I have done collaborations over the years, I am actually kind of a reluctant partner.

Whatever my recorded output is, it's a reflection of a general love of music.

The more I can learn about music, the more I learn about other things.

I love playing and working on music. It is something that I feel really lucky to be able to spend my life doing. And I don't sleep much!

If you plan on continuing a tradition, it might be a good idea to find out just what tradition it is that you intend to continue.

There has to be a real strong reason to do something with someone for me.

The first thing I learned was the theme from Peter Gunn.

There's more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that's because the audience doesn't really know what's happening.

I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music world and have been able to play exactly what I have wanted the way I have wanted

Im always trying to find connections between things. That art is the juxtaposition of a lot of things that seem unrelated but add up to something recognizable.

Jazz demands that you bring to it things that are valuable to you, that are personal to you.

Music is one big thing to me.

People sometimes say it takes a long time to become a Jazz fan, but for me it took about five seconds.

Smokin' at the Half Note is the absolute greatest jazz-guitar album ever made. It is also the record that taught me how to play.

I was able to work with the best musicians in Kansas City starting when I was really young

Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that.

And if I ever DO see [Kenny G] anywhere, at any function - he WILL get a piece of my mind, and maybe a guitar wrapped around his head.

Listening is the key to everything good in music.

The Unity Band project has been life-changing for me. I have led many groups of talented musicians, but this is unlike anything else.

...to me if it's anything, jazz is a verb-it's more like a process than it is a thing.

I was deep in the zone of practicing almost constantly

1962 to 1965, where suddenly the guitar became this icon of youth culture all over the world, thanks mostly to the Beatles. Add to that, that I saw A Hard Day's Night 12 or 13 times, and that the guitar was the one instrument that my parents absolutely refused to let in the house. So you add it up and see that irresistible forces led me to the guitar.

One very fundamental thing has not changed and I realized that it will never change... is that I really need to go home and practice.

Players get to that intermediate level where they can already play pretty good, and that's kind of a dangerous period because they tend to start playing only the things that they can play, rather than the things they can't.

I think that the melodic piece of the puzzle in music is the most esoteric and difficult to quantify.

Its more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place.

It's a shame that jazz is now being turned into dried fruit. It's becoming quantized, diced and defined. It's becoming an idiom. To me if it's anything, jazz is a verb ? it's more like a process than it is a thing.

Jazz is an idea that is more powerful than the details of its history.

Learning to play is mostly about learning to hear, and learning to really listen deeply to sound in a musical way is a lifetime's worth of work.

I met Gary (Burton) at the Wichita Jazz Festival when I was 18 -- he was one of my favorite musicians and I got to play a few tunes with him there. Shortly after that, I joined his band, which was the equivalent of joining the Beatles for me! He was, and still is, one of the greatest musicians I have ever been lucky enough to be around.

Music is what you notice when it's no longer in your presence.

To me, there are lots of different stories to tell and you usually find the best way to tell the one you are telling once you are in it.

Sometimes I try to lose my identity, and I can't get rid of it!

I just have never seen anyone build anything significant in any field without having a deep and detailed sense of what they are building on.