55+ Pat Metheny Quotes On Drugs, Kenny G And Improvisation

Pat Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is well known for his use of a variety of guitars, including archtop and steel-string acoustic guitars, electric guitars and both synthesizers and guitar synthesizers. Metheny has collaborated with a variety of artists, including Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Steve Reich, and Milton Nascimento. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Pat Metheny on drugs, life, love.

Top 10 Pat Metheny Quotes

1. Its more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place.
2. Listening is the key to everything good in music.
3. 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.
4. Most guys at Berklee are going to wind up truck drivers.
5. 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.
6. I think I represent a more left-wing view of what jazz is
7. The best musicians are not the best players, they're the best listeners.
8. There's more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that's because the audience doesn't really know what's happening.
9. 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.
10. I don't worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about Jazz.

Pat Metheny Short Quotes

• I realized that equipment really had little to do with why I sound like the way I sound
• I think I have a basic sound aesthetic that is in most of what I do
• I hate the way chorus boxes sound
• From 1962 to 1965, the guitar became this icon of youth culture, thanks mostly to the Beatles
• I was able to work with the best musicians in Kansas City starting when I was really young
• The first thing I learned was the theme from Peter Gunn.
• I was deep in the zone of practicing almost constantly
• There has to be a real strong reason to do something with someone for me.
• I saw A Hard Day's Night 12 or 13 times.
• As much as I have done collaborations over the years, I am actually kind of a reluctant partner.

Pat Metheny Quotes About Life

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

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! — Pat Metheny

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

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

Pat Metheny Quotes About Jazz

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. — Pat Metheny

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

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. — Pat Metheny

Avant-garde, jazz, pop, classical, country and western, rock, free, straight-ahead, etc. are ultimately meaningless terms in the face of the music being discussed at best - at worst, those terms often serve as code words for what is in fact a cultural / political discussion more than a musical one. — Pat Metheny

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

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

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

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

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. — Pat Metheny

If jazz has to be termed as a wave, then music is a sea, but if the reflectors in the water is the chord. — Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny Quotes About Music

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 — Pat Metheny

Music is one big thing to me. — Pat Metheny

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

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

It is Jazz's very nature to change, to develop & adapt to the circumstances of its environment. — Pat Metheny

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

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

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. — Pat Metheny

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

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

Pat Metheny Famous Quotes And Sayings

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. — Pat Metheny

Somehow trumpet is the reference point for me it was actually my first instrument. — Pat Metheny

What I look for in musicians is a sense of infinity — Pat Metheny

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. — Pat Metheny

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. — Pat Metheny

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. — Pat Metheny

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

I try to be prepared for the moment, through understanding, and being warmed up, knowing all about chords and scales, so I don't even have to think and I can get right to what it is I want to say. — Pat Metheny

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. — Pat Metheny

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. — Pat Metheny

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

Life Lessons by Pat Metheny

1. Pat Metheny teaches us to never give up on our dreams, no matter how difficult they may seem. He faced many obstacles in his career, but he persevered and became one of the most respected and beloved jazz guitarists of all time.
2. Pat Metheny also teaches us to be open to new ideas and to embrace change. He has explored many different musical styles and genres throughout his career, and he has always been willing to take risks and try something new.
3. Finally, Pat Metheny's life teaches us to stay humble and to always put in the hard work necessary to achieve success. He never stopped practicing and honing his craft, and his dedication and passion have been rewarded with a long and successful career.