Pat Metheny quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Pat Metheny on Wise Famous Quotes.

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

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

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

It's more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place.

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

There are musicians who go through their lives sort of shedding their skins. For me, I've always felt backward-compatible to Version 1.0.

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

The reality of music itself, which is the fabric of life for me, is where most of my attention is.

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

A lot of jazz artists think people should like what they're doing just because it's jazz. I don't buy that.

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

What I look for in musicians is a sense of infinity.

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

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.

Somehow, trumpet is the reference point for me - it was actually my first instrument.

The best musicians are not the best players, they're the best listeners.

I didn't want there to be a computer on stage. When I see people with computers on stage, I think, 'Are you sending e-mail?' That's so corny.

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 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!

I have three young kids and a great family. I love hanging out with them more than anything.

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

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

The pianist Cecil Taylor is extremely melodic; the guitarist Derek Bailey is extremely melodic, and Ornette Coleman.

One of the things jazz has always excelled at is translating the reality of the times through its musical prism.

I would always contend that talent is an element, but over the long run, ultimately, a minor part of it all; it is mostly hard work.

I don't worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about jazz.

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.

Someone who knew me when I was 14 said I was the oldest 14-year-old on the planet. Now I'm a 14-year-old who is 60.

Listening is the key to everything good in music.

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

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

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.

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

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

If you come to my house, you won't see a wall of trophies or things like that. I'm sort of 'on to the next thing' all the time.

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

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

The beauty of jazz is that it's malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities.

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

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

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.

I hate the way chorus boxes sound.

I was deep in the zone of practicing almost constantly.

I'm always inspired when there's a robustness to the material in front of me.

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

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

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

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

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