Pat Metheny 101

An overview of Pat Metheny's Career

When surveying the results of a recent Blindfold Trivia Quiz, I was amazed to see how much trouble people had identifying guitarist Pat Metheny. Surely one of the most distinctive guitarists ever to walk the planet, I assumed that many guitar fans just didn't know enough about Metheny to be able to identify him. This article was written to help rectify that situation.

He is a musician who steadfastly refuses to let himself be classified. Guitarist Pat Metheny has made significant contributions to so many styles of music, it would be a great injustice to label him a "jazz guitarist".

For although Pat Metheny has recorded several albums which critics often laud as some of the best jazz/jazz-fusion music ever created, the guitarist constantly pushes his music into other stylistic areas. Pat Metheny has appeared as a sideman on recordings by Joni Mitchell and Bruce Hornsby, collaborated with David Bowie on the hit single "This is not America", and written/recorded numerous soundtracks for movies like "The Falcon and the Snowman". Many of the guitarist's own recordings prove to be just as radically different; his aggressive 1994 solo guitar release Zero Tolerance for Silence was called "the most radical recording of this decade... a new milestone in electric guitar" by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore.

And the critics have been listening. Pat Metheny has been nominated for a total of 21 Grammy Awards, of which the guitarist has won 11. He is also a regular winner of Downbeat, Jazztimes, Jazziz, and Guitar Player critics polls. Still Life (Talking) was even named one of the top 100 pop albums of all-time by Rolling Stone magazine. Still, although this has made Metheny an extremely popular musician in the jazz world, many rock and pop music fans know little, if anything, about the guitarist.

The Pat Metheny Sound

Once you hear Pat Metheny play, you'll be able to recognize him, no matter what style of music the guitarist is playing. His somewhat unusual technique allows Metheny to achieve a very fluid, smooth sound. To get a better idea of what Pat Metheny's technique looks like, you'll want to watch these video clips. Of course, Metheny's distinct sound can also be partially attributed to his guitar, amp, and effects.

Pat Metheny is often directly credited with changing the direction of jazz, via incorporating elements of pop music into his recordings. While there were certainly guitarists before Metheny who did this (John McLaughlin, Sonny Greenwich, and others), Pat tended to play in a more accessable style, and therefore received a lot of public and critical attention. An entire generation of post-Metheny jazz guitarists began adopting Metheny's signature sound, and often some of his favorite guitar licks (listen to a few examples).

Audio Clips

These music samples are provided to give you an broad overview of some of the different styles of music recorded by Pat Metheny. All following examples are encoded using RealAudio, and you'll need the free RealPlayer to listen to them.

Across the Heartland
Here is Metheny in his bubbly-fusion style music that was very popular in the late 70's. This tune can be found on the recording American Garage.

Broadway Blues
This clip illustrates the more adventurous side of Pat Metheny's playing, from the album Bright Size Life with bassist Jaco Pastorious and drummer Bob Moses. The song doesn't contain any chord progression, so the musicians are free to move in and out of conventional tonality.

Have You Heard
This clip features Pat ripping it up, on a tune from the Brazilian-influenced album Letter from Home.

Phase Dance
A really nice tune from the Pat Metheny Group album. Does the rhythm guitar part sound familiar at all? (think Eric Clapton Unplugged)

Red Sky
Pat playing his Roland GR-300 guitar synth on the album We Live Here.

Sueno Con Mexico
An example of Pat Metheny's acoustic playing from the album New Chautauqua.