| Pat Metheny 101 | |
| Pat Metheny's Early Years | |
Pat Metheny's Early Years
Patrick Bruce Metheny was born on Aug.12th ,1954,in Lee's Summit, Missouri. This small town, which contained only 3500 citizens, was founded in part by Moses Metheny (Pat's great-grandfather) in 1865.
Growing up in such a rural area had a profound effect on Metheny. There was no television in his house for a long period of time, and the slow pace of life neccessitated that Pat find ways to amuse himself. One of Metheny's first outlets was through the trumpet, an instrument played by his older brother Mike. Starting at the age of eight, Pat listened to, and played a lot of trumpet music, learning to read and write music while doing so.
| EARLY METHENY FACTS: |
 Born August 12, 1954 in Lee's Summit Missouri. At 10, gets first guitar (Trivia acoustic) At 16, plays with Herbie Hancock In 1972, attends Miami University - meets Jaco Pastorius In 1974, accepts teaching position at Berklee in 1974 |
Pat took to the instrument immediately, teaching himself to play the theme from "Peter Gunn" and "The Girl from Ipanema". Metheny never really developed an interest in playing the pop music of the period on the guitar, because it was at this time his brother brought home the Miles Davis album Four and More. Says Metheny "People sometimes say that it takes a long time to become a jazz fan, but for me, it took about five seconds... I remember running home from school every day just to put that record on, sit between the speakers, and hear that sound."
It was this point in his life that Pat Metheny immersed himself in jazz, to the point where school and social activities became unimportant. Without the aid of a private teacher, Pat progressed to a point where he got work playing with jazz musicians working around Kansas City (he was playing a Gibson ES-140T by this point). His reputation grew, and by the time he was 16, Metheny was attracting considerable local attention. So much so, that when Herbie Hancock was playing in town, he made a point of finding Metheny playing at a local jam session, and playing a tune with the young guitarist.
In May 1972, Pat Metheny graduated at Kansas City High School (which Pat calls a "mercy graduation"), and briefly attended the University of Miami. At the end of January 1973, Pat discontinued his studies at the University of Miami, in order to accept a teaching position in the school's electric guitar program (at only 18 years of age).
In January 1974, Pat started teaching at the esteemed Berklee College in Boston, and soon thereafter joined vibraphonist Gary Burton's band. Metheny recorded his first album, Ring (listen to audio samples at Amazon.com) under Burton's leadership.
In December 1975, Pat Metheny recorded the first album under his own name, entitled Bright Size Life, for ECM records. The album differed from traditional jazz recordings, in that it contained overdubs, and alternately tuned guitars. Bright Size Life has since become essential listening not only for fans of modern jazz guitar, but also for those interested in tracking the evolution of jazz.
