Pat Metheny...an appreciation

[Stomp]

Originally Posted by jseth

I really like his "Orchestrion" stuff, too... visually stunning, to watch the DVD, and the songs are really solid, really good - not just "showing off' what the construct can do, but melodic and meaningful...

Pat is one of my favorites, without a doubt. In 100 years, they will remember him...

I got a chance to be involved in a small way on the Orchestrion production, Pat Metheny called one day in 2008 or 2009 and asked if we (Peterson Tuners) could build him a pair of tuned, midi-capable Bottle Organs for an album he was about to record featuring him playing guitar with all kinds of automated musical instruments.
So we duly set about building the two bottle organs which ended up looking like this:



I did the tuning using one of our strobe tuners, a syringe & glycerine which we dyed milk white to better diffuse the colour of the lamps under each bottle which were activated when that particular note was played.

The organs went on the Orchestrion album & subsequent tour, and on the album cover:



Pat Metheny is a down-to-earth, pleasant guy and a fantastic guitarist and composer, it was a real honour to help out on Orchestrion!

[Sonics]

Originally Posted by Stomp

I got a chance to be involved in a small way on the Orchestrion production, Pat Metheny called one day in 2008 or 2009 and asked if we (Peterson Tuners) could build him a pair of tuned, midi-capable Bottle Organs for an album he was about to record featuring him playing guitar with all kinds of automated musical instruments.
So we duly set about building the two bottle organs which ended up looking like this:
Pat Metheny is a down-to-earth, pleasant guy and a fantastic guitarist and composer, it was a real honour to help out on Orchestrion!

Thank you for your service!

[Ruppster]

It is so nice to read all of these great comments about a guitarist with a very unique voice who really impacted those who uncovered or discovered him. I went through a phase of playing a Gibson ES-175 through a big boss chorus and "slurring" all my notes a la Metheny. Drove my band mates crazy but I thought I was channeling my new guitar hero.

[Jeff Scott]

I haven't listened to much of Pat's later material, but I have all his early CDs/LPs. The first time I saw him was with Joni Mitchell on the Shadows and Light tour in '79.

[Davis Webb]

Are you going with me?

Probably the finest new jazz I have ever heard. It still remains, along with James, as my favorite guitar compositions.

There are new youtube interviews up with him produced this year. Have a look at them, there were not many, nor are there many videos of his concerts.

[CSG]

Clapton wasn't God, Metheny is.

I've been a huge fan since the late 70's.

[Birdbrain]

Yes, I loved those bottle organs! One of my favorite instruments in the whole array.

Here's some news about Metheny's latest composing project. Several months ago his newest, 30-minute composition was premiered in Denver, played by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. "Going to the Sun" was inspired by a drive Pat took up into Glacier National Park, after hearing the LAGQ perform nearby. The four virtuosos, not including Pat, passed around the melody and harmony parts like a basketball. The piece included many Metheny mannerisms, including rich strumming and squeaky string-scraping. Pat told of how he gently asked these classical players to consider playing the bass notes with their thumbs, as he often does. "No," was the answer, so he rewrote it.

You can look forward to a recording of this, he said.

[FrankHudson]

Yes, a super creative guy who can wow you with technique or hush you with emotional communication.

I saw him earlier this year and he was doing sort of a greatest hits/career retrospective set list, which let me feel what I knew intellectually: that he has a tremendous range in his material.

Here's a funny thing for an acoustic and electric guitarist musician like myself: I've never really loved his characteristic "tone"--which of course varies quite a bit, but I think most of us know that "Metheny sound" when we hear it. That latest time seeing him in concert let me hear how he varied it throughout his career and projects, and let me respect those choices more. The concert also reminded me to get back into MIDI guitar and to use some of those timbres that don't sound like organic guitar.

[Birdbrain]

Or, rather, multiple tones. Metheny says that he thinks of his guitars like various instruments in a horn section. Over the years, he's added new voices, usually through innovations in technology. It might be fun to try and list them all.

- In the beginning, a traditional electric ES-175 jazz sound ("Bright Size Life"), enhanced with chiming, harmonics and Pat's ever-present effervescence ("New Chautauqua")
- Fast, folky strumming, usually on a stand-mounted Guild acoustic ("First Circle")
- A heavy synth tone from the Roland GR-300, drenched in echo from twin amps with different delays ("Are You Going With Me?")

That was his basic tool kit for the first two decades, as new sounds came and went:

- The Danelectro Coral electric sitar guitar ("Last Train Home")
- The unique Pikasso guitar, with 42 strings in four sets, an elaboration of the harp guitar ("Into the Dream")
- A hollow-body, nylon-strong fretless guitar fed through a synth that I saw him use for only one song, "Imaginary Day"
- The Baritione Guitar that inspired "One Quiet Night," an album recorded in one long, solitary night on the road after Linda Manzer delivered her latest commissioned creation
- Tiny acoustic guitars, usually played on slow ballads ("Letter From Home")
- Computer-controlled guitars, including that trusty Guild strummer, included in the Orchestrion layout.

With all this diversity, conventional steel-string acoustic sounds are surprisingly rare in Pat's catalog, but I hear them in "A Map of the World" and Charlie Hayden's terrific "Ramblin' Boy" album, where Pat backs Roseanne Cash on a heartfelt "Wildwood Flower."

Off the top of my head, that's nine of the most memorable guitar "voices" I've heard at over a dozen Metheny shows over 40 years. Did I miss anything?

Anybody who hasn't heard Metheny much since his gold-record days of the '80s and '90s has missed a lot!

[Sonics]

Originally Posted by Ex-Nashvillian

Off the top of my head, that's nine of the most memorable guitar "voices" I've heard at over a dozen Metheny shows over 40 years. Did I miss anything?

Nylon, but who's counting




And in context...

[Birdbrain]

Maybe I left that unsaid to inspire a response? Or because it's Pat's commonest acoustic choice, to commonplace to recall. Let's all keep counting, and collect the whole set.

[Birdbrain]

Is that the baritone? I think so- unusual proportions, looks shallow but with a huge bout radius.

[fitness1]

Heard American Garage in '79 and it literally changed how I listened to music.

[Sonics]

Originally Posted by Ex-Nashvillian

Is that the baritone? I think so- unusual proportions, looks shallow but with a huge bout radius.

This...

[Sonics]