Pat Metheny

Listening is the key to everything good in music.

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

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

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

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

The beauty of Jazz is that it’s malleable. People address it to suit their own personalities.

Music and life are all about style.

[Stratocaster vs Les Paul] It’s a totally different animal. One is for very subtle and, I would say, more musical things that you can distract and abuse. You can’t do that with a Les Paul. It’s too delicate. It’s got a very delicate tone; most people don’t ever realize that because they are plugged into monstrous amplifiers which completely, instantaneously covers up the unique sound quality it has. All those years of development go straight out the window when you overload the amp.

If I have to go around telling everyone how great I am, then there’s something wrong with my act.

It isn’t where you came from, it’s where you’re going that counts.

There has always been a tension between Jazz as a commercial music and as an art form.

You can have tone and technique but without originality you ain’t really nowhere. Gotta be original.

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.

Hell, nobody knows where jazz is going to go. There may be a kid right now in Chitlin Switch, Georgia, who is going to come along and upset everybody.

One of the great moments of my life was when I could write musician on my passport.

Well, for me it’s – music is the instrument of life.

The more real you get, the more unreal everything else is.

Look for the one who’s not smiling and play to that person. Once you’ve got that person, you’ve got the whole club.

I’ve studied all my musical life, but learning is only good if you do something constructive with it.

I want a kick to my band, but I don’t want the rhythm to hog the spotlight.

I think the most important thing about playing is to walk out with confidence, look the people right in the eye and say ‘Here I am,’ and go and do your thing. As soon as they know you’re confident, they’re confident. As long as you adjust to them you’re not in trouble. You should eyeball them, find out what they want, and give it to them. They didn’t pay to come out and look at the tapestries.