109 Quotes by Pat Metheny

Music is one big thing to me.

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.

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

The guitar for me is a translation device. It's not a goal. And in some ways, jazz isn't a destination for me. For me, jazz is a vehicle that takes you to the true destination - a musical one that describes all kinds of stuff about the human condition and the way music works.

The goal would be to always honor the music. That is the most important thing. I try to represent the high standards that have been set.

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

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.

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

I was deep in the zone of practicing almost constantly.