Pat Metheny Changed my Approach to Guitar Playing Part 2

Hope you enjoyed part 1! Where I started to learn the jazz version of ‘Our Spanish Love Song’ performed by Pat Metheny and Charlie Hadden. And how through this experience, my guitar playing & approach really changed.

This is when I stumbled across this Metheny tune and the problems I faced when trying to learn it.

I was so used to playing power chords and simple progressions that my fingers were not used to these extended chords in the song. I must have spent about 2 weeks just trying to get a smooth transition between the first three chords, which were an Fm7, Gm7b5, resolving with a C7. This was my first time experimenting with barre chords which really emphasises the struggles I was going through with this song.

After a gruelling 2 weeks though, I managed to get the transition between these changes sounding relatively smooth.

When I got to the solo section of the song, I was in a state of total disbelief and awe of Metheny’s playing. His phrasing and understanding of the fretboard was something I have never seen in a guitarist and I just had to figure out what he was doing. After a bit of research and watching a few tutorial videos, I came to the realisation that he was using a combination of arpeggios, modal ideas, chromatic lines, whole-tone runs; amongst many other things I hadn’t heard of at the time.

The vocabulary of jazz guitar playing is so unique to each player that it can never be perfect. This is what I loved about listening to Metheny for the first time and why I still love listening to jazz. The intricacies involved can provide you with a constant urge to keep learning.
By stumbling across this one song, I was opened up to the many possibilities available on the guitar. No more was I stuck jamming along to classic rock songs, or recycling blues licks in the pentatonic scale. I have now been playing jazz since 2014 and the significance of it all dates back to expanding my horizons and learning something that was unfamiliar to me. Had I not Listened to Pat Metheny (and other jazz guitarists since), there is no way I would be as good a guitar player as I am today.

In the future, I will definitely try to draw from different genres and inspirations to help me become more competent and also an open minded guitar player.

Other genres that I would love to get better are like fingerpicking songs, like Tommy Emmanuel and even more pop genres like John Meyer.

Here is another Pat Metheny song for you to enjoy.

https://youtu.be/qx0uvCBu7TU

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