Not only is the guitar a work of beauty, but the melody itself is awe inspiring. To go from designing this instrument, to building it, to learning how to play and write music for it. Its incredible.
He didn't design it or build it. Apparently his instructions to the luthier, Linda Manzer, were to build an instrument with as many strings as possible. I'm fairly certain she exceeded his expectations! One modification was made from the original though, and I'd be interested to hear how it came about. There was another headstock coming out the from the upper bout (you can still see the nut, and the strings are still there). It looks like it was folded over somehow.
Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau individually are fantastic players in their own right but when they got together, it was just pure magic and they gave us not 1 but 2 beautiful albums back to back. It doesn't get any better than these two
I like the «orientalizing» tones that Pat Metheny uses at the beginning of his play. Not to mention the way he uses his left hand to play the bass game. Also, there is the beauty of the instrument. I have had the privilege of attending many shows featuring this instrument. And, even if using a cliché, the best I can say is the atmosphere was simply magical! Especially when this architectural wonder that is the harp guitar resonates in hands as skillful as those of a great artist like Pat Metheny. Finally, Brad Mehldau’s subtle piano accompaniment adds a subtle, discreet touch to the intoxicating playing of the guitarist. This capture is a pure treat, both for the ears and for the eyes. to see and see again. In short, this is what I call great art. Great art. For that alone, all I can add is to say thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Metheny.
An amazing sound from a unique instrument. Sounds seems to be sailing in from everywhere at once. I am a conductor of a 45-piece classical chamber orchestra in Mexico, but also play a wide range of ethnic instruments. I greatly appreciate the vibrant experiment that is taking place here!
@@yodservant Pat created the Orchestrion Project- you might say he orchestrated it -- but he didn't build the instruments. He was touring 300 days a year. It took several teams of highly specialized engineers and software people and tinkerers to build that thing.
I heard it before but now I see it it's uncanny - baffled - ok my head's unscrewed now. I'm gonna lie down and have weird and wonderful dreams. Thank you Pat and Co. Bless you!
This is modern genius that we should respect. Pat will be respected and analyzed for years to come. Thanks for sharing your gift with us. That guitar would be a toy in most peoples hands.
I've seen various incarnations of his projects a total of 24 times now. I always come away with a feeling similar to what people must have felt who lived when Mozart was personally presenting his compositions.
Rick Handville I’m getting a headache just looking at it (I’m a guitarist), trying to figure how to play it would truly be a nightmare for me!!!! Way to go Pat, you’re truly ahead of your time!
What happens if we don't respect him? I found it quite boring, like in-store Muzak. I can also achieve the same sounds (and more) using 2 Electro Harmonix FX pedals and a regular electric guitar.
He really isn't. Have you not listened to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Keith Richards, Miles Davies, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock? I mean let's keep things in perspective here. There's very little emotional maturity in his work.
@@dylanevans2498 Sounds like penis envy to me . Have you ever been to his concerts ? Pat gives so much and is so generous to other musicians -Just check out his latest CD - he composes and produces a named album for others !! Totally unselfish genius DJEJ
Always amazed to see and hear this. The mastery as Luthier ( Linda) meets the mastery of harmonics and creativity (Pat). Great match! And great music! :-)
Love this! Wrote a jazz poem about Pat's work, about a billion years ago regarding his playing and the musical notes that are contained in water elements. Love Pat and his work! For more years than I want to count! Yet this piece is brilliant. And he's such a lovely person as well. Good on you, Pat. Highest respect...jct
Ah Pat.....Your music keeps me alive. Your music has been part of my life for so many years. Thank you sir. For making me want to live to listen to greatness.
Pat is headed to Sirius or Andromeda or Pleiades with that instrument...but maybe he comes from there, like Andreas Vollenweider on his harp...these magical mystery tour geniuses of sound...🙏bless from Ecuador 🏵️
It’s beautiful, but if you know the breadth and depth of jazz, it’s not so much beyond jazz, but just in that other space, not where the swinging/dancing jazz is, not where the hard bopping jazz is, or the smoky cool jazz, but in that far out heady place, somewhere by the free and avant- jazz isles… My only point is that jazz is a vast and deep sea of possibilities, and I don’t mean to be pedantic, but this too is in that sea. That’s why, at the end of the day, and in spite of my deep love for the world of rock n roll and all it’s depth/breadth, I’ll always see jazz as the greatest of the genres. Bill Evens really has so many great quotes and ideas on jazz, I should have just quoted him… ✌️
I have heard somewhere around 35,000 songs in my life. This is by far one of the best. It has an otherworldly sound to it that I can't describe; few, if any other songs I've heard, have it. Not even the studio recording of this exact same song. This is beyond a musical prodigy at his finest, showing his mastery of a one-of-a-kind instrument. To me, this might just be the pinnacle of the human condition and what it can achieve.
A genius of guitar with a tremendous instrument. What ask more? I've always been a huge fan of artistic instruments of music. And especially for all the possibilities its offers to the musicians. With Pat Metheny and this awesome instrument, the magic is there from the beginning to the end! When this kind of virtuoso finishrs his piece, I always the feeling to come out of a dream. Thank you, Pat! And thank you, too, Mr Meldau.
A few summers ago I watched Ravi Shankar and company do a concert at Les Pines on the very edge of the mediterranean sea. Things were going along splendidly, traditional instruments abounding and utter mastery prevailing. Then of course the sun set, the temperature dropped and with it the dew whilst a kisty breeze rolled in from the sea - and everything from the drum skins to the traditional string instruments kinda went to hell in a hand basket. They bore it bravely though, tweaking their way through on a moment to moment basis.
whynottalklikeapirat wow, that would have been tough show to get through for the musicians.. It's amazing that most people don't even consider that acoustic instruments require so much attention when the weather changes.
Anthony Snape They did very well, I have to say and they must have known it was coming, playing all over the planet. Jeff beck came on a while after and seemed to have no real issues but then the neck on his guitar looked like it came straight from a canadian logging camp and he did not have to go through the change on-stage. Great programme though. THey also featured that 3 bass outfit with Victor wooten, Stanley Clarke and Marcus miller that same night.
WOW!!! What an instrument 3 guitars 2 harps 1 combined instrument! How radical and built by a Genius!!! I'd love to see The great Milos play the Guitar-Harps too!!! Beethoven would say, I must have one of these amazing instruments! JB. Surrey. UK
jesus! the artist know as Pat Metheny is one hell of a force! I sat 5 feet from him playing at the Jazz Alley in Seattle summer 2012 and it'ds just unparalleled how much creative energy there is in this man! He will be remembered as a Mozart/Bach/Beethoven/Brahms/Ligeti/Part/Wagner/Shostakovich/Piazolla/Jobim/Despres/Palestrina level figure through the ages!, especially cause he makes sure all his music is being released in print!
Lane arndt I was at his show in 1990 and I was such a fan girl, I talked to Dave Wekel for an hour. They were too tired to do an encore so they came and talked to us instead and almost all the losers that were there had no idea the awesomeness that was before them. Hangin out with Pat Metheny! Good times!
there's a difference between intonation/tuning problems and microtones (intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone) that are being borrowed from a system other than the 12 tones used by western music and employed in the string sets that differ from the typical set of 6
So this had me looking up the definition of "virtuoso" to see if it included musical genius other than playing. The seminal jazz and fusion guitarist of my lifetime.
Si Pat n'est pas un génie ... qui l'est ??? Céleste , angélique et j'espère que cette pièce puisse être entendue à notre entrée au paradis ... même s'il n'existe pas, cette pièce et ce génie nous y font croire au mons un peu !
