Question and Answer

Hi Pat,

I preface this comment with several "we are not worthy" genuflexions of course because you are one of my all-time greatest musical/spiritual inspirations.

I wonder if you might comment on your early guitar sound (Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny Group, etc) vs. your sound of recent years. Though I love all your recordings, I definitely prefer your earlier ES- 175 sound. Hard to put into words,for me there is just something extra spiritual, warm and otherworldly about that tone ... seems like you favored more reverb in that period as well. Your current tone seems to be less reverb oriented ... more in a classic straigh- ahead jazz tone.

Thank you so much!, Ronny

Hi Ronny,

I really don't have a particular allegiance to anything in that department. I always try to find the right thing for what the setting at hand seems to be asking for - and there have been quite a few different responses to things over the years. Regarding the 175, yes, I love that guitar. But I don't really think that that is what it is about in this question. (My usual response is to ask people to tell me which tracks on Secret Story are the 175 and which are the Ibanez...I don't think anyone has ever gotten it exactly right - it is about 50/50 on that record between the two). I can sort of make any guitar do the thing that I hear more or less assuming it is a quality instrument - and I think this is true of most players. Actually, the kind of pick and strings being used may have more of an impact on the sound than anything. I appreciate your listening so closely to it all.