Pat Metheny: What’s It All About

By Miche Archetto:

Here is Pat Metheny introducing his solo album “What’s It All About”, his first album where there is not a single Metheny composition represented. Like his other acoustic album “One Quiet Night”, it is recorded at home. The video is quite interesting because Pat talks about his special ADGCEA tuning of his baritone guitar, that is almost the same as a standard tuning but tuned down a fifth. However the 3rd and 4th are restrung and tuned one octave higher than usual. Also, bass strings are required for the 5th and 6th, which quite low in pitch. He learned about this tuning when he was very young.

In the second part of the video Pat plays his famous Pikasso guitar, a 42-string, four-necked stringed instrument that combines a six-string guitar, lute, oud, bass, and zither. Both the baritone guitar and the Pikasso guitar are made by the Canadian Luthier Linda Manzer. She jokes that a friend calls the Pikasso the “Swiss Army guitar”