How to Sound Like Pat Metheny on Guitar: Chromatic Approaches and the "Hammer-On Out of Nowhere"

Short answer: To sound like Pat Metheny, change how you articulate as much as which notes you play. Approach the notes of a triad or arpeggio chromatically, by a half step, using slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs. Use what I call the "hammer-on out of nowhere": a hammer-on with no picked note before it, which turns the note into almost a ghost note. And group the line in twos: one picked note, then a pull-off, hammer-on or slide. Almost every other note isn't picked, which is how Metheny plays these lines fast without alternate picking everything.

The line at the start of the video is by Hristo Vitchev, in the style of Pat Metheny. Hristo has gone into the things that make Metheny sound like Metheny in a lot of detail in his books. ▶ 0:03 This line is one you can get for free: Lines You've Heard, Part 1 (free download). ▶ 0:46

The line and the harmony

The line runs across the entire neck, and it gets into some of the key elements that make a Metheny line sound like Metheny. I look at it two ways: the notes (what he's doing with the harmony), and the articulation and picking, which for me was the most different from how I normally play. ▶ 0:46

The first part, before the line moves up into the 5th position, is based around an A minor sound. Think A-7: you'll see a lot of A-7 arpeggios in here, and also the A minor pentatonic. ▶ 1:17

1. Approach triad notes chromatically

Metheny chromatically approaches certain notes from the arpeggio or the triad. In the first part of this line, he goes into the 5th by a half step from underneath, and then comes down the arpeggio. This is a classic Metheny way of playing a lick. ▶ 1:55

The same thing keeps happening through the line: all these little slip-and-slide half steps to get into a chord tone, then down the arpeggio. ▶ 3:10

2. The "hammer-on out of nowhere"

I call this the hammer-on out of nowhere because these are hammer-ons where you're not picking the note before. It's what gives Metheny that slip-and-slide feel. ▶ 2:14

Other guitarists, like George Benson or Pat Martino, would pick the same lick. With Metheny, that note almost becomes a ghost note. ▶ 2:45

My own tendency is to pick those notes instead of hammering them on out of nowhere. That's fine, but it isn't stylistically accurate to the way Metheny would play it. If you're after more of the Metheny sound, try to hammer on out of nowhere. ▶ 5:40

3. Group the line in twos: pick, then legato

Notice that the line is, for the most part, grouped in two-note groups: one pick and a pull-off, pick and a slide, pick and a pull-off, pick and a slide. ▶ 4:02

That creates the feel, and it's also how Metheny plays these lines really fast without alternate picking all of them. Almost every other note is a pull-off, a hammer-on or a slide, from the very beginning of the line. ▶ 4:45

Some of the moves along the way:

• A pull-off that's a big reach, from the 9th down to the 5th. ▶ 3:33
• G♯ to A, then a slide up to D, which moves the line into the 7th position. ▶ 4:02
• Near the 10th fret, another pull-off, then another hammer-on out of nowhere to target the G♯. ▶ 5:37

4. Take pieces of the line as vocabulary

There are a lot of phrases inside this one long line that you can get vocabulary from. ▶ 8:14 The ones I'd take:

• Chromatic approaches to triad notes, done with slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs. ▶ 8:14
• The chromatic descent with the hammer-on out of nowhere. Over the A minor sound, you can start that lick on the 9th and end on the 5th, or start on the 5th and end on the root. ▶ 6:30
• A targeting phrase. I like using one of these phrases any time I'm trying to target a note. If I wanted to target G, I'd start it on E. ▶ 7:51

Move it to another chord

To play a fragment over a D minor sound, take the first lick and start it on the 9th or the 5th of D minor. You can even string the two versions together. ▶ 8:51

Frequently asked questions

What makes Pat Metheny sound like Pat Metheny?

A big part is articulation: he approaches chord tones chromatically with slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs, and plays hammer-ons with no picked note before them, so some notes become almost ghost notes. The notes in this line mostly come from an A-7 arpeggio and A minor pentatonic around an A minor sound.

What is a "hammer-on out of nowhere"?

A hammer-on where you don't pick a note before it: the finger sounds the note on its own. It's what gives Metheny's lines their slip-and-slide feel. Players like George Benson or Pat Martino would pick the same note.

Does Pat Metheny alternate pick everything?

Not in lines like this one. They're mostly grouped in two-note groups, one picked note and then a pull-off, hammer-on or slide, so almost every other note isn't picked. That's how he plays these lines fast.

How do I use a Metheny-style lick over other chords?

Find where the fragment starts relative to the chord, for example on the 9th or the 5th of A minor, and start it on the same degree of the new chord. Over D minor, start it on the 9th or the 5th of D minor.

Where can I get Hristo Vitchev's Metheny line?

The line in this lesson is from Hristo Vitchev's Lines You've Heard, Part 1, which is a free download on his site.

Keep learning

• How to play faster on jazz guitar: the picking side of playing fast lines cleanly
• How to play fast arpeggios like George Benson: Benson's opposite approach, picking and sweeping instead of legato
• Pat Martino's minor conversion: another legend's way of turning chords into one minor sound

Go deeper

Which kind of jazz guitarist are you? Take the free Guitarist Profile quiz: 10 minutes, and you get your practice mindset, your strongest and weakest skills, and a 28-day plan. Find out what kind of jazz guitarist you are →

Inside Chase's Guitar Academy you learn jazz vocabulary step by step and apply it to real standards. You can try it free for seven days.

"You develop your ear towards creating jazz lines. If you're on the fence, I highly suggest you take it — it's money well spent and it'll definitely up your game." David Garcia, CGA member

50+ five-star reviews from CGA members, most of them on video: read what members say.

Chase Maddox is a jazz guitarist and educator in Miami and the founder of Chase's Guitar Academy. George Benson has called him "an amazing instructor." More free lessons are on his YouTube channel.