Rick Beato goes mainstream

[CyberGene]

This very thread is a contradiction and a provocation. Don’t tell me that’s not the case. 

 

Because, as has become obvious, people are very passionate about Beato, they either like him or not. The latter have ignored his YT channel for particular reasons. I have ignored him.

 

So, what’s the purpose of creating the 100th thread here about Beato? You think he needs more popularity? Nobody knows him? How can I ignore this thread and future threads about Beato’s newest content? And do you think creating yet another thread will change someone’s opinion on Beato? And those who follow him would certainly have seen his last content, YT makes sure you see it instantly. Again, what’s the purpose of this thread? To me, there’s a hidden purpose to annoy those people who don’t like him and make them bite the hook, so you can then bash them about how they are haters, how what they say speaks more about them, negativity of the world, this forum going downhill and blah-blah. Nope, you’re seeking confrontation. 

 

Believe me, the entire world knows about Beato going mainstream, either from his own video about himself, or through the article itself, or through the numerous reaction videos that follow. Threads like this thus serve no other purpose than to stir the crap. And when it hits you, don’t start acting surprised. Negativity is everywhere, think about it 😉

 

 

[Reezekeys]

1 minute ago, mrk7421 said:

So why do we waste our time this?

 

We?

 

2 minutes ago, mrk7421 said:

Because I hate to see someone monopolize the interview market.

 

Who's monopolizing? Brad Mehldau, Stuart Copeland, Sting, etc.  have all done interviews with other people and will likely continue to do so. You or anyone else is not prohibited from getting a youtube account and start uploading interview videos, or cat videos. Yes, a select few of those folks seem to be making money from this, but that's only because a lot of people watch and enjoy these videos. Don't watch them if you don't like them. Making a point of dragging a guy that's spending a lot of time and money making videos we can all watch for free? And the overt hostility (with some <cough>)? That's just plain weird.

[jazzpiano88]

9 hours ago, mrk7421 said:

Rick's video ...."How to play guitar like Joe Pass".....which is obviously not going to happen in one easy lesson. 

 

If you ever walked by a newsstand, nearly every magazine ever published has some sort of title like this.   Heck Electronic Musician, Guitar Player and Keyboard magazines were probably the worst.   It's called sales and marketing.

[jazzpiano88]

27 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

Believe me, the entire world knows about Beato going mainstream, either from his own video about himself, or through the article itself, or through the numerous reaction videos that follow. Threads like this thus serve no other purpose than to stir the crap.

 

I don't view it that way.   The entire world does not know about Beato, and the point of this thread was to point out to us musicians that he's gone mainstream with even the civilians. So mainstream that CNN did a story on him.

[MathOfInsects]

Holy cow.

We're all on this board because we have one (1) thing in common: an interest in keyboards. Beyond that, we're all different people, with different backgrounds and different preferences.

Ultimately this is a DISCUSSION board. People are free and encouraged to mention why they do or don't like things. It's literally the entire concept behind the existence of these boards (which are a form of social media) and (spoiler alert) behind real-life discussions.

 

If you like Beato's videos, that's great. Go watch them and enjoy! Come here and tell us why.

If you don't, that's great too. No one's obligated to like something just because other people like it. Tell us "why" about that, too. 

 

Let's not be self-important enough to imagine that our opinion on this board means a single thing. If you post that you like Beato's videos, that isn't going to be the thing that really makes his career take off. Same as if you post that you don't.

There is a mountain of self-denial going on, here. Post after post trolling "the haters" or some new technology that scares you, IS hate--and it's far more personal, IMO, than someone saying "Oh, I don't like that guy's videos." Just like what you like and accept that there are people in the world with opinions that are different from yours. Ideally, you'll seek those opinions out so you don't get too cozy in the echo chamber of agreement and validation.

But either way, let's not delude ourselves that just because we think something, anyone who thinks something different is somehow suspect or vindictive. We're all a little long in the teeth here for that kind of magical thinking.  

[CyberGene]

56 minutes ago, jazzpiano88 said:

I don't view it that way.   The entire world does not know about Beato, and the point of this thread was to point out to us musicians that he's gone mainstream with even the civilians. So mainstream that CNN did a story on him.

 

I'm not really convinced about the chain of events here. You kind of assume appearing on CNN makes somebody mainstream, as though Beato was some obscure figure known only to a small community of musicians prior to that. He has 4 million subscribers on YouTube. YouTube is much more popular than CNN. If someone has 4 million subscribers, there's huge chance that anybody on YouTube has stumbled on Beato at least once. And there's even higher chance that once someone watched a full video of Beato and is interested in music (and YouTube is a lot about music), he's been already profiled and targeted by the YT bubble algorithms to see Beato forever. So, Beato has been mainstream long before CNN made that article. In a certain way, CNN rather caught up with the general trend set by modern social networks and the Internet, rather than being an indication of Beato finally breaking mainstream.

 

I stand by my words, a lot of people (virtually the entire world, more or less) already knew about Beato.

[johnchop]

I don’t know about you guys, but I pay exactly zero dollars for YouTube, and I get what I pay for. The only thing I lose is time, and I get the occasional nugget of wisdom or knowledge. I do not demand an outcome, because … zero dollars. And if the experience is triggering the bad brain juices, I close my browser.

 

As for RB, he reminds me of my musician friends from my high school and college days who would clue me into various bands. He’s the “you gotta check this out!” guy. 

 

It seems the real pant-wadding thing here is that he’s a professional YouTuber. Doesn’t that require you to embrace crass, engagement-is-everything, slave-to-the-algorithm hucksterism while also promoting your membership/Patreon side hustle, to have even a shot a paying the mortgage? Eesh, that gig would just feel effing awful and weird to me.

 

 

 

 

[CyberGene]

2 minutes ago, johnchop said:

I pay exactly zero dollars for YouTube

Wow, those guys behind YouTube must be the greatest people on earth to offer all that to us for free 😉

[johnchop]

2 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

Wow, those guys behind YouTube must be the greatest people on earth to offer all that to us for free 😉

oh I have no illusions about the fact that I’m the product. User data, eyeballs for ads, etc.

[HammondDave]

Frankly, I am bored with this thread.  
 

‘’Hey! Have you heard about the new B******* keyboard?

[GRollins]

Anyone who is unable to tell the difference between:

 

1) Rick Beato's videos don't work for me...

 

--and--

 

2) Rick Beato puts on knee pads for interviews...

 

is part of the problem. That willful blindness to the distinction between what you might broadly call a 'review,' where someone expresses a subjective view about Beato's videos and an insulting direct attack on the man is exactly the problem. It's just blind hatred masquerading as "free speech." Well, yes, it is free speech, but it is in no way helpful to anyone, except as a mating call to others of that ilk; a signal to pile on to someone who they deem unacceptable. Many people have lost that internal filter that used to be called manners or civilized behavior. They're now down to raw animal emotion--the Id, in Freudian terms. The Ego and Superego are missing in action and, frankly, unlikely to return. They lash out at anyone and everyone and take an obscene pleasure in trying to hurt others. Now, Rick Beato is not, as far as I know, a member here. He may or may not drop in and read things from time to time. Again, I have no way of knowing. But admit it, people who post like that secretly hope that Beato will, in fact, read the post and be wounded in some sense.

 

And this qualifies as mature, civilized discourse?

 

I think not.

 

Grey

[jazzpiano88]

One YouTuber who does better jazz interviews (IMO) is Pablo Held.   He’s also a wonderful pianist. 

[MathOfInsects]

4 minutes ago, GRollins said:

Anyone who is unable to tell the difference between:

 

1) Rick Beato's videos don't work for me...

 

--and--

 

2) Rick Beato puts on knee pads for interviews...

 

is part of the problem. 

 

And this qualifies as mature, civilized discourse?

 

I think not.

 

Grey

Sure. And exactly one person said that, four or five pages into the thread. The entirety of the rest of the ("negative") response was completely innocuous, and yet has been treated as some kind of crime against social propriety.

However, while it was phrased bluntly, that's a completely valid complaint to make against an interviewer. It gets made all the time, on all levels, by appreciators and detractors alike. There were whole SNL skits based around James Lipton's fawning fluff-pieces at the Actor's School (is that the right name?). And "valid" or not, it's still completely valid as an opinion of an interviewer.

What is the transgression that you guys are being so fragile about? Different people have different opinions. Period. I've never seen an obituary that said, "Died of other people not liking the same youtubers as him." No one's telling you not to like him even if they don't. Let people have their say, and go on having yours. No kittens will die. 

We got this, brethren. 

[HammondDave]

47 minutes ago, GRollins said:

Anyone who is unable to tell the difference between:

 

1) Rick Beato's videos don't work for me...

 

--and--

 

2) Rick Beato puts on knee pads for interviews...

 

is part of the problem. That willful blindness to the distinction between what you might broadly call a 'review,' where someone expresses a subjective view about Beato's videos and an insulting direct attack on the man is exactly the problem. It's just blind hatred masquerading as "free speech." Well, yes, it is free speech, but it is in no way helpful to anyone, except as a mating call to others of that ilk; a signal to pile on to someone who they deem unacceptable. Many people have lost that internal filter that used to be called manners or civilized behavior. They're now down to raw animal emotion--the Id, in Freudian terms. The Ego and Superego are missing in action and, frankly, unlikely to return. They lash out at anyone and everyone and take an obscene pleasure in trying to hurt others. Now, Rick Beato is not, as far as I know, a member here. He may or may not drop in and read things from time to time. Again, I have no way of knowing. But admit it, people who post like that secretly hope that Beato will, in fact, read the post and be wounded in some sense.

 

And this qualifies as mature, civilized discourse?

 

I think not.

 

Grey

 

OK… Now I have to respond.  I totally agree with GRollins.  If forum members cannot police themselves to hold back their dark, hateful, and insulting comments, like the ones repeated above, then I hope that the moderator takes some action to police the actions on this forum.  Personally, I am surprised that he has allowed this to continue for this long. 

[jazzpiano88]

This I had not seen before (Paul Gilbert's Drill Technique):

 

 

 

[TommyRude]

Does anyone remember a few years back, one, maybe two new folks trolls came in and starting lobbing bizarre & crazy negative posts?

 

Edit - fixed.  As I recall, I think they got booted pretty quickly.

[Anderton]

Wisdom from Andy Warhol:

 

"So what. That's one of my favorite things to say. So what.”

[HammondDave]

2 hours ago, jazzpiano88 said:

This I had not seen before (Paul Gilbert's Drill Technique):

 

 

 

Now THAT’s awesome!

[GRollins]

2 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

Sure. And exactly one person said that, four or five pages into the thread. The entirety of the rest of the ("negative") response was completely innocuous, and yet has been treated as some kind of crime against social propriety.

However, while it was phrased bluntly, that's a completely valid complaint to make against an interviewer. It gets made all the time, on all levels, by appreciators and detractors alike. There were whole SNL skits based around James Lipton's fawning fluff-pieces at the Actor's School (is that the right name?). And "valid" or not, it's still completely valid as an opinion of an interviewer.

What is the transgression that you guys are being so fragile about? Different people have different opinions. Period. I've never seen an obituary that said, "Died of other people not liking the same youtubers as him." No one's telling you not to like him even if they don't. Let people have their say, and go on having yours. No kittens will die. 

We got this, brethren. 

 

Yep, that excuse is one of the common ones:

 

a) "Move along...move along... Nothing to see here."

The problem is that by enabling bad behavior, you encourage it. The steady coarsening of dialog here in the US (and, indeed, around the world) has been brought about, in part, by people not calling out bad behavior. By degrees, things get worse. Like the proverbial lobster thrown in cold water that slowly gets hotter, people only wake up to the fact that there's a problem when the bubbles start popping as the water finally comes to a boil.

 

b) "Oh, they'll stop. They'll realize that they've stepped over the line by themselves. You don't have to do anything."

Um...really? No, really not. There are reams of examples of odious behavior that has not been self-correcting. In fact, it's getting worse.

 

c) "It's free speech!"

I'm an author. You won't find anyone who's a bigger champion of free speech than I am. But on the other hand, there comes a time to call out bad behavior. Just because you are have the right to free speech does not mean that you have to dive to the bottom of the shit barrel to express yourself. This is a crucial distinction that certain people (and their apologists) refuse to acknowledge. It's pedal to the metal, all day, every day. They're not happy unless they're antagonizing and provoking someone.

 

d) "It's not my fault! I'm just pushing back against [fill in the blank]."

This is a tricky one. I'll use something from my past to illustrate:

When I was in elementary school I lived in a conventional residential neighborhood full of parallel streets and cookie cutter houses. My across-the-back-yard neighbor happened to be the neighborhood bully. Most of us were 6 to 8 years old, but Jody was, I think, 12 or 14, which means that he had a sizeable advantage in strength and height. That was bad enough, but here's the real kicker--Jody had this infuriating habit of coming up to you, giving you a wallop, then screaming at the top of his lungs, "What did you hit me for?" Did you catch that? He hit first, then screamed that he was the victim in order to justify really cutting loose on you. This attitude has become increasingly prevalent and eventually it becomes incumbent on the rest of the population to actually...you know...fight back. Of course, as you might imagine, when you finally had enough of being bullied by Jody and hit him, he'd scream even louder that you were hitting him and amp up his attack to an even more frenzied level. There's no good way to handle someone like this. The whole 'I'm the victim' thing is used as a get out of jail free card to excuse all manner of bad behavior these days. Now, at that point, it was true...yes, you had actually hit him...but look at the circumstances. Sometimes you have to hit slo-mo instant replay to see who really instigated the thing. Jody was my first exposure to this technique and to this day I harbor a special dislike for people who employ the tactic. Eventually we moved away. I hope somebody eventually cleaned Jody's clock. The son of a bitch richly deserved it. I just wasn't big enough and strong enough to be the one who visited justice on his smirking face.

 

e) "Oh, that wasn't so bad, you're just being a wuss! Look--you're not even bleeding, so you're not hurt!"

Part of living in a civilized society is the right to not be continually attacked, directly or indirectly. Yes, there are places and times where terrible things happen, e.g. Ukraine, and the people there have to endure unimaginable horrors every day. Yes, they have had to toughen up. But should they? Is that really the right way to live?

 

There are other points I could bring up, but to the ones who are behaving badly they will fall upon deaf ears. They've already rationalized and justified their behavior and, in essence, it all boils down to "Because I can and because I want to" and nothing else matters.

 

No, you don't 'got this.'

 

Grey

[CHarrell]

Or you could just call out specific people and individuals for the over-the-line behavior.

[jazzpiano88]

1 hour ago, HammondDave said:

3 hours ago, jazzpiano88 said:

This I had not seen before (Paul Gilbert's Drill Technique):

 

 

 

 

Now THAT’s awesome!

 

Well, I wouldn't go THAT far:   (I'll let people assign the posters to the violations I've identified below)

 

1. Title is clearly clickbait: "Paul Gilbert Explains His Unique Guitar Technique".   In no way is this unique.  Every guitarist has a cordless drill around the house and it's a matter of time before they figured this  amusing little trick out.
2. Rick is still a crappy educator for exposing this to the public.  
3. Boomer. Boomer!!   We have a Boomer here!!!    
4. Paul appears to be over 50 AND White.  Over representation is clearly a violation.   
5. Rick Appears to be Flaunting his guitar collection.  He should sell his assets to pay for these interview costs rather that asking people to buy his book.   Jazzpiano88 is getting very angry!!!  Very very angy!!!
6. Camera cuts to Rick showing him laughing; he should NEVER EVER be allowed to be shown on camera in an interview unless he's a famous journalist.  That's just my policy and something that makes me kick the dog around if violated -- I get SO annoyed having someone of lowly stature on camera. 

[Mighty Motif Max]

Ya know, this is getting insane. Here's my take that no one asked for - I'm not a big fan of Beato's, but that's not through any fault of his own. He's just focused on a different lane than generally attracts my interest musically - and that's okay. Thank God for diversity - I'm sure plenty of his viewers wouldn't like some of the stuff I like, and so forth.

 

And I think it's awesome that he's getting in the mainstream news. We need more positive musician coverage. Go Rick! Even if I don't watch his stuff much. Y'all do realize you don't have to like someone's music all that much to support them as a fellow musician, right? Same as any other field/topic.

[CHarrell]

4 minutes ago, Mighty Motif Max said:

Y'all do realize you don't have to like someone's music all that much to support them as a fellow musician, right? Same as any other field/topic.

 

I can't count how many times I've said about a musician: "I'm not a fan/I don't connect with their stuff, but they're an excellent composer/saxophonist/etc." Hell, to throw myself into a current related topic on here, I've never listened to anything that Brad Meldhau that's really resonated with me, but he's a master pianist.

[ElmerJFudd]

Great guest, very in depth discussion on how she started, absorbed styles and developed techniques, how she challenges herself to extend what she can already do.   I don’t use instagram, I wasn’t aware of Mohini Dey.  I am now.  Mission accomplished. 👍 Beato.  ymmv 

 

 

Another one I thoroughly enjoyed.  I’ve been paying attention to Matteo Mancuso for some time.   But, what? Mateus Asato? Another extremely talented player from a younger generation.   Beato for the win.  👍
 

Now if you don’t care for instrumental music, virtuosic playing and styles of music that depend on that, then this is not of great interest to you.   If you don’t like Beato you may have a hard time ignoring the moments where he speaks.  No worries, there’s many other things out there to fill one’s head.  

[AROIOS]

20 hours ago, mrk7421 said:

Its good to know now that I am not the only one who has a less than favorable impression of Rick.So rather than go on about what I think Invite you to watch Rick's video ...."How to play guitar like Joe Pass".....which is obviously not going to happen in one easy lesson.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Just scroll in at about 5 minutes or so and you tell me if you think very many people are going to stick around to make sense of this. Rick whips through a bunch of chord sequences at nearly top speed.....but does not stick to a logical sequence or anything like that......he just shows off some of what he knows about jazz guitar chords. I am not even sure that these are things that Joe played..Its like trying to put back the pieces of broken glass..... And we are just supposed to "know" what chords he is playing.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Sadly there is just too much of this approach in our schools and universities. After seeing this I wouldn't go near a Beato book or another video of similar demonstration.The reason I speak out about it is ...Rick's many videos  pop up way too much as I search YouTube.It is starting too look too much like a monopoly.    Why would a well known musician agree to an interview after  already doing one with Rick? It's just becoming overkill.

 

Exactly, I've watched some of his music theory videos and found them to be utterly useless. Just regurgitation of dry text you can easily find online, with little empathy or thought put into them.

And there were poor souls in the comment sections saying those were way better explanations than what they received in school. Really makes you wonder just how terrible their teachers were, or how bad their YT search skills are.

[AROIOS]

7 hours ago, jazzpiano88 said:

 

This I had not seen before (Paul Gilbert's Drill Technique):

 

 

 

 

 

He learned that from Eddie:
 

 

[jazzpiano88]

Wow Czech out his analysis of Boston's "Hitch a Ride".    It's my favorite song on the album.     He analyzes all of the chords and the melody.    He gives up on Tom's solo, it is so killer.  Great analysis on Tom playing bass as well.    Never heard any better analysis than this!!

 

 

 

[Piktor]

5 hours ago, CHarrell said:

Or you could just call out specific people and individuals for the over-the-line behavior.

 

I have been here for many years and comment infrequently, but I'm proud of the rare thumbs down that the anti-Asian racist awarded me. I'd rather not be in agreement with racists.  

Is that observation political? Sorry if my comment is political, but not sorry for noting the dickishness of the mail order bride comment. 

[John Tweed]

Is there any way to hide a complete thread on this site? If there were then when a thread goes south like this it could be ignored completely.

 

Alternatively perhaps those folks who want to spend a long time denigrating someone would find it a better use of their time finding some youtube videos that they do approve of, and watching them.

 

 There seems to be people who are jealous of someone who has found a way to continue a music career in this day and age. When I started playing in bands almost 60 years ago musos had many opportunities to play and get paid well for it. Nowadays not so much.

I believe if you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything at all. I’m breaking my rule a bit in this case, because watching a thread turn toxic like this is like watching the proverbial slow motion car crash - hard to take your eyes off.

 
However if there was a way to hide the complete thread it would be much easier to ignore. Moderators what say you?
 

[Adan]

17 hours ago, CyberGene said:

This very thread is a contradiction and a provocation. Don’t tell me that’s not the case. 

 

Because, as has become obvious, people are very passionate about Beato, they either like him or not. The latter have ignored his YT channel for particular reasons. I have ignored him.

 

So, what’s the purpose of creating the 100th thread here about Beato? You think he needs more popularity? Nobody knows him? How can I ignore this thread and future threads about Beato’s newest content? And do you think creating yet another thread will change someone’s opinion on Beato? And those who follow him would certainly have seen his last content, YT makes sure you see it instantly. Again, what’s the purpose of this thread? To me, there’s a hidden purpose to annoy those people who don’t like him and make them bite the hook, so you can then bash them about how they are haters, how what they say speaks more about them, negativity of the world, this forum going downhill and blah-blah. Nope, you’re seeking confrontation. 

 

Believe me, the entire world knows about Beato going mainstream, either from his own video about himself, or through the article itself, or through the numerous reaction videos that follow. Threads like this thus serve no other purpose than to stir the crap. And when it hits you, don’t start acting surprised. Negativity is everywhere, think about it 😉

 

 

A lot of what you say here is valid, but GRollins is not a provocateur.  A benefit of being on this forum for many years is familiarity with other long time posters.  It’s clear some people in this thread just relish a food fight.  G is not one of them.  
 

For reasons I can’t understand, Beato has become a toxic subject. Easy enough not to click on those threads going forward.  It’s hot as though I need these threads to be aware of Beato vids. They’re ubiquitous in my YT feed.