Rick Beato goes mainstream

[CyberGene]

29 minutes ago, Adan said:

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.

Thanks, that’s why I also love forums and the familiarity, the little society with friendship groups but also some respect even among people who often disagree. Which is why I trust you, and apologize to GRollins if my comment came across as harsh. I have only occasionally stumbled upon his posts and didn’t know him well.

 

On a more general note, I am OK with any thread and any opinion about this or that, positive or negative, extreme or mild. I’m just not OK in an implicit assumption that praising someone is positive, whereas criticizing is negative and a hate. And then proceeding with some conclusions about the forum and humanity, let alone throwing qualifications. After all, someone bashed a third-party, and you then respond by bashing him directly. How about just skipping those posts you don’t agree with, even when they bash someone you don’t like?

[ElmerJFudd]

7 hours ago, jazzpiano88 said:

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!!

 

 

 

Excellent.  Not for beginners other than to conceptually build a picture of how a beautifully crafted Boston song is put together and to understand the skill set necessary if you have aspirations to do the same. 

[ElmerJFudd]

1 hour ago, CyberGene said:

Thanks, that’s why I also love forums and the familiarity, the little society with friendship groups but also some respect even among people who often disagree. Which is why I trust you, and apologize to GRollins if my comment came across as harsh. I have only occasionally stumbled upon his posts and didn’t know him well.

 

On a more general note, I am OK with any thread and any opinion about this or that, positive or negative, extreme or mild. I’m just not OK in an implicit assumption that praising someone is positive, whereas criticizing is negative and a hate. And then proceeding with some conclusions about the forum and humanity, let alone throwing qualifications. After all, someone bashed a third-party, and you then respond by bashing him directly. How about just skipping those posts you don’t agree with, even when they bash someone you don’t like?

Everyone has opinions based on their life experiences and a forum is a place for dialogue.  No one need agree.  It’s nice to hear that ideas, preferences or beliefs one has may be affirmed by others.  But it’s healthy and a blessing to hear the opposite as that is reality.  We may not agree, or even understand how it’s possible that others have such a drastically different opinion.  But it’s part of discourse and as a community we must accept and take into account that there are diverse viewpoints in the world.  Healthy.  
 

What’s not healthy is an aversion to hearing different viewpoints, not making an attempt to understand opposing ideas.  To get another person to understand why we hold an opinion it is best to offer context,  supporting details and examples.  People stop listening at, “that’s just what I believe, suffer it”.   There’s nothing to talk about at that point.  
 

The worst thing we can do as a community is attack each other personally and worse, gang up on each other.  Maybe it shouldn’t be tolerated with repeated incidents?  Of course, others may not agree.  But the forum has other rules we do a pretty good job of following for the most part and posts do get nixed, threads locked or removed.  I believe folks have even been banned at times. 

[HammondDave]

1 hour ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Everyone has opinions based on their life experiences and a forum is a place for dialogue.  No one need agree.  It’s nice to hear that ideas, preferences or beliefs one has may be affirmed by others.  But it’s healthy and a blessing to hear the opposite as that is reality.  We may not agree, or even understand how it’s possible that others have such a drastically different opinion.  But it’s part of discourse and as a community we must accept and take into account that there are diverse viewpoints in the world.  Healthy.  
 

What’s not healthy is an aversion to hearing different viewpoints, not making an attempt to understand opposing ideas.  To get another person to understand why we hold an opinion it is best to offer context,  supporting details and examples.  People stop listening at, “that’s just what I believe, suffer it”.   There’s nothing to talk about at that point.  
 

The worst thing we can do as a community is attack each other personally and worse, gang up on each other.  Maybe it shouldn’t be tolerated with repeated incidents?  Of course, others may not agree.  But the forum has other rules we do a pretty good job of following for the most part and posts do get nixed, threads locked or removed.  I believe folks have even been banned at times. 

As long as people make excuses for bad behavior, then the bad behavior will continue. There is NO EXCUSE for being offensive, obscene, or ageist. The poster(s) I am referring to posted such remarks, and it should not be tolerated. Hiding behind “freedom of speech” is a lazy argument for tolerating mean and insensitive comments. 
 

Many years ago I was called out for being “too political”, and I curbed that behavior as it was against forum rules. I am curious why it seems that hateful speech is tolerated here. And is being defended by several forum members. Maybe this is OK now that we live in such a society of declining morals.  Well, its not OK with me. 

[Al Quinn]

I spent some time with Rick a few years ago in a Manhattan pub (that's me to his right). I came away from that experience learning that he's a nice guy. While he's found a way to monetize YouTube, he's also made a living in other ways in the past. He's a capable, resourceful guy, who's knowledgeable about music. He's opinionated, as am I, and likes a good debate. I guess being opinionated can be mistaken for arrogance but he's definitely not arrogant. From what I could tell he's a decent, respectful, warm guy. Turns out we have some mutual friends which was fun to talk about.

 

I'm kind of neutral regarding his channel and only watch his videos occasionally. I get the most out of his interviews with musicians I like (e.g., Brad M., Keith, J., Pat M.). I feel like some of the negative comments on this thread are about his character so I thought I'd chime in with my first hand experience. 

 

[GRollins]

I find it unsurprising that certain people completely miss the points I've been trying to make. I expected it. As I said in my previous post, they've already rationalized their behavior and have no intention of changing. I could go to the trouble to extract the parts of my posts that relate to things they're saying and place them side by side for contrast and compare purposes, but...to what end? They're still not going to admit they're out of line and it would take too much of my time...which I need to flail at this stupid house. (Today's more mud and tape...have I mentioned how much I hate mud? I HATE MUD! There, I said it, just in case I hadn't before. [See? Even I am filled with hate...])

 

I'm not sure how I can say this without crossing the line into politics, but I'll give it a try. A few years back there was an event that, shall we say, allowed all the racists to come crawling out from under their rocks. People were horrified. "Where did all these racists come from? Things were going so well and now they're going to hell in a hand basket!" Well, I, for one, was not caught off guard. I knew they were there all along. I worked with them, bought groceries from them, and stood next to them on street corners, waiting for the light to change. They were never gone. They just went underground, seething and simmering at a society that they resented, waiting for their chance to try to remake the world in their image--one based on a hierarchy wherein they would be the masters once more. When their chance came, they seized it with both hands. Now they march openly instead of grumbling to themselves in the closet where no one can hear.

 

There are always hate-filled people. Always. They will never go away. The most you can hope for is to build in enough restraints, woven throughout society, that they are forced to keep their ugly-assed comments down to uneasy muttering instead of shouting them from the rooftops. Does this somehow restrict their First Amendment rights? The First Amendment is not absolute. It is not the preeminent right, superseding all others. A Mafia boss cannot, for instance, order someone's murder, then hide behind the First Amendment, claiming that they can say anything they want. There are real limits.

 

With the right to free speech comes responsibility--the responsibility to think before speaking; to self-edit, if necessary, the things that the Id wants to say. That's why Freud posited the Ego (to control the Id) and the Super Ego (to oversee the whole unruly mess). But as I've said, a large percentage of society has completely abandoned any pretense of civilized behavior. It's all Id, 24/7. The child is loose upon the world and, yea verily, it is an ill-tempered, petulant, spoiled brat, with an evil pull-the-wings-off-of-flies mentality that will not be satisfied with anything less than pure pain, chaos, and destruction.

 

It's sad to watch this happen at Keyboard Corner. Intellectually, I knew that it was likely, but that didn't stop me from hoping that the madness would, somehow, pass this site by, leaving an island of relative calm. Alas, 'twas not to be. The tendrils have slowly encroached upon even this humble oasis...and will continue to grow. I don't see a way to stop them any more than there's a way to stop them in our larger society.

 

The monsters are out of their dark, dank, hidey-holes and they will not be going back without a fight.

 

The time has come for me to withdraw from this thread. The people who are behaving badly have had a sense of entitlement instilled in them by their masters that permits them to do as they please, when they please, and damn the consequences. Like my altercations with Jody, I'm not big enough to win this fight. I don't have long enough arms and I'm not strong enough. Time to go.

 

And, as I always say when I leave: You guys have fun.

 

Grey

[MathOfInsects]

I've seen the term "behavior" come up several times now. Can someone clarify what the "behavior" is? Is it some people saying that they don't enjoy Beato's videos as much as others do, and giving a reason or two? Or is it really about that one kneepad post?

[ElmerJFudd]

1 hour ago, HammondDave said:

As long as people make excuses for bad behavior, then the bad behavior will continue. There is NO EXCUSE for being offensive, obscene, or ageist. The poster(s) I am referring to posted such remarks, and it should not be tolerated. Hiding behind “freedom of speech” is a lazy argument for tolerating mean and insensitive comments. 
 

Many years ago I was called out for being “too political”, and I curbed that behavior as it was against forum rules. I am curious why it seems that hateful speech is tolerated here. And is being defended by several forum members. Maybe this is OK now that we live in such a society of declining morals.  Well, it’s not OK with me. 

I’ll suggest human beings haven’t ever changed - what they say and do.  Their behavior, always the same in its wide variety. The internet just exposes what we are all up to.  What was going on in the back room is arriving on our devices for all to see 24/7. Another avenue for exploitation and monetization. 😉 

 

As far as young people and their behaviors.  The ones I see have some positives on the rise (depending of course on how they’re raised).  They call out bullies (who are ever prevalent in every time and place), they have friends they’ve known since age 4 that are a different race and/or religion, they want more out of their week than work, eat, sleep, repeat until you die.  

[BMD]

Some of you guys need to lighten the f*** up!

[MathOfInsects]

5 hours ago, Adan said:

For reasons I can’t understand, Beato has become a toxic subject. 

 

I think that (accurate) statement also means that it's not reasonable, when starting yet another thread about him, to act surprised when the discussion heads to the only place it ever goes. 

I think the polarizing aspect of Beato (and I want to reiterate that I don't dislike him, I just don't spark to his content as some do) is completely in the generational struggle. Beato validates a lot of concerns or fears or beliefs among folks that the music of "their" period was better than the music of today. I think for them, there's finally someone saying all the things they believe--that this 1970 guitar solo is the best ever, or that that 1976 rock song is the best ever, etc. He's describing things in the terms of their first exposure to this stuff, and I think it feels comfortable and "right."

For those who don't like his content as much, that is also the exact reason for it.

This board skews toward the first contingent, so it can be easy and comfortable to forget about the worldview and experiences of rest of the demographic here (and everywhere). And never the twain, etc.

 

[CyberGene]

@GRollins I think I get it now why I’m not familiar with your posts. They’re just too long to read. But I read your last one and it comes as condescending and self-righteous. And actually kinda hateful. Kinda hating the haters in a justifiable way. But I’m OK with that. I get your point. And completely disagree. 
 

P.S. And I do think that you subconsciously created this thread to provoke. Not directly but in a passive-aggressive way. And you succeeded. Now you have all the good reasons to denounce the “haters” 😀

[ElmerJFudd]

9 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

@GRollins I think I get it why I’m not familiar with your posts. They’re just too long to read. But I read your last one and it comes as condescending and self-righteous. And actually kinda hateful. Kinda hating the haters in a justifiable way. But I’m OK with that. I get your point. And completely disagree. 

Don’t hate the player, hate the game.  😄  Whatever that means, just seems to be the response when the word “haters” comes up.  

[ElmerJFudd]

59 minutes ago, GRollins said:

I find it unsurprising that certain people completely miss the points I've been trying to make. I expected it. As I said in my previous post, they've already rationalized their behavior and have no intention of changing. I could go to the trouble to extract the parts of my posts that relate to things they're saying and place them side by side for contrast and compare purposes, but...to what end? They're still not going to admit they're out of line and it would take too much of my time...which I need to flail at this stupid house. (Today's more mud and tape...have I mentioned how much I hate mud? I HATE MUD! There, I said it, just in case I hadn't before. [See? Even I am filled with hate...])

 

I'm not sure how I can say this without crossing the line into politics, but I'll give it a try. A few years back there was an event that, shall we say, allowed all the racists to come crawling out from under their rocks. People were horrified. "Where did all these racists come from? Things were going so well and now they're going to hell in a hand basket!" Well, I, for one, was not caught off guard. I knew they were there all along. I worked with them, bought groceries from them, and stood next to them on street corners, waiting for the light to change. They were never gone. They just went underground, seething and simmering at a society that they resented, waiting for their chance to try to remake the world in their image--one based on a hierarchy wherein they would be the masters once more. When their chance came, they seized it with both hands. Now they march openly instead of grumbling to themselves in the closet where no one can hear.

 

There are always hate-filled people. Always. They will never go away. The most you can hope for is to build in enough restraints, woven throughout society, that they are forced to keep their ugly-assed comments down to uneasy muttering instead of shouting them from the rooftops. Does this somehow restrict their First Amendment rights? The First Amendment is not absolute. It is not the preeminent right, superseding all others. A Mafia boss cannot, for instance, order someone's murder, then hide behind the First Amendment, claiming that they can say anything they want. There are real limits.

 

With the right to free speech comes responsibility--the responsibility to think before speaking; to self-edit, if necessary, the things that the Id wants to say. That's why Freud posited the Ego (to control the Id) and the Super Ego (to oversee the whole unruly mess). But as I've said, a large percentage of society has completely abandoned any pretense of civilized behavior. It's all Id, 24/7. The child is loose upon the world and, yea verily, it is an ill-tempered, petulant, spoiled brat, with an evil pull-the-wings-off-of-flies mentality that will not be satisfied with anything less than pure pain, chaos, and destruction.

 

It's sad to watch this happen at Keyboard Corner. Intellectually, I knew that it was likely, but that didn't stop me from hoping that the madness would, somehow, pass this site by, leaving an island of relative calm. Alas, 'twas not to be. The tendrils have slowly encroached upon even this humble oasis...and will continue to grow. I don't see a way to stop them any more than there's a way to stop them in our larger society.

 

The monsters are out of their dark, dank, hidey-holes and they will not be going back without a fight.

 

The time has come for me to withdraw from this thread. The people who are behaving badly have had a sense of entitlement instilled in them by their masters that permits them to do as they please, when they please, and damn the consequences. Like my altercations with Jody, I'm not big enough to win this fight. I don't have long enough arms and I'm not strong enough. Time to go.

 

And, as I always say when I leave: You guys have fun.

 

Grey

Uh oh.  This one seems to have broken some forum rules, even though carefully crafted to seem like it hasn’t.  

[HammondDave]

54 minutes ago, MathOfInsects said:

I've seen the term "behavior" come up several times now. Can someone clarify what the "behavior" is? Is it some people saying that they don't enjoy Beato's videos as much as others do, and giving a reason or two? Or is it really about that one kneepad post?

If  you think that it is just the fellating comment, then I guess the ageist and racist “gray haired old white boomer”, along with  the numerous other mean-spirited comments posted from people who have never even met Beato, sail over your head. 

[MathOfInsects]

6 minutes ago, HammondDave said:

If  you think that it is just the fellating comment, then I guess the ageist and racist “gray haired old white boomer”, along with  the numerous other mean-spirited comments posted from people who have never even met Beato, sail over your head. 

I said post, not comment. But I believe this clarifies--it's mostly about that post, is that right?

As far as "comments by people who have never even met Beato," that would be most of the people on the planet, yes? Whether they are saying good things or bad things, people are responding to him as a social media media personality--a persona, not a person. He seems like a nice dude! But no one's reviewing him as a person. 

[Dave Bryce]

Hmmmm. 🤔

Well, one thing seems pretty clear to me: this thread needs a moderation decision.  

 

I hesitate to hide or nuke the thread because I do believe that it’s okay for people to share their opinions with each other, even in disagreement; however, it does feel to me like this topic is not a good fit for KC…so, having gotten Craig’s permission,  I’m moving it to SSS.

 

dB

 

 

[The Real MC]

If I want to learn about guitar, I'll listen to the Beato videos.

I'm a keyboard player not a guitar player.  I have seen some of Beato's videos on keyboards and he is not an authority on them.  One look at the CNN picture on page one of this thread reveals not one keyboard player.

Having said that, Beato has the teacher's gift.  He inspires students to learn, and he attracts a lot of good players in his interviews and draws out a lot of good stuff from them.  Not many YT content providers can do that.  I'm not a Beato hater, he does a good service to the music community.

[jazzpiano88]

3 hours ago, Dave Bryce said:

Hmmmm. 🤔

Well, one thing seems pretty clear to me: this thread needs a moderation decision.  

 

I hesitate to hide or nuke the thread because I do believe that it’s okay for people to share their opinions with each other, even in disagreement; however, it does feel to me like this topic is not a good fit for KC…so, having gotten Craig’s permission,  I’m moving it to SSS.

 

dB

It’s funny, after Grey’s farewell I was going to suggest that he might be happier hanging out here more instead of the keyboard corner as I always perceived this place as less drama.   

[Anderton]

46 minutes ago, jazzpiano88 said:

It’s funny, after Grey’s farewell I was going to suggest that he might be happier hanging out here more instead of the keyboard corner as I always perceived this place as less drama.   

 

That's true. The rules here are more lax, but the moderation is less tolerant.

 

We've even had somewhat political threads that were not only civilized discourse, but educational. Any thread that casts more light than heat is welcome here, within limits of course.

 

People who just want to broadcast agendas are discouraged. People who want to broaden their knowledge are encouraged.

[HammondDave]

3 hours ago, Anderton said:

 

That's true. The rules here are more lax, but the moderation is less tolerant.

 

We've even had somewhat political threads that were not only civilized discourse, but educational. Any thread that casts more light than heat is welcome here, within limits of course.

 

People who just want to broadcast agendas are discouraged. People who want to broaden their knowledge are encouraged.

 

Sounds like a good landing spot for this thread. 

[sam6599643]

On 2/26/2024 at 7:06 PM, o0Ampy0o said:

Rick has quirks which peeve people who keep them as pets but he is more human and less trendy slick with his channel. The majority of YT "influencers" have zero personality and mimic behavior of true star personalities.

The titles of his videos are now a compendium of YouTube clickbait strategies. The content seems to be lighter and lighter. It’s trendy slick YouTube “influencer” stuff. Not coming from a place of I will pursue my passion authentically. Now he is cashing in on what used to be possibly his authenticity. 
 

That’s what I see. 

[jazzpiano88]

1 hour ago, sam6599643 said:

The titles of his videos are now a compendium of YouTube clickbait strategies. The content seems to be lighter and lighter. It’s trendy slick YouTube “influencer” stuff.

 

His most recent, "The Stewart Copeland Interview" was pretty decent, I thought.    From what he has announced, the next couple will be "The Michael McDonald Interview" and "The George Benson Interview"

 

To me the content is maintaining a fairly  high degree of quality.   I don't know about you, but Michael McDonald is one of my all time heros since the 70s, and I'm guessing that Rick is going to ask a lot of the questions I would ask of Mike.

 

I grew up when "Breezin" took the mainstream world by storm.  I'm looking forward to finding out about George Benson's take on this.

[sam6599643]

8 hours ago, jazzpiano88 said:

 

His most recent, "The Stewart Copeland Interview" was pretty decent, I thought.    From what he has announced, the next couple will be "The Michael McDonald Interview" and "The George Benson Interview"

 

To me the content is maintaining a fairly  high degree of quality.   I don't know about you, but Michael McDonald is one of my all time heros since the 70s, and I'm guessing that Rick is going to ask a lot of the questions I would ask of Mike.

 

I grew up when "Breezin" took the mainstream world by storm.  I'm looking forward to finding out about George Benson's take on this.

 

Michael McDonald is one of my favourites. You’ll find however that Questlove long ago did an epic interview of him, hours-long career deep dive, from his beginnings in St Lous to Steely Dan, Doobie, you name it. Am pretty sure Questlove did George Benson too. All available on podcasts and does not consume video bandwidth.

 

I stopped subscribing to his channel when I saw too much clickbait. Look at at it now still see offerings such as “UMG vs Tik Tok - sh&% just got real” or “The Most Insane Music Interview”, “This Playing is Completely Insane”, “I’ve Changed my Mind off This”.  Am pretty sure this type of brain numbing stuff is not necessary in any framework other than maximising the lowest common demonisation of the algorithm ie money chasing. I avoid anyone who dabbles in that kind of framing and content - it’s mentally corrosive.

 

Also a lot of it actually uses the video format properly. Waste of bandwidth. Does not need to be a view stream.

 

 

 

[Anderton]

The clickbait thing in general really annoys me, like "This changed how I [write songs, play guitar, EQ banjo, whatever] FOREVER!!" I'm so happy for you! Now leave me alone  

 

Or "You're recording your vocals WRONG!" Well actually, no, I'm not. They sound fine. But here's the problem. If I made a video and the title was "How You EQ the Upper Mids Can Make or Break a Vocal," I bet it wouldn't get 1% as many clicks as "You're recording your vocals WRONG!"  The reason people do click bait titles is because people click on them.

[Reezekeys]

Rick's click-baity titles are annoying but I know to ignore them. What's really annoying is click-baity titles that suck you into wasting time on a video you wished you hadn't clicked on - you feel suckered. For myself, that's not the case with Rick's videos. I laugh at the titles and click on - and haven't felt suckered yet.

[GovernorSilver]

I really enjoyed the Stewart Copland and Andy Summers interviews.  The Police were among my childhood faves.

 

 

[jazzpiano88]

I don’t know how anyone can make it through a day if they’re so annoyed with his titles.   
Nearly every titled hyperlink on the internet is specifically engineered to get clicked, usually much more blatantly.  
 

I tried to get through the questloves podcast but couldn’t because the first 6 minutes where highly processed advertising audio that sounded like I was listening to a commercial FM station near the top of the hour.  Then when they get to the interview it’s a freaking round table laughing all around with the main guy acting like he’s doing a Howard Stern show.  I couldn’t take it.   Those are my objective complaints.  

[Anderton]

YouTube's gift to humanity was the 2X button. In a couple minutes, I can find out whether something is worth watching or not.

[KenElevenShadows]

2 hours ago, Anderton said:

YouTube's gift to humanity was the 2X button. In a couple minutes, I can find out whether something is worth watching or not.

 

I think I need to use that more often.

[murphybridget]

On 3/3/2024 at 12:52 AM, MathOfInsects said:

 

I think that (accurate) statement also means that it's not reasonable, when starting yet another thread about him, to act surprised when the discussion heads to the only place it ever goes. 

I think the polarizing aspect of Beato (and I want to reiterate that I don't dislike him, I just don't spark to his content as some do) is completely in the generational struggle. Beato validates a lot of concerns or fears or beliefs among folks that the music of "their" period was better than the music of today. I think for them, there's finally someone saying all the things they believe--that this 1970 guitar solo is the best ever, or that that 1976 rock song is the best ever, etc. He's describing things in the terms of their first exposure to this stuff, and I think it feels comfortable and "right."

For those who don't like his content as much, that is also the exact reason for it.

This board skews toward the first contingent, so it can be easy and comfortable to forget about the worldview and experiences of rest of the demographic here (and everywhere). And never the twain, etc.

 

Beato validates the beliefs and preferences of these individuals, affirming their perspective that their music was superior.