For our little community of enthusiasts, music isn’t something that plays in the background. It’s closer to food, water, and air. Happily, there are lots of people in our same boat, who are willing to dive deeply into what makes music work.
YouTube star Rick Beato is one of our favorites. If you haven’t spent time with him yet, you’re in for a treat. His channel, Everything Music, boasts over four million subscribers and covers a wide range of topics related to a life steeped in music.
Happily, he’s fluent in multiple skills as a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and educator. His professional journey began in the early 1980s when he worked as a musician, songwriter, audio engineer, and record producer. He puts this experience to good use, exploring multiple aspects of music analysis.
His main channel focuses on a few key areas:
1. Production Insights: Beato gets “under the hood” of what makes records work. Whether it’s dissecting classic tracks, analyzing chord progressions, or discussing studio techniques, he provides valuable insights for anyone looking to learn more about the music we love.
“The Solo that Broke the Internet” is a prime example.
2. Song Analysis: One of Beato’s signature features is his song analysis videos. He breaks down popular songs, revealing their underlying structures, harmonies, and melodic choices. His fine ear allows him to uncover hidden gems within the music.
Steely Dan fans will particularly dig this one.
3. Ear Training: Beato spends a good amount of time working to improve listeners’ ability to recognize chords, melodies, and harmonies by ear. Naturally, this applies more to musicians than non-players, but his approach is grounded, simple, practical, and endlessly useful.
4. Interviews: Beato invites fellow musicians, producers, and industry professionals for insightful interviews. These conversations provide a glimpse into the Creative Mind. His subjects respect his chops, so they tend to open up in unusual ways.
His session with Pat Metheny is one of his best.
As with many of us of, um, a “certain age,” he also occasionally flashes a touch of “get off my lawn,” which, to be fair, is not entirely unjustified. Case in point…
As with any set of opinions, people of good will can disagree – but at least Beato is speaking from hard-won experience. He’s been one of our favorite musical sherpas for years, and we look forward to more adventures ahead.
-Al Cattabiani
Photo: Fair Use screen grab from “Everything Music” YouTube channel
My God! Rick’s analysis of Kid Charlemagne was spectacular! I’m a huge fan of Rick from YouTube.
Have been a Steely Dan fan since the beginning . Thanks for this great article’
Frank Gambale – kinnell!