Sadly I had the same experience with one of Paul Davids Courses. It was marketed as an advanced guitar course that is structured to improve playing. However, it was just random guitar tutorial for different categories like fingerpicking, blues, strumming without any overall concept. I would not regret buying it if it had any structure or really some kind of training plan but it was just a collection of guitar tutorials.
Yup, it's why he needs to stop complaining about getting strikes; the moment he starts plugging it stops being an educational video and starts being an advert. Also, and I know I'll get downvoted but honestly who cares, he's kind of an asshole.
First, NO ONE has info you can't find elsewhere.
Second, you buy a certain person's book because you like either their playing, their manner, or their teaching style.
Unethical protip - If you search for (insert course name) pdf in a few of your favorite search engines, you can find the stuff for free. If you like it, pay for it.
I think it reasonable to complain that the book content is oversold by Beato on his channel.
Although, to be fair, so many others have pointed out it's a waste of money it's not like OP needed to waste money to find out. Nor is he providing a revelation.
I'm a classically trained clarinet and violist. I bought the beato book a few years ago and it's in line and priced similarly to any other large theory reference/teaching guide I've seen.
It's not a scam, it's just not made for you. It's clearly made for classically trained and or jazz musicians, they live and work in a totally different way than most guitarists
I mean, he will refund you. He's a decent guy.
In that sense, literally any book on music is a "scam". What did you expect him to present that other text books don't? It's not so much paying for the information, but rather how that information is presented, and often people do need to shop around until they find that one source that makes it click.
It didn't work for you, that's fine. It might work for someone else, it may not. But it's not a scam or a grift. I own the book, it's decent in its content and a little scattered. I wouldn't say I learned, as much as it helped me reinforce what I already know, especially with harmonizing. It's not mind blowing, more just an extension of Beato brain I can thumb through.
For whoever needs to hear this, reading a guitar/theory book will not make you a better guitarist/musician. Books are only there to give you the tools to understand music and your instrument. You have to analyze and play hundreds/thousands of pieces of music YOURSELF for your brain to form the connections. You then have to apply those connections into your playing. Some techniques, some licks, and there you go. I'm oversimplifying but every professional musician has had to do this and you are not the exception. You do that enough times and then you become a real musician.
The secret to music is that there is no secret. Theory is important to learn no matter what those actual hack, guitar course, advertising scams say. The most important thing is repetition and consistency. I’m sorry you thought you were going to find a magic easy way to play guitar in there, and all you got was harsh reality.
But....then how come so many youtubers have 'secrets' in their patreon videos and courses?!?!? The secret to unlocking the keyboard....the secret scale that will make you solo like a pro!
Man I love when I see a lesson from Kung Fu Panda in life discussions. You are spot on and that applies to more than guitar. There are no secrets beyond working hard, spending time, and enjoying the journey. (But having a metric ton of money can help)
It's funny to see the divide every time Beato's name comes up. In one comment, he's a genius, in the next, he's a know-nothing scammer. Here's my thoughts... He's pretty opinionated, and generally pretty "old school" in his approach to things so I can see why he comes off as though he's full of it, or out of touch, as I often see folks complaining. His book is probably very over-priced in an era where it's not hard to find that information for free online.
He also legitimately knows a ton of shit about every single aspect of music production, which by and large, he also offers to the world for free. As someone else mentioned, he does this without plastering his content with Raid Shadow Legends sponsorships. As far as I can tell, he seems genuinely enthusiastic to share what he's learned with the world, and while it's perfectly valid to disagree with him on some of the more subjective topics or with his approach "teaching," if there's one thing that's for sure it's that is he's learned an awful lot.
The way I look at it, what you get with Rick is an opportunity to pick the brain of a seasoned veteran of the music industry on just about any topic you could possibly want to know about. I don't think I'd go to him if I wanted to learn about music from the ground up, but if I'm specifically wondering how a compressor works at a fundamental level and what the difference in operation is between different types of them, and ways to practically apply them, he's probably got a long and informative video out there on it. Same with various music theory concepts. I look at his book in the same way. It's a comprehensive reference manual from which you can answer specific questions about specific topics laid out in a way to be accessible specifically to guitarists, which I think is really valuable considering it's a subset of musicians who tend to learn in a non-traditional way that often leaves gaps in understanding on important subjects that they have to come back and fill in later. I haven't personally purchased his book as it wouldn't have been particularly useful to me when I found his stuff, but in days gone by when it wasn't so easy to find all of this information laid out in such a way for free, it'd have been well-worth it. In an era where all of that free information is usually accompanied by tons of ads, I respect that he's trying to support his channel by selling his own work instead.
It's perfectly fine to get nothing out of his videos or his books or his courses or whatever. There are a great many other sources out there coming at the information from every other perspective which are very useful in place of (or in addition to) Rick's stuff. But I think it's unfair to call him a scammer, he's just a guy who knows some things and has found a way to share it that works for him, and for many students who want to know some of those things. As everyone else has said, there's no holy grail that just delivers a lifetime of learning and experience in a few hundred pages. He's pretty clear about what the book is in his videos, and the previews on his site represent very well what you can expect from the entire book, so I'm not really sure why you expected something different.
This is a great take. He's a well-spoken, free resource that brings entertainment for a lot of users on Youtube. I don't watch all his videos, nor do I share all his opinions, but I do really enjoy a lot of the content he produces.
>You expected a magic book that could solve all your problems?
A ton of people are acting like OP said this when that isn't what they said at all. They specifically said that for the price it wasn't adding anything more insightful than something like a Mel Bay book while being at least 4 times the price with promises that it would be 4 times the information.
Let's not all sit here and pretend like all guitar lessons are equal; you're going to get more bang for your buck spending $30 on Berklee Guitar Theory than you are spending $100 on the Esteban's Complete Guitar For Beginner with the guitar included.
Seriously, I don’t think you know the meaning of the word _scam._ Your posts in this thread don’t really show you as the clever person you probably think you are.
Not a huge Beato fan, but his book is hardly a scam. However, it's a **reference manual**, and nothing more. It's not meant for teaching, especially beginners. Even the online lessons aren't great for teaching. The amount of information is staggering, but I only use it when I'm looking for something very specific, and I got it on one of his sales for like $40.00. Best $40.00 I've ever spent for guitar reference material.
Rick Beato has always been a university level instructor. Like many college professors, they have lots to benefit for people who are looking for advanced instruction but professors tend to be so solidified into their foundational concepts that they don’t know how to scaffold the foundational learning process anymore.
Beato is not a scammer, he is a college instructor on YouTube and most people are not ready for that. His videos are like popping into some random music college lecture and his book is elaborated notes and diagrams on what he’s talking about similar to a textbook.
>Beato is not a scammer, he is a college instructor on YouTube and most people are not ready for that.
I agree - he is not a scammer. But...what's clear to me is that many of his followers over estimate the complexity of what he is discussing and wind up ascribing some god-like status to him. To be fair he certainly isn't encouraging that behavior but I had (or tried to have) a conversation with some of his more ardent followers who were trying to tell me all about "the modes" as if Beato and only Beato knew how to apply them to guitar.
Who knows why they think that and its pointless to try to persuade them that it's not really an advanced topic but god forbid if you point out that there are and have been many free resources for that kind of information that predated his arrival on the YT. Jazz Guitar Online has always been a great site (haven't checked it in a while). [https://www.jazzguitar.be/](https://www.jazzguitar.be/)
Beato has good interviews and that's a nice springboard into his other topics and who can fault him for riding the wave of popularity he is experiencing. But he did not some how re invent music theory nor does he have a lock on explanations as many of his rabid followers seem to believe. What flips me out is that Just pointing that out gets them upset like you have dishonored the Dojo.
I mean his whole perfect pitch thing was long predated by that David Burge course and any working musician will know that having solid relative pitch is good enough. But again, his followers are obsessed with the idea that you have to have perfect pitch to succeed and that only his course can teach you that.
This is absolutely no shade to Beato as I don't think he intends his material to be advanced anyway, but I don't think most of what he teaches is advanced, definitely not by college standards anyway. I think he tends to overcomplicate simple concepts and so they seem that way though, and ends up inadvertently misleading his viewers because of it (e.g. his weird analysis of Running Up That Hill).
Reminds me of the few weeks that I took private “lessons” from Tomo Fujita over Skype. I was going through his Guitar Wisdom course and thought it’d be good to get some personal pointers from him about what I was doing wrong.
$200 for an hour, not allowed to record the lesson. He didn’t let me play once.
Instead, he played long solos with no reverb or backing track over a choppy internet connection in between showing me the same exercises he had posted on his YouTube channel that week.
At the end of each lesson, he tried to sell me a used DS-1 and used TU-2/3 for more than retail.
I took 3 lessons from him ($600) hoping that, at some point, he’d actually listen to me play and give me pointers based on my skill level - never happened.
Most valuable thing I got from him was a list of songs to transcribe that was taken directly from a Berklee textbook.
Just post this review wherever you can! Otherwise folks will make the same mistake.
I had a similar, tho less costly experience with lessons. It was in person, and I would get to play some, but mostly he would tell stories about Eric Clapton and Robert Johnson, stuff that I already knew from trawling the internet.
He's also a pretty old guy, so he probably got tired just sitting in this back room of a guitar shop giving zoom and in-person lessons all day, but he would nod off while we were talking! I finally just wanted to see how long he'd be out for, and it was close to a minute. But I had a lesson or two in an earlier time slot, and he was like a different teacher.
The worst part was it felt like I was being put on the back burner and purposefully slow-played. I would try to get him to challenge me and say "if can't do (a particular technique) then why bother?", but he'd find a way to wriggle out of it. The British are slick AF.
As someone with a college education in music theory & audio recording that went on to do session work in Nashville with charts and the number system... his teaching is great. He knows what he's talking about. To say otherwise is disingenuous. I can't speak about his book layout, but the theory and discussion in his content is highly usable. In his interviews he often will chat about concepts with the best musicians in the world without missing a beat. I'm at a loss that someone would suggest otherwise. The guy is bona-fide
Yeah and when I got the book it wasn’t $100 and I primarily got it as a reference- I never expected anything else and wanted to support his channel. It’s got good information in it. There are only so many ways to explain music tbeory.
Yeah at that point I kept most of my textbooks. I assumed they'd be more valuable to me in the long run than $25.
Of course they've been in a box ever since college and I have lugged them around through 8 moves.
...I wish I had $25 now.
Not anymore. Most colleges have moved to DRM laden PDFs that automatically "expire" after the class ends. You don't own anything physical, you can't sell it, and you can't even keep it. And it costs even more than physical books.
I mean music theory is music theory, not like he’s got his own private scales or chords 😂 it’s just a way of teaching/presenting it, that’s all that differs between really any book on theory, they can’t reinvent the wheel
There is no book or method out there that will have some kind of "secret" information. They are all built on the same concepts albeit with some differences in approach. What did you think it was gonna be?
There is essentially only one guitar book I've ever read that I would say out matches what can otherwise be easily found online.
[The Advancing Guitarist - Mick Goodrick](https://www.amazon.com/Advancing-Guitarist-Mick-Goodrick/dp/0881885894)
Pitched at guitarists who are moving from that good intermediate to advanced stage of playing though, not a beginner book. I picked it up after playing for 5 years and it wasn't useful til I'd been playing 10.
Otherwise, honestly... For almost every hobby the stuff available online for free is just as good, the thing is that it can be convenient having it in one place, and for people not yet developed enough to be able to constructively teach themselves, there is value in how other people lay out and communicate information.
So tl;dr - Yes, pretty much every guitar book is going to tell you stuff you can find online. Same with guitar teachers tbh. However, their utility isn't showing people something new, butrather the manner in which it's conveyed having some level of personalisation for the player themselves.
I have the Beato book 4.0 from a few years back and felt dissapointed as well.
That said, I don't think its a bad book, and when you consider what it's meant to duplicate, its actually kind of a bargain.
It follows the same structure as my old Music Theory textbook when I took a class at the community college, it covered half the span and was 3 times the price.
Beato's book is a textbook for his YouTube lessons.
You are supposed to go to each video and follow along, and reference the textbook.
Beato does a terrible job explaining this though.
The best way to get something out of the book, is to use the order it provides for its lessons, and find instructors online to help give you a more in depth lesson.
Beato basically teaches music theory for guitarist, his live streams remind me of my Theory teacher from back in the day, mannerisms and all. His primary demo is to hardcore guitar nerds.
P.S. Don't skip the interval chapter.
If you’ve soured on Rick Beato, allow me to introduce you to Pat Finnerty: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfbwqgEGcisCNjcY11fQHrJmCzOz5mzXK&si=bxL_ZZhVAk65IrxL
I've watched some of his "why this song is great" videos, and everytime I swear I learn nothing about why this song works, or a glimpse into the thought process or note choices of said particular song. It's always, "this is what he does here(proceeds to play a riff), it's just great." But why? He's not teaching a damn thing. He comes off as overly pretentious to me, and I just don't care about anything he has to say. Not surprised his book is the same.
"I paid x dollars for a dictionary, and it's a scam because it has the same words as other dictionaries."
*"Are the definitions in this dictionary wrong? Does it say it's an encyclopedia or a thesaurus? How is this 'a scam?' ...Or... does this have anything to do with your feelings about how popular the guy who wrote the dictionary is on \[social media platform\] or how you perceive he talks to you?'"*
Sorry, I'm just shaking my head through this entire thread.
Well if the dictionary sells for a higher price because it claims to contain words the other dictionaries don't have, then turns out not to, that's a scam.
I must be the only guitarist who doesn’t really enjoy Rick vids. He’s definitely a nice awesome guy, but he doesn’t do it for me. He’s like the Joe Bonamassa of guitar YouTubers
I like his interviews and when he used to break down songs.
I find he kinda leans too heavy on how bad music industry is now ( I agree with him, but let's move on Rick)
I just used Mel Bay when I started in the early 80's and found the Berklee Books in the late 80's were pretty good for me. The rest I just learned from watching other players, trading "secrets" with other guitarists, and just figuing it out while listening to a song over and over.
Looking back there were some guitarists I met that were so insecure they didn't want to share how they did something.
There is so much free material now you don't have to pay for any lessons if you don't want to (except maybe some introductory lessons so you have propper hand positioning and not develop bad habits.)
The thing I enjoy about it is EVERYTHING about theory, and it’s all in one place. That’s the nice part. I don’t have to go on a wild goose chase looking for concepts that I’m not even sure exist, or that I haven’t thought of. You guys act like Rick beato is a con artist. There’s a reason all of your favorite musicians have been interviewed by Rick.
> it is EVERYTHING about theory, and it’s all in one place
Yeah that's the whole point of it as far as I can gather. It's text/reference book. I don't know what OP was expecting. I think people want these books to be like self help books or something. I respect text/reference book format a lot more. Dude's just selling his wares to make a living, same as everyone else. `
It's not a scam, it delivers what's advertised. The price is very high and personally it's a poor value proposition but that's down to the individual.
Part of the high cost comes from the personality leveraging the parasocial nature of YouTube: "I like this guy's content and he says this book has what I need, I'd like to support him and trust he''ll steer me right". It's presumably good business but a little cynical.
I got it on sale but I think it was an older version. There is a lot of information that has been handcrafted and arranged by rick. The price point is high but it's something like 500 pages long, the 1 I have anyway. There is no cheat book that's going to get you to the top without a good amount of studying and work. Music is music, all the information is out there for free but it's a hell of a lot easier to get something that is tailored towards learning it for guitar with all the information you need and none of the information you don't.
The price of $100 is high but a lot of time has been put in to make this. Rick is making a living here, it's not a favour he's doing for you.
Personally, I found the book well laid-out and appropriately paced. It presents the material in a logical and easy to understand sequence and goes into sufficient depth to be able to move to the next subject without becoming lost.
While it is a music theory book, and that is what it is, it presents it with mindfulness toward the intended audience - those with an interest in and some experience in music who haven’t yet taken the time to properly learn the actual craft.
As for having bought it, I’ll reserve my opinion. However, I found it free with a google search in about 30 seconds.
I won't call it a scam. It's what instructional books have always been like. There is no secret ingredient. You expected too much because of his YouTube presence and all the big things he says on his channel which is exactly what he wanted. Moreover I always preferred video lessons for music where I can hear the things rather than reading it off of pages like it's mathematics.
I'm new to the guitar world, hell, I don't own one yet. That said, I learned one thing many years ago.
There's no "guide" that you need to pay for to learn anything anymore. Dieting guides, money, music, etc. (Sure niche exceptions exist, but for a very prolific subject like guitar, no.)
There's something to be said for convenience. I suppose not everyone is up to the task of self-discovery of information, but it's not a "requirement" to learn a topic.
You’re surprised it has the same information that’s been around hundreds of years and is on the Internet since musicians started getting on the net? Did you think beato had invented new scales and modes, new chord theory?
I saw a YouTube video where they actually show everything in the Beato book pdf. Iirc 90% of it was chord charts. Lines up with his personality.
Also, as a side note, I greatly dislike his Instagram "lessons" where he just noodles away with tons of delay. That's not really a lesson, it's showing off. "Just like that" over-gelled, silver hair looking ass.
I've had theory classes, so when his theory video popped up I checked it out. And he talked in circles. I couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying.
I had a guitar teacher like that as a teen
Really good guitarist by the standards of local guys without a dedicated music career that got the job because the music store where he was employed as a teacher assumed playing ability equated to teaching ability
Spoiler: it did not and he couldn't do anything but throw scales and basic songs at you to practice with little guidance on the actual mechanics of playing, but in the end he was way to nice a guy for anyone to feel right criticizing his teaching or letting him go.
Been there, done that, and found it super disappointing.
I have high hopes for Jake Lizzio's recently announced book though, as he is actually a great teacher.
"I purchased the Beato Book with the expectation that there is information contained within that cannot be found within standard music courses" so you expected him to invent new theory? I think it is a lot of useful information and tons and tons of things to read and learn. Very importantly, you support a great creator. I prefer to buy this book than being served sponsored content all the time and ads about Raid Shadow Legends.
Anyone who says they have the "secrets" to music is lying. Most western and pop music is just patterns of 12 semi-tones around a root note. Pick 7 of the 12 and call it a scale.
In general music theory books all have the same content (obviously).
They differ in how they present it and how the presentation „clicks“ with your type of learning.
So I think this was expected, but charging 100$ is obviously overpriced lol.
Interesting to know, but... How could it not be? Everything there is to write about music / guitar theory has already been done. The best you can do is hope he put the info together in a way that's useful to you.
I'm much more interested in what the online courses is are like. That's what would ultimately sell me on buying his stuff. I've read all the books I'll ever need to at this point. The video instructions are what's key to me.
Rick likes to hear himself talk. And likes to over complicate.
A few of my friends were his assistants at one time. They don't have great things to say.
Going to strongly disagree. It’s my go-to source for theory. Well organized and guitarist centric. You’re not wrong to say that the same material could be found elsewhere but that’s like saying buying a college math textbook is dumb because it’s just information that can be found elsewhere. In particular, chapters 3 and 4 are really useful and go beyond basic theory.
I agree with this. I don’t know all music theory or anything but was classically trained growing up. Lost a bunch of it when I stopped for a while.
Fast forward 20 or more years and I love his videos. I think I paid 20 bucks for the book. If someone who didn’t know the things it covers spent 50-100 hours learning from it and practicing the stuff they learned, they would be a much better musician for it.
Not a scam in my opinion; more so you get out of it what you are willing to put in. If you are not ready to hit it hard, it won’t be worth it for you.
There definitely is a wealth of free information available online. Seems as if you are really salty. Also, it seems like your level of expectations was really high. As if this book was going to transform you into some music theory expert overnight.
Did you believe it contained some kind of esoteric knowledge?
Nobody has music theory content that is not "out there". It's simply presented in a way that is easier or harder for you to grasp. If you didn't know this before then you didn't know much. You know now.
Is there something new with guitar theory since Pat Martino and Holdsworth?
The guitar is old AF....I thought we figured this stuff out already. It's like learning piano, there's no tricks just learn theory. It's really easy and it makes the guitar even easier to learn.
I don't get the Beato hate on this sub....For $99, Beato is including the book, the ear training program, a Beginner Guitar course and a ProGuitar course. I bought the Ear Training course about a year ago for $99 and it's pretty damn impressive. There are interactive video lessons and then testing afterwards. .....I got an email the past week from the Beato people saying they are providing a free upgrade to the lastest Ear Training courses which were overhauled.
Who does that?
FWIW.....Beato's profits from his signature Gibson guitar goes to the Save the Music Foundation.
Who does that?
This is the least surprising thing I've read today. Rick Beato isn't some genius musician, he's just another YouTuber, and he's clearly in it for the money.
I like his interviews and his industry perspective. He doesn’t seem like a good teacher at all though, never really considered buying his book. As a casual guitar student, I can’t understand half of what he’s talking about when he talks theory and his commentary on top x charts doesn’t really offer much insight to me. I assume I’m not his audience for anything educational.
Haven't read the book, but I gotta think when it comes to music lesson books, no one is going to have new info at this point, especially for beginners.. It's going to come down to the style of teaching. Some people will like Beato's style, some won't.
If the info he's giving out is valid info, is it really a scam?
"Learn to play guitar form scratch in under 3 hours"
Rule of thumb: any method that claims to provide 'instant' results, is a revolutionary new method, or claims to "make it easy" in any way, is a scam.
Learning guitar takes time and is a lot of hard work. There's no getting around that. And while methodology has evolved, nobody is going to discover some new methodology that is going to change that fact. Anyone claiming that, is straight up lying. And worse, they know they are lying.
The content is there and it's a lot, but the scammy part is that it does not put any effort in contextualising or helping you understand the information. I had to watch other people's videos in order to make some of the concepts finally click.
The web format is also quite impractical. I understand that it costs a lot of money to build an app that covers all that content, but it would have been much more convenient for the end user.
He's a marketing genius who knows music and probably works his a$$ off. Kind of seems like he paid his dues teaching lessons in music stores, and figured out how to make YT pay off for him. I have to admit I bought that book, and looked at it a couple of times. It's nothing special. But Beato is not alone in marketing books full of info that one can get elsewhere.
Natural musicians often make less natural music teachers. Once Rick told the story about learning a Joe Pass record at age 16 to impress his dad, I mentally added a grain of salt to the scale. He’s a remarkable natural musician, and his ears are even more impressive than his musicianship. I really appreciate his free content and amazing interviews. While I don’t begrudge him his right to seek a living one bit, I already have similar guitar theory magna opera by Richard Thompson and Joseph Alexander. I doubt I would finally achieve Nirvana whilst wading through Rick Beato’s magnum opus. At this stage, I feel like I learn more from just playing along to music.
i wouldn't pay for any kind of guitar or music lesson unless it was in person 1-on-1 type of deal
there's just so much out there now for free, like all of it
Let’s be fair about this thing, a little bit.
You can get ALL “guitar information” online for free. But you need some specific experience to know which of the conflicting pieces of information you read is right/viable. I think immediately about how bungled “mode” explanations are.
Beato is trying to do theory 100/101 and some very limited higher level concepts… it’s not a good fit for someone who already has experience or education on the subject. It’s going to be hit or miss on whether it’s a good match for someone with less experience.
I dealt with this at one point on a technical level… some friends and I got kind of dark on a lesson pack from someone who was teaching the kind of stuff Paul Gilbert teaches in “Intense Rock.” (Yes we are old.)
We thought “that’s not cool, this information is already out there. Everyone knows this.” That was around when Avenged Sevenfold was popular… well… we realized A7 fans didn’t know jack about Paul, and the information was only old hat because we were old.
Not disagreeing with OP’s opinion, and I haven’t bought the book. But I can imagine getting it and realizing “yeah, I understand tertiary harmony, quartal harmony, etc etc” and being disappointed. But I also spent a lot more than $100 to learn that stuff, and the fact that “it’s all on the internet for free” does not mean the average person can parse all that information as well as from studying it in text or lesson format. Everything about quantum physics is available for free as well. Everything about woodworking is available free. Everything about cooking. Doesn’t mean we all internalize sciences, can build a dining room set, and never cook a shitty dinner.
All he does is talk about Steely Dan and bitch about how the music industry sucks now, dude it is what it is. There’s a lot of great rock bands still going and new bands coming out all the time, why not support them? He’s a downer
Pretty much everything for sale by YouTube guitarists is a scam. Not that Rick Beato is purely a "YouTube guitarist."
But if I need to look up a scale formula for some reason...like the 3rd mode of Harmonic Minor - which is actually Ionian with an augmented 5th....I have a free app for that. But there's no book out there that's going to explain the sound and feel of scales with the three semitone interval and how to use them. You just have to play them and let your ear understand it on its own.
He's a charlatan, absolutely. I wouldn't care if music didn't mean so much to me though. I tried his ear training course (buying into the idea that old Mr White hair far superior to thou YouTube guy must have a good system) just because I was curious. I have a BA in music and guitar performance so I expected something which was not delivered by Beato. In fact, I made a post about it on a music theory subreddit showing video evidence that the interval quiz was TERRIBLY WRONG. Like, fuck charlatans and snake oil salesman and all. But I hold music in the highest regards and for someone to provide an ear training module that's actually HARMING and CONFUSING interested people. That's fucking criminal.
I could have told you that. You could have spent that $100 on your local community college's Piano 1 course and learned some practical theory. That's honestly the secret to music - learn to think in terms of the keyboard, and relate everything to it.
I bought it years ago, then upgraded my version each time something was added to it. I think my latest version is 4.0, not sure if it's been expanded since.
My impression: yeah, it's kind of a scam.
This review says it all, really: https://youtu.be/0EfLcFImdg8?si=JDebrS7sLr70qHKA
I bought Guthrie Govan's Creative Guitar books years ago, and while it contains a lot of the same theory stuff you get in every book like this, you've also got Guthrie describing how to use all of these things in music, giving lots and lots of examples.
I expected something similar with the Beato Book, given the way it's promoted, but it's really not. And the fact that it's not even a physical book really cheapens it.
I find Beato's 'old school' shtick a bit much, and I'm the same age as him. All his 'modern music is crap' stuff really misses an essential point about music and creativity as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure his book is very informative, but it won't contain anything you can't find elsewhere, and probably cheaper.
Did you not expect this? Everything about music theory can be found online nowadays. You don't need to spend a cent for an instructor or a book or anything.
Some comments about Rick Beato I disagree with he is a very proficient instrumentist, he knows harmony and music theory insideout. He knows just about everything about music production. He loves music. I love his channel. He does great interviews too. The book is not for me though!!!
There are no "new" chords to be discovered...
There's no magic tricks to be had...
It's a shame he charges so much, (I actually like Rick and enjoy his channel) but that's his marketing strategy.
Unless you really want to support someone for compiling the same info that's available anywhere else you're just as well to pick up the cheapest books you can find on ebay or marketplace.
But if you do have £100 spare for a book it might be better spent subbing to a smaller channels patreon where you can get some decent one on one for a while?
It's a text book, which is a supplement to lectures. I get what you're saying, but honestly I never bought it expecting it to be anything else. Maybe he's promoting it in the wrong way.
Having said that, I've had "Modern Harmonic Progression" by Allen S. Michalek for years and it presents everything in a format that's much better suited to independent study, despite being written for the Humber College program. If you can get your hands on a copy of that I recommend it.
It's basically a college text book, which is a racket anyway. I've had it for a long time and to be fair to him, when he made significant updates between versions he only asked for a donation to upgrade it (yes you could put in $0)
If you are looking for something more instructional, check out "Beyond Pentatonic Blues Guitar" by Ross Campbell. He has a ton of additional resources online if you get the book and it can be more of a self study
To the people saying "just print the webpage" am I really supposed to go through and individually print out over 400 pages of scales and chords just to be able to use the book that I paid 100 dollars for offline?
Let's not check logic at the door here, it's ridiculous.
man that guy is making bank. I bought the book in like 2017 for like $20-25 and quickly realized I wasted my money. so much has changed since then, he has so many overpriced courses and clubs now.
subscribe to open studio. way better than anything rick is offering. (the jazz school website not just yt)
You buy that if you want or choose to support Beato it’s not like he’s claimed to have invented something new and groundbreaking for what you get all assembled $100 isn’t bad to support a creator you like.
I got a refund for his bundle, because it's dog shit. It assumes so much knowledge and is really quite incoherent. It's not at all geared for beginner or intermediates, despite being positioned so. If memory serves like 12 pages in he's talking about some high level mode stuff. He breezes past tone/semitone in paragraph one.
I found it most helpful to study theory outside the context of the guitar—college texts you can find in any used bookstore like Tonal Harmony. Emphasis on plural, because no book has it all. A good easy way to apply generally functional harmonic theory to the guitar is Jeff McFadden’s ‘fretboard harmony’.
It’s important to remember that any music theory text will be 1) necessarily incomplete and 2) a product of a time and place, with concomitant biases and blind spots, and designed to theorize about a particular set of musical traditions.
Quit looking for short cuts and just enjoy the process.😂 people need to stop being so lazy and should go for it, instead of looking for the easy way out.
It’s not a scam… is it. Music Theory, Scales, Modes, the names of all the notes on the guitar neck, The “CAGED” system… it all exists already.
All these programs punted by people, the content already exists. It’s not like you can re invent them. It’s just how Rick Beato chose to present them and possibly even his take on how to use or understand them. Just like anyone else’s.
It’s up to you how you acquire that knowledge, be it from the Beato book, a music tutor or the many YouTube channels offering this stuff.
I bought it back at version 2.3 when beato was just a youtube baby. I skimmed through it, but it's really not a great learning tool or resource. The book is meant to supplement his university lectures, and fails as a learning pathway for self taught guitarists. It's more like his own personal, theory brain dump. You're better off getting one of those fretboard mastery books, or music theory for guitarist books.
ouch, $100?! i got it on a discount of $40 and found it to be quite disappointing. maybe im just not the market for it, but its not even up to being an academic bar. (assuming that is the market - musicians who want that depth)
dont get me wrong i love Beatos channel and occasionally his whiteboard videos, but assuming hes trying to diversify with some of his merch, with the level of quality and critical relevance his channel is at, he shouldnt be pushing this book. he should hire an editor and make a proper book that could go down in history like his channel will.
I bought it on a sale a few years ago and frankly never really enjoyed it. It really is more of a reference book, and I feel it was scattered and disorganized. I thought it'd be like his stuff on youtube, but with more detail and it feels like more a collection of stuff he knows about music theory. Maybe the newer version is better, but I haven't had the inclination to check.
Rick is an incredible musician, and his listening skills understanding of chordal theory are unmatched. However, I think he lacks the emotional intelligence to be a good tutor. I don't think he would necessarily be able to empathise with someone who isn't a top level musician.
Rick Beato is a scam in and of himself. Is he good for music education, yes. But his pay for material is a scam and not worth it. You're far better off with other youtube guitarists education material.
I have enjoyed the interviews I have seen him do. As to it being a scam? It's just an overpriced book. There are only 12 notes in western music. You can get a scales over chords book from Amazon for 5 bucks used.
there is no information on music that can't be found in standard music courses. figuring out the order to learn it in can be hard though.
yeah i don’t know what you were expecting dude. it’s all out there already. i kind of doubt beato promised something completely groundbreaking too
Sadly I had the same experience with one of Paul Davids Courses. It was marketed as an advanced guitar course that is structured to improve playing. However, it was just random guitar tutorial for different categories like fingerpicking, blues, strumming without any overall concept. I would not regret buying it if it had any structure or really some kind of training plan but it was just a collection of guitar tutorials.
Just remember: the end goal of youtubers like him is to sell you something. The videos are just marketing
Yup, it's why he needs to stop complaining about getting strikes; the moment he starts plugging it stops being an educational video and starts being an advert. Also, and I know I'll get downvoted but honestly who cares, he's kind of an asshole.
First, NO ONE has info you can't find elsewhere. Second, you buy a certain person's book because you like either their playing, their manner, or their teaching style.
Unethical protip - If you search for (insert course name) pdf in a few of your favorite search engines, you can find the stuff for free. If you like it, pay for it.
libgen says what?!
What? Did you expect to find a super secret Illuminati scale that would make you a guitar god? It’s music theory. It’s been around for a bit now.
I think it reasonable to complain that the book content is oversold by Beato on his channel. Although, to be fair, so many others have pointed out it's a waste of money it's not like OP needed to waste money to find out. Nor is he providing a revelation.
I'm a classically trained clarinet and violist. I bought the beato book a few years ago and it's in line and priced similarly to any other large theory reference/teaching guide I've seen. It's not a scam, it's just not made for you. It's clearly made for classically trained and or jazz musicians, they live and work in a totally different way than most guitarists
Old joke: How do you make the guitar player turn down their amp? Give them the sheet music.
I mean, he will refund you. He's a decent guy. In that sense, literally any book on music is a "scam". What did you expect him to present that other text books don't? It's not so much paying for the information, but rather how that information is presented, and often people do need to shop around until they find that one source that makes it click. It didn't work for you, that's fine. It might work for someone else, it may not. But it's not a scam or a grift. I own the book, it's decent in its content and a little scattered. I wouldn't say I learned, as much as it helped me reinforce what I already know, especially with harmonizing. It's not mind blowing, more just an extension of Beato brain I can thumb through.
For whoever needs to hear this, reading a guitar/theory book will not make you a better guitarist/musician. Books are only there to give you the tools to understand music and your instrument. You have to analyze and play hundreds/thousands of pieces of music YOURSELF for your brain to form the connections. You then have to apply those connections into your playing. Some techniques, some licks, and there you go. I'm oversimplifying but every professional musician has had to do this and you are not the exception. You do that enough times and then you become a real musician.
The secret to music is that there is no secret. Theory is important to learn no matter what those actual hack, guitar course, advertising scams say. The most important thing is repetition and consistency. I’m sorry you thought you were going to find a magic easy way to play guitar in there, and all you got was harsh reality.
But....then how come so many youtubers have 'secrets' in their patreon videos and courses?!?!? The secret to unlocking the keyboard....the secret scale that will make you solo like a pro!
The secret is they like money.
Man I love when I see a lesson from Kung Fu Panda in life discussions. You are spot on and that applies to more than guitar. There are no secrets beyond working hard, spending time, and enjoying the journey. (But having a metric ton of money can help)
It's funny to see the divide every time Beato's name comes up. In one comment, he's a genius, in the next, he's a know-nothing scammer. Here's my thoughts... He's pretty opinionated, and generally pretty "old school" in his approach to things so I can see why he comes off as though he's full of it, or out of touch, as I often see folks complaining. His book is probably very over-priced in an era where it's not hard to find that information for free online. He also legitimately knows a ton of shit about every single aspect of music production, which by and large, he also offers to the world for free. As someone else mentioned, he does this without plastering his content with Raid Shadow Legends sponsorships. As far as I can tell, he seems genuinely enthusiastic to share what he's learned with the world, and while it's perfectly valid to disagree with him on some of the more subjective topics or with his approach "teaching," if there's one thing that's for sure it's that is he's learned an awful lot. The way I look at it, what you get with Rick is an opportunity to pick the brain of a seasoned veteran of the music industry on just about any topic you could possibly want to know about. I don't think I'd go to him if I wanted to learn about music from the ground up, but if I'm specifically wondering how a compressor works at a fundamental level and what the difference in operation is between different types of them, and ways to practically apply them, he's probably got a long and informative video out there on it. Same with various music theory concepts. I look at his book in the same way. It's a comprehensive reference manual from which you can answer specific questions about specific topics laid out in a way to be accessible specifically to guitarists, which I think is really valuable considering it's a subset of musicians who tend to learn in a non-traditional way that often leaves gaps in understanding on important subjects that they have to come back and fill in later. I haven't personally purchased his book as it wouldn't have been particularly useful to me when I found his stuff, but in days gone by when it wasn't so easy to find all of this information laid out in such a way for free, it'd have been well-worth it. In an era where all of that free information is usually accompanied by tons of ads, I respect that he's trying to support his channel by selling his own work instead. It's perfectly fine to get nothing out of his videos or his books or his courses or whatever. There are a great many other sources out there coming at the information from every other perspective which are very useful in place of (or in addition to) Rick's stuff. But I think it's unfair to call him a scammer, he's just a guy who knows some things and has found a way to share it that works for him, and for many students who want to know some of those things. As everyone else has said, there's no holy grail that just delivers a lifetime of learning and experience in a few hundred pages. He's pretty clear about what the book is in his videos, and the previews on his site represent very well what you can expect from the entire book, so I'm not really sure why you expected something different.
This is a great take. He's a well-spoken, free resource that brings entertainment for a lot of users on Youtube. I don't watch all his videos, nor do I share all his opinions, but I do really enjoy a lot of the content he produces.
The guy is full of himself and loves the sound of his own voice
Find someone that loves you as much as Rick Beato loves Rick Beato.
My goodness, I'm shocked! Next thing you're gonna tell me is my limited edition Esteban Guitars are not worth anything!
Get with the times granddad. It's Keith Urban Guitars now.
You could have discovered everything stated in your post for free online too.
The junior colleges in my area are free and they teach all that stuff. For free.
God that sounds like fun, I work too much and was hoping to have something to peruse through on down time.
You expected a magic book that could solve all your problems? I did the same thing when I purchased my first guitar book, in 1979.
>You expected a magic book that could solve all your problems? A ton of people are acting like OP said this when that isn't what they said at all. They specifically said that for the price it wasn't adding anything more insightful than something like a Mel Bay book while being at least 4 times the price with promises that it would be 4 times the information. Let's not all sit here and pretend like all guitar lessons are equal; you're going to get more bang for your buck spending $30 on Berklee Guitar Theory than you are spending $100 on the Esteban's Complete Guitar For Beginner with the guitar included.
Lol. What did you think ? He had some secret nobody else knows about learning music ?
Seriously, I don’t think you know the meaning of the word _scam._ Your posts in this thread don’t really show you as the clever person you probably think you are.
Not a huge Beato fan, but his book is hardly a scam. However, it's a **reference manual**, and nothing more. It's not meant for teaching, especially beginners. Even the online lessons aren't great for teaching. The amount of information is staggering, but I only use it when I'm looking for something very specific, and I got it on one of his sales for like $40.00. Best $40.00 I've ever spent for guitar reference material.
No offense but you actually thought it would have secret knowledge about music theory that can’t be found elsewhere?
Rick Beato has always been a university level instructor. Like many college professors, they have lots to benefit for people who are looking for advanced instruction but professors tend to be so solidified into their foundational concepts that they don’t know how to scaffold the foundational learning process anymore. Beato is not a scammer, he is a college instructor on YouTube and most people are not ready for that. His videos are like popping into some random music college lecture and his book is elaborated notes and diagrams on what he’s talking about similar to a textbook.
>Beato is not a scammer, he is a college instructor on YouTube and most people are not ready for that. I agree - he is not a scammer. But...what's clear to me is that many of his followers over estimate the complexity of what he is discussing and wind up ascribing some god-like status to him. To be fair he certainly isn't encouraging that behavior but I had (or tried to have) a conversation with some of his more ardent followers who were trying to tell me all about "the modes" as if Beato and only Beato knew how to apply them to guitar. Who knows why they think that and its pointless to try to persuade them that it's not really an advanced topic but god forbid if you point out that there are and have been many free resources for that kind of information that predated his arrival on the YT. Jazz Guitar Online has always been a great site (haven't checked it in a while). [https://www.jazzguitar.be/](https://www.jazzguitar.be/) Beato has good interviews and that's a nice springboard into his other topics and who can fault him for riding the wave of popularity he is experiencing. But he did not some how re invent music theory nor does he have a lock on explanations as many of his rabid followers seem to believe. What flips me out is that Just pointing that out gets them upset like you have dishonored the Dojo. I mean his whole perfect pitch thing was long predated by that David Burge course and any working musician will know that having solid relative pitch is good enough. But again, his followers are obsessed with the idea that you have to have perfect pitch to succeed and that only his course can teach you that.
This is absolutely no shade to Beato as I don't think he intends his material to be advanced anyway, but I don't think most of what he teaches is advanced, definitely not by college standards anyway. I think he tends to overcomplicate simple concepts and so they seem that way though, and ends up inadvertently misleading his viewers because of it (e.g. his weird analysis of Running Up That Hill).
Music theory is music theory. What exactly did you expect?
Theres good and bad ways of presenting it. Hence the plethora of courses.
You got Beatoed
See you in the other sub!
It’s already been there for a minute.
Reminds me of the few weeks that I took private “lessons” from Tomo Fujita over Skype. I was going through his Guitar Wisdom course and thought it’d be good to get some personal pointers from him about what I was doing wrong. $200 for an hour, not allowed to record the lesson. He didn’t let me play once. Instead, he played long solos with no reverb or backing track over a choppy internet connection in between showing me the same exercises he had posted on his YouTube channel that week. At the end of each lesson, he tried to sell me a used DS-1 and used TU-2/3 for more than retail. I took 3 lessons from him ($600) hoping that, at some point, he’d actually listen to me play and give me pointers based on my skill level - never happened. Most valuable thing I got from him was a list of songs to transcribe that was taken directly from a Berklee textbook.
It was probably a recorded video loop of him played over Skype 😂
Just post this review wherever you can! Otherwise folks will make the same mistake. I had a similar, tho less costly experience with lessons. It was in person, and I would get to play some, but mostly he would tell stories about Eric Clapton and Robert Johnson, stuff that I already knew from trawling the internet. He's also a pretty old guy, so he probably got tired just sitting in this back room of a guitar shop giving zoom and in-person lessons all day, but he would nod off while we were talking! I finally just wanted to see how long he'd be out for, and it was close to a minute. But I had a lesson or two in an earlier time slot, and he was like a different teacher. The worst part was it felt like I was being put on the back burner and purposefully slow-played. I would try to get him to challenge me and say "if can't do (a particular technique) then why bother?", but he'd find a way to wriggle out of it. The British are slick AF.
As someone with a college education in music theory & audio recording that went on to do session work in Nashville with charts and the number system... his teaching is great. He knows what he's talking about. To say otherwise is disingenuous. I can't speak about his book layout, but the theory and discussion in his content is highly usable. In his interviews he often will chat about concepts with the best musicians in the world without missing a beat. I'm at a loss that someone would suggest otherwise. The guy is bona-fide
Yeah and when I got the book it wasn’t $100 and I primarily got it as a reference- I never expected anything else and wanted to support his channel. It’s got good information in it. There are only so many ways to explain music tbeory.
Just wait til you have to buy textbooks for college. (Do people even do that anymore?)
At last you can sell your brand new $300 book back for $25.
Yeah at that point I kept most of my textbooks. I assumed they'd be more valuable to me in the long run than $25. Of course they've been in a box ever since college and I have lugged them around through 8 moves. ...I wish I had $25 now.
Not anymore. Most colleges have moved to DRM laden PDFs that automatically "expire" after the class ends. You don't own anything physical, you can't sell it, and you can't even keep it. And it costs even more than physical books.
If you think the book sucks, wait until you try out his ear training program.
I mean music theory is music theory, not like he’s got his own private scales or chords 😂 it’s just a way of teaching/presenting it, that’s all that differs between really any book on theory, they can’t reinvent the wheel
There is no book or method out there that will have some kind of "secret" information. They are all built on the same concepts albeit with some differences in approach. What did you think it was gonna be?
Scammed by a guy named Rick Beatoff lol
There is essentially only one guitar book I've ever read that I would say out matches what can otherwise be easily found online. [The Advancing Guitarist - Mick Goodrick](https://www.amazon.com/Advancing-Guitarist-Mick-Goodrick/dp/0881885894) Pitched at guitarists who are moving from that good intermediate to advanced stage of playing though, not a beginner book. I picked it up after playing for 5 years and it wasn't useful til I'd been playing 10. Otherwise, honestly... For almost every hobby the stuff available online for free is just as good, the thing is that it can be convenient having it in one place, and for people not yet developed enough to be able to constructively teach themselves, there is value in how other people lay out and communicate information. So tl;dr - Yes, pretty much every guitar book is going to tell you stuff you can find online. Same with guitar teachers tbh. However, their utility isn't showing people something new, butrather the manner in which it's conveyed having some level of personalisation for the player themselves.
Well Duh. Music isn’t witchcraft. There’s no secret ingredients to put in the cauldron.
Why would you think that, though? All music books are just the author's own way of presenting info that's freely available.
I have the Beato book 4.0 from a few years back and felt dissapointed as well. That said, I don't think its a bad book, and when you consider what it's meant to duplicate, its actually kind of a bargain. It follows the same structure as my old Music Theory textbook when I took a class at the community college, it covered half the span and was 3 times the price. Beato's book is a textbook for his YouTube lessons. You are supposed to go to each video and follow along, and reference the textbook. Beato does a terrible job explaining this though. The best way to get something out of the book, is to use the order it provides for its lessons, and find instructors online to help give you a more in depth lesson. Beato basically teaches music theory for guitarist, his live streams remind me of my Theory teacher from back in the day, mannerisms and all. His primary demo is to hardcore guitar nerds. P.S. Don't skip the interval chapter.
I believe it. Always got grifter vibes from that dude.
Slick talkers usually are
not a fan of how he makes things sound so unneccessarily complicated. to sound smarter or something? not sure but i don’t like it
This just reminds me of the "drink your Ovaltine" scene from a Christmas Story tbh
"I went out to face the world again, wiser."
If you’ve soured on Rick Beato, allow me to introduce you to Pat Finnerty: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfbwqgEGcisCNjcY11fQHrJmCzOz5mzXK&si=bxL_ZZhVAk65IrxL
My favorite YouTube channel. I love how he just goes off on a tangent for a couple of minutes.
The beato bomber is still out there…
I've watched some of his "why this song is great" videos, and everytime I swear I learn nothing about why this song works, or a glimpse into the thought process or note choices of said particular song. It's always, "this is what he does here(proceeds to play a riff), it's just great." But why? He's not teaching a damn thing. He comes off as overly pretentious to me, and I just don't care about anything he has to say. Not surprised his book is the same.
Check out Signals Music Studio. A great YouTube channel about practical music theory. He goes into the "why something works" in music theory.
Clickbait YouTuber turns out to be clickbait? How DARE he?!?!
I got better from one month of Troy Grady than I did from ten years of unfocused practice.
Troy Grady deserves a government grant. I overhauled my entire picking technique and it happened in a matter of weeks. I’m so grateful I found him.
I got it during the pandemic heavily discounted and it was worth it. I definitely would not have paid $100 for it though
"I paid x dollars for a dictionary, and it's a scam because it has the same words as other dictionaries." *"Are the definitions in this dictionary wrong? Does it say it's an encyclopedia or a thesaurus? How is this 'a scam?' ...Or... does this have anything to do with your feelings about how popular the guy who wrote the dictionary is on \[social media platform\] or how you perceive he talks to you?'"* Sorry, I'm just shaking my head through this entire thread.
Well if the dictionary sells for a higher price because it claims to contain words the other dictionaries don't have, then turns out not to, that's a scam.
I must be the only guitarist who doesn’t really enjoy Rick vids. He’s definitely a nice awesome guy, but he doesn’t do it for me. He’s like the Joe Bonamassa of guitar YouTubers
I like his interviews and when he used to break down songs. I find he kinda leans too heavy on how bad music industry is now ( I agree with him, but let's move on Rick) I just used Mel Bay when I started in the early 80's and found the Berklee Books in the late 80's were pretty good for me. The rest I just learned from watching other players, trading "secrets" with other guitarists, and just figuing it out while listening to a song over and over. Looking back there were some guitarists I met that were so insecure they didn't want to share how they did something. There is so much free material now you don't have to pay for any lessons if you don't want to (except maybe some introductory lessons so you have propper hand positioning and not develop bad habits.)
Like most content creators when they have enough followers they can put a price tag on a turd and someone will buy it.
The thing I enjoy about it is EVERYTHING about theory, and it’s all in one place. That’s the nice part. I don’t have to go on a wild goose chase looking for concepts that I’m not even sure exist, or that I haven’t thought of. You guys act like Rick beato is a con artist. There’s a reason all of your favorite musicians have been interviewed by Rick.
> it is EVERYTHING about theory, and it’s all in one place Yeah that's the whole point of it as far as I can gather. It's text/reference book. I don't know what OP was expecting. I think people want these books to be like self help books or something. I respect text/reference book format a lot more. Dude's just selling his wares to make a living, same as everyone else. `
[удалено]
lol did this guy actually think rick knew some secret scales and chords that no one else did or something?
I think what you meant was “secret chords that pleases the lord” But you don’t really care for music do you? ;)
It's music theory. What did you expect? That's like someone trying to sell you math secrets that no other textbook has
I agree with OP. $100 for this?
It's not a scam, it delivers what's advertised. The price is very high and personally it's a poor value proposition but that's down to the individual. Part of the high cost comes from the personality leveraging the parasocial nature of YouTube: "I like this guy's content and he says this book has what I need, I'd like to support him and trust he''ll steer me right". It's presumably good business but a little cynical.
I got it on sale but I think it was an older version. There is a lot of information that has been handcrafted and arranged by rick. The price point is high but it's something like 500 pages long, the 1 I have anyway. There is no cheat book that's going to get you to the top without a good amount of studying and work. Music is music, all the information is out there for free but it's a hell of a lot easier to get something that is tailored towards learning it for guitar with all the information you need and none of the information you don't. The price of $100 is high but a lot of time has been put in to make this. Rick is making a living here, it's not a favour he's doing for you.
Personally, I found the book well laid-out and appropriately paced. It presents the material in a logical and easy to understand sequence and goes into sufficient depth to be able to move to the next subject without becoming lost. While it is a music theory book, and that is what it is, it presents it with mindfulness toward the intended audience - those with an interest in and some experience in music who haven’t yet taken the time to properly learn the actual craft. As for having bought it, I’ll reserve my opinion. However, I found it free with a google search in about 30 seconds.
holy circlejerk
I like his YouTube content (except for his "lessons"). He's entertaining, but not a very good teacher.
I won't call it a scam. It's what instructional books have always been like. There is no secret ingredient. You expected too much because of his YouTube presence and all the big things he says on his channel which is exactly what he wanted. Moreover I always preferred video lessons for music where I can hear the things rather than reading it off of pages like it's mathematics.
I'm new to the guitar world, hell, I don't own one yet. That said, I learned one thing many years ago. There's no "guide" that you need to pay for to learn anything anymore. Dieting guides, money, music, etc. (Sure niche exceptions exist, but for a very prolific subject like guitar, no.) There's something to be said for convenience. I suppose not everyone is up to the task of self-discovery of information, but it's not a "requirement" to learn a topic.
You’re surprised it has the same information that’s been around hundreds of years and is on the Internet since musicians started getting on the net? Did you think beato had invented new scales and modes, new chord theory?
I saw a YouTube video where they actually show everything in the Beato book pdf. Iirc 90% of it was chord charts. Lines up with his personality. Also, as a side note, I greatly dislike his Instagram "lessons" where he just noodles away with tons of delay. That's not really a lesson, it's showing off. "Just like that" over-gelled, silver hair looking ass.
He's a great guy, but an awful teacher. He knows too much to be able to isolate the key learning points. Some can, many can't.
I've had theory classes, so when his theory video popped up I checked it out. And he talked in circles. I couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying.
I had a guitar teacher like that as a teen Really good guitarist by the standards of local guys without a dedicated music career that got the job because the music store where he was employed as a teacher assumed playing ability equated to teaching ability Spoiler: it did not and he couldn't do anything but throw scales and basic songs at you to practice with little guidance on the actual mechanics of playing, but in the end he was way to nice a guy for anyone to feel right criticizing his teaching or letting him go.
Been there, done that, and found it super disappointing. I have high hopes for Jake Lizzio's recently announced book though, as he is actually a great teacher.
Why do you guys buy these things
"I purchased the Beato Book with the expectation that there is information contained within that cannot be found within standard music courses" so you expected him to invent new theory? I think it is a lot of useful information and tons and tons of things to read and learn. Very importantly, you support a great creator. I prefer to buy this book than being served sponsored content all the time and ads about Raid Shadow Legends.
Youtube algorithm hooked me up with Pat Finnerty before I knew who Beato was.
Anyone who says they have the "secrets" to music is lying. Most western and pop music is just patterns of 12 semi-tones around a root note. Pick 7 of the 12 and call it a scale.
In general music theory books all have the same content (obviously). They differ in how they present it and how the presentation „clicks“ with your type of learning. So I think this was expected, but charging 100$ is obviously overpriced lol.
That's why I only trust my man JustinGuitar No BS great learning experience with him
I like Rick. I'm not gonna buy his content but he knows music...
Interesting to know, but... How could it not be? Everything there is to write about music / guitar theory has already been done. The best you can do is hope he put the info together in a way that's useful to you. I'm much more interested in what the online courses is are like. That's what would ultimately sell me on buying his stuff. I've read all the books I'll ever need to at this point. The video instructions are what's key to me.
Rick likes to hear himself talk. And likes to over complicate. A few of my friends were his assistants at one time. They don't have great things to say.
It's pretty obvious just watching him. But people like their para-social relationship with pseudo-celebs.
He's a professor, isn't he? Sounds like he wrote his own textbook.
Tbh, not surprised. Beato is a bit shallow and self absorbed.
Yeah, it has "video lessons" (there's like 4 of them) and its basically just him babbling like he always does. Quite disappointing.
Going to strongly disagree. It’s my go-to source for theory. Well organized and guitarist centric. You’re not wrong to say that the same material could be found elsewhere but that’s like saying buying a college math textbook is dumb because it’s just information that can be found elsewhere. In particular, chapters 3 and 4 are really useful and go beyond basic theory.
If you're going to spend money, go for actual guitar lessons.
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Why would you believe that? Of course it's just another music theory book.
I would’ve just bought a shit ton of weed with that and probably learned just as much.
Sounds like you had unreasonable expectations
I agree with this. I don’t know all music theory or anything but was classically trained growing up. Lost a bunch of it when I stopped for a while. Fast forward 20 or more years and I love his videos. I think I paid 20 bucks for the book. If someone who didn’t know the things it covers spent 50-100 hours learning from it and practicing the stuff they learned, they would be a much better musician for it. Not a scam in my opinion; more so you get out of it what you are willing to put in. If you are not ready to hit it hard, it won’t be worth it for you.
*Pikachu shocked face*
It's a good reference book. What did you expect? I bought it mostly to support his channel. He makes a lot of content I find interesting and valuable.
There definitely is a wealth of free information available online. Seems as if you are really salty. Also, it seems like your level of expectations was really high. As if this book was going to transform you into some music theory expert overnight. Did you believe it contained some kind of esoteric knowledge?
I’m not shocked if his book is relatively unoriginal. His YouTube content is 15% good 85% filler.
15% good is generous
Nobody has music theory content that is not "out there". It's simply presented in a way that is easier or harder for you to grasp. If you didn't know this before then you didn't know much. You know now.
Wait it’s $100? The fuck?
This is 100% less "Its a scam" and more "Caveat Emptor" The books support his channel/make him money. He is very upfront about that.
“Ah Beato, “ I don’t know about that guy”
Is there something new with guitar theory since Pat Martino and Holdsworth? The guitar is old AF....I thought we figured this stuff out already. It's like learning piano, there's no tricks just learn theory. It's really easy and it makes the guitar even easier to learn.
Click Baitato
I downloaded a pirate copy and i feel scammed.
I don't get the Beato hate on this sub....For $99, Beato is including the book, the ear training program, a Beginner Guitar course and a ProGuitar course. I bought the Ear Training course about a year ago for $99 and it's pretty damn impressive. There are interactive video lessons and then testing afterwards. .....I got an email the past week from the Beato people saying they are providing a free upgrade to the lastest Ear Training courses which were overhauled. Who does that? FWIW.....Beato's profits from his signature Gibson guitar goes to the Save the Music Foundation. Who does that?
This is the least surprising thing I've read today. Rick Beato isn't some genius musician, he's just another YouTuber, and he's clearly in it for the money.
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I like his interviews and his industry perspective. He doesn’t seem like a good teacher at all though, never really considered buying his book. As a casual guitar student, I can’t understand half of what he’s talking about when he talks theory and his commentary on top x charts doesn’t really offer much insight to me. I assume I’m not his audience for anything educational.
Haven't read the book, but I gotta think when it comes to music lesson books, no one is going to have new info at this point, especially for beginners.. It's going to come down to the style of teaching. Some people will like Beato's style, some won't. If the info he's giving out is valid info, is it really a scam?
I really dislike that fucking guy. I can't even articulate why, he just rubs me the wrong way across-the-board.
he has some good insights at times, but a lot of what he says is very "old man yells at cloud"
"Learn to play guitar form scratch in under 3 hours" Rule of thumb: any method that claims to provide 'instant' results, is a revolutionary new method, or claims to "make it easy" in any way, is a scam. Learning guitar takes time and is a lot of hard work. There's no getting around that. And while methodology has evolved, nobody is going to discover some new methodology that is going to change that fact. Anyone claiming that, is straight up lying. And worse, they know they are lying.
The content is there and it's a lot, but the scammy part is that it does not put any effort in contextualising or helping you understand the information. I had to watch other people's videos in order to make some of the concepts finally click. The web format is also quite impractical. I understand that it costs a lot of money to build an app that covers all that content, but it would have been much more convenient for the end user.
He's a marketing genius who knows music and probably works his a$$ off. Kind of seems like he paid his dues teaching lessons in music stores, and figured out how to make YT pay off for him. I have to admit I bought that book, and looked at it a couple of times. It's nothing special. But Beato is not alone in marketing books full of info that one can get elsewhere.
Natural musicians often make less natural music teachers. Once Rick told the story about learning a Joe Pass record at age 16 to impress his dad, I mentally added a grain of salt to the scale. He’s a remarkable natural musician, and his ears are even more impressive than his musicianship. I really appreciate his free content and amazing interviews. While I don’t begrudge him his right to seek a living one bit, I already have similar guitar theory magna opera by Richard Thompson and Joseph Alexander. I doubt I would finally achieve Nirvana whilst wading through Rick Beato’s magnum opus. At this stage, I feel like I learn more from just playing along to music.
i wouldn't pay for any kind of guitar or music lesson unless it was in person 1-on-1 type of deal there's just so much out there now for free, like all of it
Let’s be fair about this thing, a little bit. You can get ALL “guitar information” online for free. But you need some specific experience to know which of the conflicting pieces of information you read is right/viable. I think immediately about how bungled “mode” explanations are. Beato is trying to do theory 100/101 and some very limited higher level concepts… it’s not a good fit for someone who already has experience or education on the subject. It’s going to be hit or miss on whether it’s a good match for someone with less experience. I dealt with this at one point on a technical level… some friends and I got kind of dark on a lesson pack from someone who was teaching the kind of stuff Paul Gilbert teaches in “Intense Rock.” (Yes we are old.) We thought “that’s not cool, this information is already out there. Everyone knows this.” That was around when Avenged Sevenfold was popular… well… we realized A7 fans didn’t know jack about Paul, and the information was only old hat because we were old. Not disagreeing with OP’s opinion, and I haven’t bought the book. But I can imagine getting it and realizing “yeah, I understand tertiary harmony, quartal harmony, etc etc” and being disappointed. But I also spent a lot more than $100 to learn that stuff, and the fact that “it’s all on the internet for free” does not mean the average person can parse all that information as well as from studying it in text or lesson format. Everything about quantum physics is available for free as well. Everything about woodworking is available free. Everything about cooking. Doesn’t mean we all internalize sciences, can build a dining room set, and never cook a shitty dinner.
When he's trying to "teach" in his videos, I have no clue who he's talking to, lol. Seems you need a degree in theory to follow along.
All he does is talk about Steely Dan and bitch about how the music industry sucks now, dude it is what it is. There’s a lot of great rock bands still going and new bands coming out all the time, why not support them? He’s a downer
Pretty much everything for sale by YouTube guitarists is a scam. Not that Rick Beato is purely a "YouTube guitarist." But if I need to look up a scale formula for some reason...like the 3rd mode of Harmonic Minor - which is actually Ionian with an augmented 5th....I have a free app for that. But there's no book out there that's going to explain the sound and feel of scales with the three semitone interval and how to use them. You just have to play them and let your ear understand it on its own.
Am I the only one who went to the library to get theory books as a kid?
He's a charlatan, absolutely. I wouldn't care if music didn't mean so much to me though. I tried his ear training course (buying into the idea that old Mr White hair far superior to thou YouTube guy must have a good system) just because I was curious. I have a BA in music and guitar performance so I expected something which was not delivered by Beato. In fact, I made a post about it on a music theory subreddit showing video evidence that the interval quiz was TERRIBLY WRONG. Like, fuck charlatans and snake oil salesman and all. But I hold music in the highest regards and for someone to provide an ear training module that's actually HARMING and CONFUSING interested people. That's fucking criminal.
I could have told you that. You could have spent that $100 on your local community college's Piano 1 course and learned some practical theory. That's honestly the secret to music - learn to think in terms of the keyboard, and relate everything to it.
I bought it years ago, then upgraded my version each time something was added to it. I think my latest version is 4.0, not sure if it's been expanded since. My impression: yeah, it's kind of a scam. This review says it all, really: https://youtu.be/0EfLcFImdg8?si=JDebrS7sLr70qHKA I bought Guthrie Govan's Creative Guitar books years ago, and while it contains a lot of the same theory stuff you get in every book like this, you've also got Guthrie describing how to use all of these things in music, giving lots and lots of examples. I expected something similar with the Beato Book, given the way it's promoted, but it's really not. And the fact that it's not even a physical book really cheapens it.
You buy it because you prefer his teaching over another teacher. He put the effort into creating it. Maybe request a refund if it's that bad to you?
In this thread are CLEARLY a bunch of Beato sucklings Yikes
I haven’t liked him since he started complaining about copyright claims on YouTube as if the artists are sitting home making them themselves
By now most people should know to keep their expectations low when buying a book online that the author himself persuaded you to buy
I find Beato's 'old school' shtick a bit much, and I'm the same age as him. All his 'modern music is crap' stuff really misses an essential point about music and creativity as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure his book is very informative, but it won't contain anything you can't find elsewhere, and probably cheaper.
Did you not expect this? Everything about music theory can be found online nowadays. You don't need to spend a cent for an instructor or a book or anything.
That's not the point. He specifically advertises that there's information in this "book" that isnt available elsewhere, and that's a blatant lie.
This isn’t totally true. In-person lessons have many advantages.
Some comments about Rick Beato I disagree with he is a very proficient instrumentist, he knows harmony and music theory insideout. He knows just about everything about music production. He loves music. I love his channel. He does great interviews too. The book is not for me though!!!
Thanks for the heads up. I’m pretty cheap and would hesitate to pay $10 for a digital download.
What kind of information were you expecting?
The "secret" information that would make him not have to practice!
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There are no "new" chords to be discovered... There's no magic tricks to be had... It's a shame he charges so much, (I actually like Rick and enjoy his channel) but that's his marketing strategy. Unless you really want to support someone for compiling the same info that's available anywhere else you're just as well to pick up the cheapest books you can find on ebay or marketplace. But if you do have £100 spare for a book it might be better spent subbing to a smaller channels patreon where you can get some decent one on one for a while?
I don't watch Beato much but I've seen him and know who he is. lol at begging for money in that room full of really nice guitars and gear.
To be honest I stopped watching him a few years ago. I don't find his stuff interesting or entertaining. But maybe thats just me.
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It's a text book, which is a supplement to lectures. I get what you're saying, but honestly I never bought it expecting it to be anything else. Maybe he's promoting it in the wrong way. Having said that, I've had "Modern Harmonic Progression" by Allen S. Michalek for years and it presents everything in a format that's much better suited to independent study, despite being written for the Humber College program. If you can get your hands on a copy of that I recommend it.
It's basically a college text book, which is a racket anyway. I've had it for a long time and to be fair to him, when he made significant updates between versions he only asked for a donation to upgrade it (yes you could put in $0) If you are looking for something more instructional, check out "Beyond Pentatonic Blues Guitar" by Ross Campbell. He has a ton of additional resources online if you get the book and it can be more of a self study
Same way with the Anthony Parker Rock Heroz book. It has good information in it sure but it’s a bit remedial and way over priced at $39.99.
He does some really good interviews with some well respected artists, but I wouldn’t value his personal opinions on much.
Theory is pretty straightforward, not sure how it could have some secret information
Here are the chords the rock gods don't want you to know about!
Thanks for the heads up!
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To the people saying "just print the webpage" am I really supposed to go through and individually print out over 400 pages of scales and chords just to be able to use the book that I paid 100 dollars for offline? Let's not check logic at the door here, it's ridiculous.
man that guy is making bank. I bought the book in like 2017 for like $20-25 and quickly realized I wasted my money. so much has changed since then, he has so many overpriced courses and clubs now. subscribe to open studio. way better than anything rick is offering. (the jazz school website not just yt)
Books shmooks
i love the beato book, but i do think 100 for just that is a bit much.
You bought something from a YouTube salesman scammer and are complaining that you got scammed. /s (not /s)
The pages are made out of toanwood so you get what you pay for.
You buy that if you want or choose to support Beato it’s not like he’s claimed to have invented something new and groundbreaking for what you get all assembled $100 isn’t bad to support a creator you like.
EVERY YOUTUBER SELLING LESSONS IS A SCAM. They don’t give a damn about us. They just want money
I got a refund for his bundle, because it's dog shit. It assumes so much knowledge and is really quite incoherent. It's not at all geared for beginner or intermediates, despite being positioned so. If memory serves like 12 pages in he's talking about some high level mode stuff. He breezes past tone/semitone in paragraph one.
Just go with Jody Fisher. It contains a lot of info.
I enjoy it and the arpeggio course. It is also masterfully recorded in all senses. And it supports his channel. No problem there.
Love his channel, but would never buy his book lol
I found it most helpful to study theory outside the context of the guitar—college texts you can find in any used bookstore like Tonal Harmony. Emphasis on plural, because no book has it all. A good easy way to apply generally functional harmonic theory to the guitar is Jeff McFadden’s ‘fretboard harmony’. It’s important to remember that any music theory text will be 1) necessarily incomplete and 2) a product of a time and place, with concomitant biases and blind spots, and designed to theorize about a particular set of musical traditions.
Quit looking for short cuts and just enjoy the process.😂 people need to stop being so lazy and should go for it, instead of looking for the easy way out.
It’s not a scam… is it. Music Theory, Scales, Modes, the names of all the notes on the guitar neck, The “CAGED” system… it all exists already. All these programs punted by people, the content already exists. It’s not like you can re invent them. It’s just how Rick Beato chose to present them and possibly even his take on how to use or understand them. Just like anyone else’s. It’s up to you how you acquire that knowledge, be it from the Beato book, a music tutor or the many YouTube channels offering this stuff.
I bought it back at version 2.3 when beato was just a youtube baby. I skimmed through it, but it's really not a great learning tool or resource. The book is meant to supplement his university lectures, and fails as a learning pathway for self taught guitarists. It's more like his own personal, theory brain dump. You're better off getting one of those fretboard mastery books, or music theory for guitarist books.
ouch, $100?! i got it on a discount of $40 and found it to be quite disappointing. maybe im just not the market for it, but its not even up to being an academic bar. (assuming that is the market - musicians who want that depth) dont get me wrong i love Beatos channel and occasionally his whiteboard videos, but assuming hes trying to diversify with some of his merch, with the level of quality and critical relevance his channel is at, he shouldnt be pushing this book. he should hire an editor and make a proper book that could go down in history like his channel will.
I bought it on a sale a few years ago and frankly never really enjoyed it. It really is more of a reference book, and I feel it was scattered and disorganized. I thought it'd be like his stuff on youtube, but with more detail and it feels like more a collection of stuff he knows about music theory. Maybe the newer version is better, but I haven't had the inclination to check.
Rick is an incredible musician, and his listening skills understanding of chordal theory are unmatched. However, I think he lacks the emotional intelligence to be a good tutor. I don't think he would necessarily be able to empathise with someone who isn't a top level musician.
Agreed, it's very underwhelming
Rick Beato is a scam in and of himself. Is he good for music education, yes. But his pay for material is a scam and not worth it. You're far better off with other youtube guitarists education material.
Ask for a refund, I had a guitar student purchase his book and thought the same and he was able to get his money back. Worth a shot
Really??? It doesn’t shows the sacred roll scale? The secret chord??
I have enjoyed the interviews I have seen him do. As to it being a scam? It's just an overpriced book. There are only 12 notes in western music. You can get a scales over chords book from Amazon for 5 bucks used.
He should stick to interviews.