Rick Beato is one of the most influential entities in the music business, and the YouTube sensation has done so by leaning heavily on his extensive background as a player and producer. He’s either underrated or overrated as a guitar player, depending on who you ask and the context of how you ask.
Some might not be aware that he truly is an accomplished guitar player with a signature electric guitar — the Gibson Les Paul Special Double Cut — who is capable of dissecting Eric Johnson licks in classical music terms with the greatest of ease. Others might name check him before the likes of legends whose names fade as the digital era pushes forward.
While we were considering doing a GP Presents promotion for Beato’s upcoming performance at the Presidio Theater in San Francisco on the last Thursday in September, I accidentally typed “guitar player” into the Google search engine rather than the address bar at the top. The result was shocking. It was a list of the most famous guitar players of all time with names including Jimmy Page and David Gilmour near the top. But the first name was Beato’s.
However you feel about that, it reflects the digital landscape. Beato is an omnipresent figure on YouTube whose reach is in the neighborhood of six million subscribers. He often teaches deep guitar lessons and interviews the world’s top players including everyone from Eric Johnson to Billy Strings.
So while he’s not a star recording artist like Page or Gilmour, he’s a massively popular online influencer, so it’s understandable that the search engine owned by the same company as YouTube would put his name at the top.
By comparison, few have seen Beato in the live performance arena, which brings an extra level of intrigue to our GP Presents date in San Francisco on September 25
According to his official statement, this is an exclusive West Coast appearance during which Beato will make his Bay Area debut, at the Presidio Theatre. During the two-hour show, he’ll tell stories, discuss the state of the music business, and celebrate rock and roll, as well as conduct a live exclusive “What Makes This Song Great” session and audience Q&A.
We caught up with Beato to get the lowdown on his show .
What can folks expect to see when you come to San Francisco on August 25?
I do a lot of different things in my shows, including a live version of “What Makes This Song Great,” where I do a breakdown of a song. I play guitar, keyboards or whatever I need to demonstrate things that are in the song or songs that I’m talking about. I also tell stories and answer questions from the audience.
What’s the essential gear that you bring to a fly-away gig such as this?
Usually when I do these live shows I’ll play my double-cut Special through a Vox AC15, or AC30 because they are very pedal-friendly and I know exactly what they’re going to sound like. I bring a very simple pedalboard with my tuner, some type of overdrive, like a Klon-style pedal or maybe a Tube Screamer, as well as some type of delay.
You have a lot of jazz influences. Watching your videos, it seems one of your missions is to keep jazz players in the conversation, especially as they seem to fall away from the public consciousness and get left off various “best guitarist” lists. Is that fair to say?
That’s definitely one of my missions. Whenever I do some type of guitar list, I'll always throw in a jazz guitar player or a fusion guy, such as Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton, Frank Gambale, Joe Pass, George Benson or Allan Holdsworth. I think it’s important to keep reinforcing these things, especially to rock players that might not even know any of these names. I try to use my YouTube channel to do as much as I can to keep the legacy of incredible musicians alive, especially the jazz and fusion players.
Whenever I do some type of guitar list, I'll always throw in a jazz guitar or fusion guy, such as Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton, Frank Gambale, Joe Pass, George Benson or Allan Holdsworth.”
— Rick Beato
I must relay the story of how I typed “guitar player” into a Google search intending to go to our web site, but the first thing that came up was a list of the most famous guitarists. It included Jimmy Page and David Gilmour, but your name was at the top!
[laughs] That’s one bad list! Delete that one off Google.
I love how you describe the Eric Johnson effect in your video “Why Are Guitar Players Clueless About Music?”
In that instance I’m talking about his use of spread triads on the intro to “Cliffs of Dover.” When guitar players hear that, they immediately reference Eric Johnson, even though I learned it from Pat Metheny’s Bright Sized Life album that came out in 1975. He uses spread triads all over the place, and Bach was doing this stuff 300 years ago. But people always talk from their point of reference.
And if the only place that they’ve heard someone do that from is Eric Johnson, that's totally cool. I’m glad that they’ve actually heard it from Eric Johnson. It’s important to talk about these things, and for me, to actually know the origins of some of these ideas.
Isn’t it amazing how, even as the jazz and classical originators become further obscured, classic rock is back in such a big way? Kids still want to learn the classic rock staples from Jimi Hendrix to Andy Summers.
I think it's incredible. I have two teenagers and a 12-year-old, and they love classic rock. And their friends do too. They don’t seem to be as hung up on when a song came out. Because of streaming, it can be part of a list of songs that jump around from decade to decade.
I’m very much looking forward to playing in San Francisco for the first time. YouTube headquarters is near there, so I’m looking forward to seeing a diverse crowd of YouTubers, guitar players and everybody. It should be a very fun night.
Guitar Player is proud to partner with the state-of-the-art Presidio Theatre located on the lush grounds of the Presidio of San Francisco (near the Golden Gate Bridge) to present Rick Beato in a very special live performance setting on Thursday, August 25.
WIN TICKETS!
For a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Rick Beato in San Francisco, California, on Thursday, August 25, send an email and put “Beato” in the subject line. Include a sentence about yourself and why you want to go. Phone contact greatly appreciated for confirmation.
The winner must provide their own transportation to the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco, California, on Thursday, September 25, and have his or her own accommodations in the area.
Best of luck!
EVENT DETAILS
GP Presents Rick Beato
Thursday, September 25
6:30 p.m. lobby; 7 p.m. auditorium doors; 7:30 p.m. show
The Presidio Theatre is in the Presidio of San Francisco
Moraga Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94129
We'll be handing out free packs of Martin strings
