What makes this song great?

TAE

All you have is now
Well kiddies this is a damn fine Youtube series for us DIY Homewreckers trying to learn and improve on how to lay it down.

Where the fuck was this 20 years ago?... I stumbled up Rick Beato's channel today by accident and clicked on one of his video's "What makes this song great" In this particular video he takes apart and analyzes Tom Petty's and Jeff Lynn's "I won't back down" . I think I'll be watching a lot of his videos...Rick has been in the business for 35 years as a producer, composer, audio engineer and music theorist. He's put up this channel to discuss a variety of topics including his "what makes this song great series" to share his knowledge and experience with us regular old Joe Schmoes...

Dig it!

 
He's a pro. Great channel.

What I'd like to know is where he gets the individual tracks for these songs. :)
 
Last edited:
I watched his breakdown of Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" last night (unrelated to this thread). Let's just say Rick's forgotten more than I'll ever know about music.

Not sure how exactly he got discrete tracks for the song, he was revealing layers in real time like he had the master tapes. I didn't even know the song had a cello! [I've probably listened to "Jeremy" hundreds of times over the years]
 
Just watched the vid on Kid Charlemagne. Dude broke down Larry Carlton's git solo, note for note. Impressive. Guy has loads of awesome videos. Thanks for the turn on.
 
Rick's a producer, has some industry cred. It's great that he does these videos, because you *know* the guy knows what the fuck he's talking about (even if you don't agree on subjectivity related topics).

His theory stuff gets over my head in a hurry, so I tend to steer clear of many of those videos.
 
I almost feel a little guilty, like I've been keeping a secret from you all. :D
But I've followed his channel since the beginning.
The guy knows his shit and has a catalog of music in his head.

I dont know how to post YT links, so you'll have to search.. sorry.

But check out his video live stream from Dec 29 2017.

He breaks down some of the greatest iconic rock licks up to the 90s.
Plays them all......accurately!!!

Boy, how I'd like to spend 6 months in Atlanta with him giving me lessons.
:D
 
Rick's a producer, has some industry cred. It's great that he does these videos, because you *know* the guy knows what the fuck he's talking about (even if you don't agree on subjectivity related topics).

His theory stuff gets over my head in a hurry, so I tend to steer clear of many of those videos.

On that Kid Charlemagne vid, when he breaks down the solo he gives reference to the chord change and root of each lick. It not only is impressive in itself, but illustrates the skill and knowledge of the guy who originally did the solo, Larry Carlton. Wow. It makes it all the more impressive, one of the greatest git solo breaks of all time. For the most part I can only nod with each lick, yeah, that's it, without coming close to understanding how one goes about pulling a solo like that off in the first place.

When he started analyzing the solo I anticipated things would soon get sketchy. But he got it down, if not perfect then pretty damned close. I still think Kid Charlemagne, musicianship and studio recording, one of the best ever. Hard to say how many times I have listened over and over through headphones, with each playback listening to an individual element or instrument. Stellar pros doing there thing.

 
Yeah I'm a Steely Dan fan, and got halfway through the video. I know SD is basically 'jazz rock', and musically (as a fan) I love the complexity, but have less than zero interest in creating music like this myself or even diving a little into the nuts and bolts. Something like the Police "Every little thing she does is magic" is much more valuable to someone like me.

I also like Rush (likely my single biggest musical influence/band), but have learned only a couple of songs on bass or guitar, and mostly just sections of song and licks, for the same reasons as above.
 
I emailed this dude a couple years ago, going back and forth about some mixing stuff. Was surprised he even emailed back in the first place. Was a cool dude.
 
We can simplify things down to that level, but that almost degrades what the video series does. Seems in a way kind of dismissive.

It is a complete breakdown of the songs with individual tracks. It's cool just to hear a guitar part or vocal part, etc.
Gives (at least for me) a much more detailed veiw into the song, production, etc.
I think it's great! It's also given me a lot of recording insight, as well as a greater appreciation of the songs showcased.

And where the hell does Rick get all these multitracks?
:D
 
I emailed this dude a couple years ago, going back and forth about some mixing stuff. Was surprised he even emailed back in the first place. Was a cool dude.

Ah the internets! Very cool that he was willing to take the time to respond to you. You took a chance and the time to see if he would and were pleasantly surprised and better for it...A lot of people never try and miss out on a lot of cool things in life...from the salesman's credo .."the worst they can say is no" and no means maybe and maybe is YES! ;)
 
Ah the internets! Very cool that he was willing to take the time to respond to you. You took a chance and the time to see if he would and were pleasantly surprised and better for it...A lot of people never try and miss out on a lot of cool things in life...from the salesman's credo .."the worst they can say is no" and no means maybe and maybe is YES! ;)

49ded2238ba4eaaca94bf22f509c13db3e7699d8a1934664cd942a491650b05f.jpg
 
In the Petty song video...He comments about them being "professional singers"...and with that, you can also add professional musicians/songwriters, and the whole production team.

I would think when you assemble a crew like that...it would be almost surprising to not end up some pretty damn good music. :D

Yeah, I too would love to know how he got all those individual soloed tracks....? Being able to do that, he does a great job of breaking down the whole song and the production process that went into it. :thumbs up:
 
Back
Top