Interview with Billy Joel

ShiroKuro

This is so cool!! If you’re only interested in classical music, just listen to the first 10-15 minutes, where he talks about (and plays some) Beethoven, and about learning Rach by ear (!!)

Well actually be sure to listen up to the point where he talks about the song And So It Goes, and how it sounds without and with harmonic dissonance. So cool! (Reminds me that I have that song on my list to learn!)

Otherwise listen to the whole thing, super interesting!

pianoloverus

ShiroKuro Well actually be sure to listen up to the point where he talks about the song And So It Goes, and how it sounds without and with harmonic dissonance. So cool! (Reminds me that I have that song on my list to learn!)

Here is a terrific version of that song played by Fred Hersch:

ShiroKuro

pianoloverus a terrific version of that song played by Fred Hersch

That's great! The arrangement I have is a little more aligned with the original, but super lush.

TulipAcid

I wondered about ‘harmonic dissonance’ and this website discusses the evolution of dissonance in western music extensively…

https://eecop.org/what-is-dissonance-in-music/

Simonb

It's a wonderful interview and well worth anyone's time to watch/listen to. Perhaps most amazing is Phil Ramone's (a great record producer) contribution to Just the Way You Are.

Cheers

ShiroKuro

TulipAcid the evolution of dissonance in western music extensively

Thanks for that link!

KevinM

What an interesting interview. Billy Joel was so much part of my teenage years.

I loved Just the Way you are until I learnt he divorced his wife, so it always felt like not really. It took a long time to be less judgemental about it.

But from what he said the lyrics were there to provide the emphasis and rhythm for the music, not the meaning of the words. I have to say this fits with my experience, I always connected with the feeling of the music not the lyrics, true for Bowie, Elton John as well others. The actual meaning of the words often felt irrelevant, it was the feeling the music provided.

ShiroKuro

KevinM from what he said the lyrics were there to provide the emphasis and rhythm for the music, not the meaning of the words

I thought that part was very interesting!

P.S.

Billy Joel was so much part of my teenage years.

Me too!

I still have about 30 minutes left to finish watching.

ShiroKuro

Btw I finished watching, this was great, if you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend it.

This is the first Rick Beato video I’ve watched, but he apparently has tons of them. Does anyone have any other Beato interviews to recommend?

TC3

ShiroKuro I don't watch a ton of his videos either, but we (the missuz and I) did watch the one with Stewart Copeland, and it was great. She's a drummer and a huge fan, so that was a much-see for us.

Fun fact: I took a year of bass lessons with Rick Beato many, many years ago. He was quite the character, even then! 🙂

ranjit

TC3 Oh wow, what was he like as a guitar teacher?

TC3

ranjit He actually graduated from Ithaca College as an upright bass performance major, then worked there as an adjunct for a number of years teaching jazz lessons, mainly guitar and bass (I was bass). I found him to be an extraordinarily knowledgeable and effective teacher. He also had a very, shall we say, strong personality. 😃. He definitely rubbed some people the wrong way, including some students who did their best to avoid him. He and I got along quite well, though we did butt heads on occasion!

It's funny, I'm not a big YT video watcher -- mostly old music videos and some piano instructional stuff -- so I hadn't seen his videos at all until a couple of years ago. I was hearing about this "Rick Beato" guy for a long time, but I didn't make the connection (I actually had forgotten his last name). Then one day I received an email from an old college buddy. "Hey, did you know Rick has a super successful YT channel?!" 😮 I gotta say, he has exactly the right qualities for something like that, in terms of knowledge, personality, and work ethic, so I'm not at all surprised that he made it so successful.

Simonb

I've watched a lot of his interviews over the years and recommend:

For Piano/Keyboards specifically:
Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau, Hiromi, Bruce Hornsby, Rick Wakeman

For Drums: Steve Gadd, Greg Bissonette, Bernard Purdie

For Guitar: Pat Metheny, Al Di Meola, Andy Summers, Jon Scofield

Others: Hans Zimmer, Tony Levin, Sting, Ron Carter

And really that is just scratching the surface!

Cheers

Nightowl

ShiroKuro I've watched many of his vids, he's a highly accomplished musician who gives great insight into the way that songs/pieces are composed and structured. His YT channel took off about 10 years ago when he posted a vid featuring his 8 year old son, a highly gifted child who has perfect pitch. This vid discusses perfect pitch and shows clips of the early vid. It blew my mind - that kid is amazing!

LifelongBeginner

His videos mostly focus on rock and pop, although he definitely appreciates classical and jazz as the interviewees above suggest. He loves him some music theory and will geek out on that, but he talks about music production quite a bit. He also watches the pop charts and frequently comments on current chart-making music. That might have been an early "schtick" for him: vid titles or thumbnails that made it seem like he was going to totally go off on a current song or genre, but when you watch the video he's actually quite complimentary and enthusiastic. As his popularity has grown it's really helped him get bigger artists for interviews. He has his periodic rants (the homogeniety in pop and overuse of compression, Youtube and some artistis flagging his videos), but overall he really loves music and that comes across. His "what makes this song great" has really opened my ears to aspects I hadn't noticed before.

ranjit

I thought it was really cool that he made videos on Martha Argerich and Cziffra.

TC3

Rick has tons of training and experience in both classical and jazz, but he always loved rock music too. In fact, his favorite band, as I recall him saying a number of times, is The Police. I think it's pretty darn cool that he got to interview his rock heroes!

ShiroKuro

Nightowl Oh cool, I have to watch that, thanks!

LifelongBeginner "what makes this song great"

I just watched the one he did on Stevie Wonder's Superstition, one of my all time favorite songs! The video was great!

ShiroKuro

TC3 Wow, that's quite the "I knew him when" connection!

Simonb For Piano/Keyboards specifically:
Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau, Hiromi, Bruce Hornsby, Rick Wakeman

I will start here!

pianocat

The Keith Jarrett one will make you sad. It is a beautiful interview, Rick handled it with such compassion and love for the man. Watch the Hiromi one afterwards, because it is pure joy and fun.