Beato was born into a large family in Fairport, New York, a suburb 9 miles (14 km) east of Rochester. He is the sixth of seven children; he has two sisters and four brothers. His family life was highly musical; at an early age he was introduced to the rock music of the 1960s by his older sisters. His mother's siblings and father were musicians and music teachers; there was always music of many different eras and genres playing in the house. He started playing cello at seven; at 13 he switched to the double bass and at 14 he started playing guitar. He initially learned to play guitar by ear training himself; after several years he began formal training from a neighbor who owned a local music store.^[4]

After graduating from Fairport High School in 1980, he studied at Ithaca College obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in classical bass. He earned a master's degree in jazz guitar studies from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1987.^[5][6][4]

Beato has been a session musician, university lecturer, songwriter, studio engineer, mixer, and record producer. He has lectured at several universities including the University of Alabama^[7] and Berklee College of Music.^[8]

Beato was a member of a band named Billionaire formed in 1997 with Marc Tompkins, Walter Busbee, and Darren Dodd. After releasing their self-produced debut LP, The Goodnight Sky, on the local Radio Telescope label in the spring of 1998, Billionaire signed to Republic and put out a second recording, Ascension, in mid-2000. ^[9]

Studio edit

Beato owns Black Dog Sound Studios in Stone Mountain, Georgia;^[10][11] he began recording bands there in 1995. He ran the record label 10 Star Records with business partner Johnny Diamond.^[3]

Writing credit edit

"Carolina", which he co-wrote with Parmalee in 2007, reached number one on Billboard's Country Airplay chart on December 20, 2013 and has sold a million copies.^[12][13][6]

He has written a series of books, including The Beato Book – A Creative Approach to Improvisation for Guitar and Other Instruments.^[14]

Signature guitar edit

In 2021, Gibson previewed a Rick Beato signature Gibson Les Paul Special Double Cut. The guitar is offered in a special TV Blue Mist finish with P-90 pickups and Beato's signature on the truss rod cover. In 2023, a second collaboration of the model was made in a Sparkling Burgundy finish.^[15] The model is one of Gibson's few signature guitar models not associated with an artist or associated with a particular act.^[16]

Other contributions edit

• Welcoming Home the Astronauts (2001 Sony/Epic) by Flickerstick, was produced in part by Beato including the songs "Smile", "Got a Feeling", and "Beautiful".
• Broken People by Muddy Magnolias, was produced in part by Beato^[17]
• Herbie Fully Loaded (2005), producer: "More Than a Feeling"
• Raising Helen (2004), writer: "Never Be the Same"

A YouTube video of Dylan, his eldest child who has perfect pitch and can identify individual notes within complex chords after just one hearing,^[18][19] received three million views, causing Beato to parlay this social-media fame into a full-fledged YouTube channel.^[20] As of February 2024^[update], the YouTube channel has 3.98 million subscribers.^[21]

One series on Beato's channel is called What Makes This Song Great?, in which he deconstructs and discusses the elements of popular songs. The videos in the series regularly get over one million views.^[22] He posts videos on music theory and production techniques, song lists like "Top 20 Acoustic Guitar Intros", and interviews with artists, producers, and other music industry professionals.

Several of Beato's YouTube videos, including the ones with Radiohead and Fleetwood Mac, were issued take-down notices because of copyright claims. In July 2020, he testified on YouTube about his experiences before a United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary reviewing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and considering limitations and exceptions such as fair use.^[23][24]

In February 2023, Beato released an extensive interview video with Keith Jarrett, made at Jarrett's home and home studio after Jarrett suffered two strokes. The interview received nearly half a million views in its first few days on YouTube and was praised by journalist and radio veteran Bill King.^[25]

In November 2023, Beato testified before a U.S. Senate A.I. Insight forum on transparency, intellectual property and copyright. In his testimony, he proposed licensing policy for musical datasets similar to the music licensing used for films or public performances.^[26]

• Official website
• Beato, Rick. ""How Does the DMCA Contemplate Limitations and Exceptions Like Fair Use?"" (PDF). July 28, 2020 Testimony to the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property hearing. and "Written Responses of Mr. Rick Beato to Questions about Fair Use Rationale" (PDF).