# Rick Beato Book and Ear Training



## jononotbono (Jul 11, 2020)

So I was having a look online for some music theory lessons and watching some of Rick Beato's You Tube videos. Then I stumbled across a video shot yesterday about his book called The Beato Book (it's currently on sale). Then I went to his website and found his latest Ear Training course/app. Has anyone bought either of these?

I just bought the Book and looking forward to reading it. I'm very tempted by his ear training course as well. I think ear training is probably the most important thing in music so I think (for me) it may be worth buying.

Would love to hear if anyone has bought either and what they think!

Jono


Links...


https://rickbeato.com/products/new-years-bundle (Beato Book Bundle)

Beato Ear Training


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## Rory (Jul 11, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> So I was having a look online for some music theory lessons



If you aren't already familiar with him, check out Adam Neely. His latest video is only loosely about theory, but pretty interesting:

_The Worst Jazz Solo of All Time_


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## easyrider (Jul 11, 2020)

I love Ricks Channel Keep meaning to buy his book too...


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## jononotbono (Jul 11, 2020)

Ooops. I just bought the book and the Ear Training. I'm already loving the Ear Training.

Thanks for the video. I shall check it out later!


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## Rory (Jul 11, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Thanks for the video. I shall check it out later!



Neely is a very knowledgeable guy. The video is closing in on a million views for a reason. He gets in a few digs at a certain American pundit, too


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## peakles (Jul 11, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Ooops. I just bought the book and the Ear Training. I'm already loving the Ear Training.
> 
> Thanks for the video. I shall check it out later!



Hey! Nice to hear that you bought the ear training course. Have you ever tried EarMaster? I'm currently studying via the software and am enjoying so far, but would love to hear how different would be one from another.

Thanks in advance! Cheers!


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## jononotbono (Jul 11, 2020)

peakles said:


> Hey! Nice to hear that you bought the ear training course. Have you ever tried EarMaster? I'm currently studying via the software and am enjoying so far, but would love to hear how different would be one from another.
> 
> Thanks in advance! Cheers!



No I haven't tried EarMaster. Didn't know about it. This Beato Ear Training course is excellent. Essentially this is what the window looks like...






So down the left side it shows what the course covers. The white titles are available now and the rest come as a free update (I assume he is still creating the content and tests for those as I think this is an early bird/ early look version). On the main window It says Pitch and under the word "Pitch" there is a "watch Video. So that video is on Musical pitch and what the tests are.

The main window shows your progress, total score, average time to complete and then you have the tests (each with their own tutorial video and hints on how to identify specific qualities such as timbres, Interval recognition etc)

You can choose to do practise or test. Here's the practise window...






Here you can choose whether the second note is higher, lower or the same. Obviously this page has different options depending on the tests and sections of the course you are doing.

Then if you hit Start Test, the window looks like this...






I'm basically going to be reading his book and doing this ear training every day now for the foreseeable until I 100%every test every single time I do them. My ear training on intervals is shocking after I just spent an hour listening to 2nds and 3rds. So I'm glad it's instantly making me realise how bad I am! Time for a game of musical catch up and chase the past 30 years to where I should be! 

Definitely glad I bought this.


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## peakles (Jul 11, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> No I haven't tried EarMaster. Didn't know about it. This Beato Ear Training course is excellent. Essentially this is what the window looks like...
> 
> ...
> 
> ...



Hey! Thank you VERY much for taking your time to detail the course and putting your impressions down. =)

I'm reading the page and the course seems very nice indeed. I think a nice touch is the videos explaining about the subjects. This seems helpfull. I'm curious about the sound used to the exercises, are all of the examples played on a piano?

I really like EarMaster, they have modules on classical and jazz training, but I think that you kind of get used to how the exercises sound. So, training with other material could be a plus to develop listening skills. I don't think that it so simple to translate from the exercises to music played by other instruments, for example. So, maybe taking a different course can be a good idea. (if you feel the same way, EarMaster is cheaper and if you take it on a sale it is a bargain. Maybe it's something nice to keep in mind! =) ) 

Thanks a lot again!


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## ReelToLogic (Jul 11, 2020)

Several years ago I downloaded an ear training app called "Perfect Ear" for Android that was really helpful. The version I have has now been replaced so I can't vouch for this specific version, but if it's anything like mine (or perhaps it has even been improved), it's quite comprehensive and well organized. Handy to have on your phone or tablet too.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evilduck.musiciankit&hl=en


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## jononotbono (Jul 11, 2020)

Gene Pool said:


> I don't know anything about the ear training course you mentioned, so these are just a few general recommendations apart from that.
> 
> In addition to studying isolated melodic and harmonic intervals, a very important part of ear training is sight singing, with a metronome, while conducting the appropriate metric pattern. For straightforward tonal music, solfege is better than no solfege, but that's up to you—whether you want to learn it.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the post. There’s actually a video with Rick Beato in this course saying to do exactly what you have written. So it's definitely something I need to start doing. I actually write a lot of my music by singing and then figuring out what the notes are so I guess this is so important to internalise everything rather than just hearing and trying to remember what something sounds like.


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## anjwilson (Jul 11, 2020)

Gene Pool said:


> _Modus Novus_, by Lars Edlund



+1. This is a fantastic book for post tonal ear training and sight singing (it's much more _ musical _than most other resources in that area). But it is very difficult. I didn't subject any students to it until the final term of ear training.


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## proxima (Jul 12, 2020)

I looked at the Beato ear training site last night but was put off by the countdown timer for 30% off going to 0 and then resetting. Now it reads another 2 days of "sale".

$140 for an ear training course (at "30% off" no less) better be pretty good. There are lots of good flashcard style apps out there that will do quite a bit. I'm definitely inclined to try something if it gets me to work through it diligently, but I'm not convinced this is it.


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## wst3 (Jul 13, 2020)

I did buy the book, and so far I am loving it. It reminds me of the approach taken by one of my teachers, back when I was but a young lad. The layout and organization just make sense to me.

I considered the ear training course, but I've been through several over the years, and still practice sight singing, so I'm not sure the value is there for me. I may be kidding myself.

A thought - possibly related? - in addition to ear training for pitch and intervals and all that musical gobbeldygook you may want to consider ear training for music production - Golden Ears (the name is unfortunate) from Dave Moulton. 

I just looked, and it appears to be out of production, which is a pity. You may be able to pick up a copy second hand? I'm not sure what the license allows. There are similar courses, but the one's I found focus on only one aspect.

@Nick Batzdorf may have additional info on the course????


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## Maximvs (Jul 13, 2020)

Thanks to the initiator of this thread...

I have been looking at the Beato ear training course too and even wrote to him with some questions but unfortunately I never received an answer...

I have used Ear Master 6 and recently got back on using it daily with great results. I am also a Practica Musica user and find this other ear training software by Ars Nova a very nice complement to Ear Master.

I also recently found this website (http://sonicfit.com) offering melodic dictation which is what I am mostly interested in at this moment. I realized a long time ago that transcribing music is a magnificent way to build all sort of musical skills.

Best regards to all,

Max T.


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## jononotbono (Jul 21, 2020)

I've been doing this ear training every day for a minimum of an hour after I get back to my apartment each night. It's bringing me down. Man, I am so terribly bad! 

I'm hoping this is gonna be a classic Shawshank experience. Crawl through the tunnel of shit and come out clean the other side!

I'm gonna be in this tunnel for quite a while it has to be said.


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## BubbaMc (Jul 28, 2020)

I'd be very wary of any ear training course or instructional material that focuses on isolated interval recognition - it doesn't work.



Gene Pool said:


> *In addition to studying isolated melodic and harmonic intervals*, a very important part of ear training is sight singing, with a metronome, while conducting the appropriate metric pattern. For straightforward tonal music, solfege is better than no solfege, but that's up to you—whether you want to learn it.



I'd personally go one step further and say that studying isolated intervals does more harm than good. Solfege study and application, (movable do major and la minor) will get your ear SOLID, to the point where pitch recognition when transcribing, or playing what you hear in your head become effortless activities.


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## jpup4life (Oct 5, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> No I haven't tried EarMaster. Didn't know about it. This Beato Ear Training course is excellent. Essentially this is what the window looks like...
> 
> 
> 
> ...





jononotbono said:


> No I haven't tried EarMaster. Didn't know about it. This Beato Ear Training course is excellent. Essentially this is what the window looks like...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



So how has the course been treating you all this time? I'm considering it too because I think Rick is definitely on to some good techniques that seem to work really well for him. Any difference in your ears ability now? Would really love to know!


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## davidson (Oct 5, 2020)

@jononotbono you should check out https://www.soundgym.co/ and https://www.tonegym.co/, they're fantastic tools.


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## jpup4life (Oct 5, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> I've been doing this ear training every day for a minimum of an hour after I get back to my apartment each night. It's bringing me down. Man, I am so terribly bad!
> 
> I'm hoping this is gonna be a classic Shawshank experience. Crawl through the tunnel of shit and come out clean the other side!
> 
> I'm gonna be in this tunnel for quite a while it has to be said.


Thanks to everyone else on their suggestions. But as far as I can see on the forum, jononotbono is the only one who has actually spoken from experience with this beato course. Would love your feedback good jon-oh-not-bono on the course. 😄👍.


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## jononotbono (Oct 5, 2020)

The course is great! I still try and do some everyday but this depends on my work schedule which varies from full on to crazy.

Anyway, the course is worth the money to me. It remembers all your stats, your time on each attempt, allows you to do practise sessions, it has tons of stuff coming soon so its way more than just "Is this a Perfect 4th or a Major 3rd". It has tests for pitch, intervals, melodic intervals, identifying scales, Triads, Sevenths, Tonal Progressions, Secondary Chords, Extended Chords, Rhythm. Modal Voicings, Modal Harmony, Bitonal Harmony, Reharmonisation, Polyrhythms, Odd Meter/time sigs, Poly Chords, Twelve Tone Harmony, Inner Note Hearing, Clusters...

I don't even know what half of that means and some of it is not unlocked yet.

Yeah, I like it. Being able to time yourself on the tests is a great way to keep coming back to it

As for the book, I'm not in love with it. I started reading it and got really complicated real quick. And I don't mind complicated but I found that it wasn't written explaining everything as it was written. SO I quickly got stuck thinking "I'm going to need to read another book to understand this book". Which is kind missing the point in me buying that book!

I'll try and read it again soon as I'm sure it's full of great knowledge but


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## jpup4life (Oct 5, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> The course is great! I still try and do some everyday but this depends on my work schedule which varies from full on to crazy.
> 
> Anyway, the course is worth the money to me. It remembers all your stats, your time on each attempt, allows you to do practise sessions, it has tons of stuff coming soon so its way more than just "Is this a Perfect 4th or a Major 3rd". It has tests for pitch, intervals, melodic intervals, identifying scales, Triads, Sevenths, Tonal Progressions, Secondary Chords, Extended Chords, Rhythm. Modal Voicings, Modal Harmony, Bitonal Harmony, Reharmonisation, Polyrhythms, Odd Meter/time sigs, Poly Chords, Twelve Tone Harmony, Inner Note Hearing, Clusters...
> 
> ...


Thank you that's very helpful. Yeah I can agree with you on his knowledge occasionally getting in the way of his point. It's a little counterintuitive to teaching lol. But, nobody is perfect. And I'm sure his plethora of YouTube theory videos can help to fill in some of those blanks for you and I. I'd snag up the current sale on it right now but I'm hoping it goes on a better sale on either Black Friday or Christmas. I got so many other music initiatives I think I need to put first, like actually putting together my computer lol. But thank you for your input. It's nice to get your first hand experience with it. I'll be taking that into account in the coming months. And I hope you are able to get the most you can out of it for your own music my friend! 🙏


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## HarryK04 (Feb 15, 2021)

jononotbono said:


> So I was having a look online for some music theory lessons and watching some of Rick Beato's You Tube videos. Then I stumbled across a video shot yesterday about his book called The Beato Book (it's currently on sale). Then I went to his website and found his latest Ear Training course/app. Has anyone bought either of these?
> 
> I just bought the Book and looking forward to reading it. I'm very tempted by his ear training course as well. I think ear training is probably the most important thing in music so I think (for me) it may be worth buying.
> 
> ...


Hi, I'm looking into getting a new ear training software and the rick beato one seems like its selling the dream, what are your thoughts on it now a few months in and do you recommend?


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## darkogav (Feb 15, 2021)

he makes fun & entertaining YT content but everytime i watch his videos I keep mixing him up with Rick Vito in my head.


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## jononotbono (Feb 15, 2021)

HarryK04 said:


> Hi, I'm looking into getting a new ear training software and the rick beato one seems like its selling the dream, what are your thoughts on it now a few months in and do you recommend?


It’s very good. Definitely worth the money.


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## HarryK04 (Feb 15, 2021)

jononotbono said:


> It’s very good. Definitely worth the money.


That's really good to hear if you have any time could you go into detail on the improvements you've noticed all round with yourself musically? Thanks alot!


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## ZeroZero (Feb 18, 2021)

The very best way to train your ear is Earmaster Pro. https://www.earmaster.com/

This is far and away the best as you can customise your lessons and progress. All ear training courses take a while as the mind has to distinguish what you are looking for in the sounds, but this product works, it really works, to many levels, if you give it a bit of time - say 10 mintues a day


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