Discussion
Is Ringo Star a good drummer?.Back in the 60s he was not thought to be a very good drummer.Even one of the Beatles was quoted as say he was not the best drummer in the Beatles.That said he is left handed but bought and learnt to play on a right handed drum kit as that was all he could afford at the time.I have however heard since that he was in fact an excellent drummer and always seemed to know what the band either needed or wanted.Now i am no musician however much i love music but i believe a lot of bands used to and possibly still do use a thing called a click track.The Beatles however never used one that is how good Ringo was as he could do just as well and consistently as any click track.
oldagepensioner said:
Is Ringo Star a good drummer?.Back in the 60s he was not thought to be a very good drummer.Even one of the Beatles was quoted as say he was not the best drummer in the Beatles.That said he is left handed but bought and learnt to play on a right handed drum kit as that was all he could afford at the time.I have however heard since that he was in fact an excellent drummer and always seemed to know what the band either needed or wanted.Now i am no musician however much i love music but i believe a lot of bands used to and possibly still do use a thing called a click track.The Beatles however never used one that is how good Ringo was as he could do just as well and consistently as any click track.
Hmmmmm, not a hard one.Let me try to answer your questions:
Yes, he's good, in fact he's very good. His technique got a lot better since he was young, but his strong points are his timing (re you mentioning a click track) and his musicianship and his feel, his limitations early on became his virtues (at least back then).
He may have been not flashy/expert taught/innovative/etc as some of his contemporary colleagues, but his playing is so right for all these Beatles tracks, so much for the enhancement of the songs, nobody could have played it better. Differently yes, but better I think not (there are some yt videos around when Jimmy Nichol played a few concerts in '64 or '65, when he was ill. Nicol was a better player technically, but his feel was different for the songs, but listen for yourself).
When you play to Beatles songs (or even cover them) you will have a hard time sticking to this reduced and nuanced, and exact playing, which is the only way of doing it, IMO.
Forget that joke about left hand kits, you can build them up either way...
Lot of drummers play rhd, even when they are lefties (me too...), it's all about learning and sticking to a routine.
How much of his playing is producing by G. Martin and the sound engineers, I don't know, but in the end it's his legacy.
In the 60s not many artists used a click track, therefore the music had definitely more feel as the dynamic was a little flowing, but a lot of the old school drummers have been raised on jazz/dixie/military corps, so the best crop was tight anyway.
He was definitely no guy with cool chops, like Ginger Baker or Mitch Mitchell and Ian Paice, originally Jazz drummers who went Rock, or heavy hitters like Bonham or Cozy Powell, or complete nutcases like Moon, but all these cats are so connected with their respective bands that they became synonymous with their sound.
Growing up with 60s music when it was still contemporary gives you a good understanding how music and production evolved with time, so you can appreciate what these artists tried to tell and how much they achieved it.
Being a semi pro drummer for over 40something years (starting when I was 13) I definitely learned my lessons not to underrate anyone in music.
sidewinder500 said:
Forget that joke about left hand kits, you can build them up either way...
Lot of drummers play rhd, even when they are lefties (me too...)
An old departed mate of mine didn’t know how to set his first kit up, so he copied the setup pictured on an LP cover, not knowing that it was a left hand kit. That is how he learned to play, even though he is right handed.Lot of drummers play rhd, even when they are lefties (me too...)
His son learned to play on the same kit, and he is right handed as well. His son now plays in Yah Wobble’s band, and still plays a lefty kit.
I saw the title and worried he'd died! Happily not.
The "not even the best drummer in the Beatles" was actually a joke by Jasper Carrott . Ringo is superb - listen to something like Rain. He's not a technical genius, but the parts are so musical and serve the song completely. That said, some of his stuff is massively challenging. Try playing the shuffle he plays in stuff like What Goes On or Act Naturally (while singing!). I've played in a lot of bands over the years from pub stuff to semi-pro wedding outfits, and have never seen anyone really nail the feel of a lot of the Ringo parts. Interestingly though, the closest was a guy who (apart from being a phenomenal musician) also happened to be left handed on a right handed kit...
The "not even the best drummer in the Beatles" was actually a joke by Jasper Carrott . Ringo is superb - listen to something like Rain. He's not a technical genius, but the parts are so musical and serve the song completely. That said, some of his stuff is massively challenging. Try playing the shuffle he plays in stuff like What Goes On or Act Naturally (while singing!). I've played in a lot of bands over the years from pub stuff to semi-pro wedding outfits, and have never seen anyone really nail the feel of a lot of the Ringo parts. Interestingly though, the closest was a guy who (apart from being a phenomenal musician) also happened to be left handed on a right handed kit...
TGCOTF-dewey said:
No idea how good he was in comparison to peers but, the drumming on Tomorrow Never Knows arguably sets the tone for a lot of 90s indie scene drum sound.
If you'd never heard it before but had The Pixies, Nirvana, etc. you'd swear it was a 90s song.
100%If you'd never heard it before but had The Pixies, Nirvana, etc. you'd swear it was a 90s song.
His stuff on Tomorrow Never Knows is mirrored by this:-
None of them were virtuosos, nor ever claimed to be, that came
later with Floyd, Cream and Zeppelin, even John who could be dismissive of the band in his
later years, described them as a bloody good rock n roll group.
Starr was much sought after in Merseyside as a good, reliable sideman, and wisely
he chose the right band to join.
later with Floyd, Cream and Zeppelin, even John who could be dismissive of the band in his
later years, described them as a bloody good rock n roll group.
Starr was much sought after in Merseyside as a good, reliable sideman, and wisely
he chose the right band to join.
I can't say if Ringo is the best drummer in the world (or in The Beatles - as per Jasper Carrott, not John Lennon), but he was perfect for them as shown by this video;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTnxmn2jWjo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTnxmn2jWjo
pipe'n'slippers said:
I can't say if Ringo is the best drummer in the world (or in The Beatles - as per Jasper Carrott, not John Lennon), but he was perfect for them as shown by this video;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTnxmn2jWjo
Some serious work has gone into that...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTnxmn2jWjo
Incredible to hear all those snippets of so many great sounds lined up like that. I still find the Beatles output in seven years borderline impossible to believe.
TGCOTF-dewey said:
No idea how good he was in comparison to peers but, the drumming on Tomorrow Never Knows arguably sets the tone for a lot of 90s indie scene drum sound.
If you'd never heard it before but had The Pixies, Nirvana, etc. you'd swear it was a 90s song.
TNK is so timeless because The Beatles were ahead of their time with effects and loops (analogue cut & paste splicing as opposed to digital). The 90s was dominated by breakbeats: hardcore, jungle, drum & bass, big beat, trip hop and was and is still played by DJs. Amazed me when I first heard it and still does as I'm sure it does for others and subsequent generations.If you'd never heard it before but had The Pixies, Nirvana, etc. you'd swear it was a 90s song.
Ringo perhaps wasn't the most technically proficient of his peers but he did the basics of a great drummer and served as the backbone e.g. 'Ticket to Ride', 'Strawberry Fields', 'Come Together'.
The least pretentious, least ego and made the others better than he was.
Ringo was/is an excellent drummer, when you look at the breadth of the Beatles output. over 100 songs, he's not just wedded to one style.
It is generally accepted by other drummers that his work on "Rain" is amongst his best.
The only think that irritates me about him, is he is hardly ever photographed without saying "peace and love".
It get's tiresome after twenty years.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?sca_esv=bc8be09168...
It is generally accepted by other drummers that his work on "Rain" is amongst his best.
The only think that irritates me about him, is he is hardly ever photographed without saying "peace and love".
It get's tiresome after twenty years.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?sca_esv=bc8be09168...
He’s an absolutely superb drummer. The boundaries of what is technical, as opposed to ‘feel’ are philosophical in nature.
I would argue that most of it is horses
t. His technical ability IS his feel.
Watch him in the ‘Get Back’ film. He’s got such taste, you hardly know he’s playing till he stops.
Inspirational musician.
I would argue that most of it is horses
t. His technical ability IS his feel. Watch him in the ‘Get Back’ film. He’s got such taste, you hardly know he’s playing till he stops.
Inspirational musician.
Pitre said:
Just to say, it's STARR not Star. 
I'd just come on here to see if anyone had picked that up. 
Spelling must be at it's lowest point ever in the UK today.Just to add: Zak Starkey is not bad either, mind you that was thanks to 'Moon the Loon', and not his dad.
As was (but not for very long) Pete Best (showing my age now).
But I don't think Pete complained as he did receive undisclosed royalties in the 90s from the Beatles Anthology 1.
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