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Ringo... a horrible drummer?
2 September 2014
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Let’s not forget george-martinGeorge Martin wouldn’t let him play on Love Me Do , and brought in session drummer Andy White! 

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2 September 2014
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Ringo did play on Love Me Do and that version was released on the original single in ’62 before it got switched. For the album George M used the Andy White on drums recording and at some point that replaced Ringo’s on the single.  (I hope i got that righta-hard-days-night-paul-7 Its confusing.a-hard-days-night-paul-10)

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4 September 2014
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tkj said
Okay please dont kill me for the title, I just wanted to go a little bit over the line so people would click on this thread.

But.. I was sitting on the bus back from school today, listening to Rubber Soul and Revolver in stereo on my headset. And I can hear Ringos drumming clearly at the left earplug.. and I must say, it sounds really bad at some songs.

Like for example: “Got To Get You Into My Life “..

Is it just the recording that are bad, or is Ringo.. kinda bad?
BUT, one thing though: The drumming on RAIN is absolutely killer fantastic! Its probably the part I focus the most on (on that particular song) cause its so good.

 

1) Ringo is the only drummer who got equal recognition as the other members, i still haven’t seen any drummer get same pop as ringo got

2) He inspired many great drummer you can read it on this site http://web2.airmail.net/gshult…..mpage.html

3) He was playing drums since he was 14, so he had 8-9 years of practice before he joined beatles

4) He was left handed playing a right handed drum kit, a quite big deal

5) He introduced new techniques of playing drums 

6) His drumming on Sgt Pepper inspired Nick Mason

7) Listen to All My Loving and notice how ringo keeps the rhythm so greatly, it was a kinda hard track to play then

8) Ringo is the reason that i took interest in drums, in fact drums were the first instrument that i wanted to play

9) Sometimes it’s in the fault of ear/headphone, you can’t listen to instruments easily

10) Listen to the drums on I Want To Hold Your Hand , Ask Me Why , Helter Skelter , A Hard Days Night, Please Mister Postman , Twist n Shout , AnyTime At All, A Day In The Life , Drive My Car , Ticket To Ride , I want you(she’s so heavy) and many others

11) Some albums sound good on stereo and some on mono, I wonder what version do you have

12) Ringo always had so much passion while playing see his 1964 performance, though latter on he got sort of not willing to play like others but john , paul and george got way with this one since we cant see how much passion they had cause it doesnt involve much physical work 

13) Ringo played drums on every single George’s Album, 1-2 on Paul and On John’s Ono band and double fantasy 

14) Terrible is big word even if you wanted attention if you only used word like bad or not good, you would attract every single person here, as almost everyone here is suffering from OBD

15) Sorry for long post but when someone attacks beatles, i get mad and get offensive , so sorry if it seems too offensive 

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4 September 2014
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a-hard-days-night-ringo-8Not offensive at all, @Hey Jude !. I admire your passion! Good job!

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8 September 2014
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Sheesh, I think there are 3 threads about this (@Ahhh Girl, maybe you could merge them?).  I chose this one because it’s in the Ringo topic.  I think some of the previous posts showing some of Ringo’s best drumming are great, I listened to some of them just to focus on the percussion.  One thing I noticed was on Hey Jude , Ringo shakes 8th notes on the tambourine in a difficult way – two quick shakes, then a short pause (quarter note I think), then two quick shakes again (I think that’s it).  But back to his drumming. 

I thought Ringo was an average drummer until I came here.  In fact one of my early posts put forth several drummers I thought were better than him.  I realize now they wre just more energetic.  Of the others, I still think Moon was the best – although he did “take over” some songs, he was also bombed out of his mind and a bonzo drummer anyway.  But once I read some posts here, listened to some iso drum/bass tracks (easy to find on youtube), and really listened to him drum, my opinion changed radically.  I now think he’s one of the best R&R drummers there has ever been :)

Then there’s the thing about him hitting the drums at the “end” of the beat.  In R&R, that was very innovative and sounded excellent as well as a “signature” sound of the Beatles.  I mean, I’m listening to junk on Anthology – it’s a slow song and Ringo has a very light, delicate part – and he pulls it off perfectly.  Now I’m listening to Paperback Writer and while his part does not stand out, it’s complex, he builds it as the song goes on, and he has a couple waits that are several measures long and he comes in at exactly the right time.  I think nobody else (including Pete) could be a Beatle as well as Ringo.  He just fits right in.  Ok that’s all, sorry to ramble a-hard-days-night-george-10

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8 September 2014
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I agree with most of what you say Matt, with a few niggling disagreements.  But I don’t hear any drums on the Anthology “Junk”…  It must be so delicate it’s inaudible!  If you could pinpoint where they come in, I’d appreciate it, thanks.

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9 September 2014
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@Matt Busby, I wish I could merge them. Unfortunately, the time/date stamps overlap. Conversations would become utter gibberish. The other option we have is to lock two of the threads and point people to the remaining “active” thread on Ringo’s drumming. @meanmistermustard, @Zig, and I can discuss this via email so we won’t clog up this thread. The other two similar threads I found are

Best drum performances by Ringo

and

BBC article – Is it time to re-evaluate Ringo Starr?

If there is another one (or others a-hard-days-night-ringo-6paul-mccartney), please PM me so we can tidy this all up at one time. Thanks.

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13 September 2014
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@Hey Jude ! said
Ringo played drums on every single George’s Album … and On John’s Ono band and double fantasy

Sorry, but this needs correction.

With the exception of a couple of tracks Ringo didn’t drum on any of George’s albums after Dark Horse. Jim Keltner was George’s go-to drummer – Extra Texture Somewhere in England, Cloud Nine  and Brainwashed. Dave Mattacks was used on Somewhere in England and Gone Troppo . 33&1/3 utilised Alvin Taylor, George Harrison  Andy Newmark, and Brainwashed Ray Cooper.

The only tracks to feature Ringo after Dark Horse  were All Those Years Ago on Somewhere in England (for which George used the backing track for a song originally intended for Ringo’s Stop and Smell the Roses – with very different lyrics), and When We Was Fab on Cloud Nine  (though it is possible he drummed on other tracks on Cloud Nine ).

As for Double Fantasy , the drummer on that was Andy Newmark.

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10 January 2015
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John asked to Newmark to play like Ringo during the double fantasy sessions. Ringo is a great drummer! he sounds simple but try to play like him and you’ll find how difficult it is. he got an incredible feel and touch. he has played with many musicians after the break up on hundreds of records. after all he was the drummer of the gratest band ever

11 January 2015
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…and related to teh Dear Prudence question (i do agree that the second section is by Ritchie)…”Paul is a fucking genius, sure. but i’m a better drummer”. Ringo

6 February 2015
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It is wonderful to see people becoming aware of the awesomeness that is Ringo Starr .

One Starr’s impact on music history

The concluding paragraph:

And now, when I think of popular music revolutionaries, I imagine a young Ringo Starr , sitting at the foot of his drum kit, steadily nodding his head and shaking his long hair as he slowly changes rock ‘n’ roll music forever, one beat at a time.

The rest of the article is wonderful too. heart

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13 February 2015
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One of my favorite Ringo quotes, speaking about his performance on my favorite Beatle track, ‘Rain ‘.
“‘Rain ’ blows me away. It’s out in left field. I know me and I know my playing, and then there’s ‘Rain ‘”a-hard-days-night-ringo-15

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14 February 2015
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Funny Paper said
I agree with most of what you say Matt, with a few niggling disagreements.  But I don’t hear any drums on the Anthology “Junk”…  It must be so delicate it’s inaudible!  If you could pinpoint where they come in, I’d appreciate it, thanks.

Ok, so some of what I say comes out of nowhere sometimes.  Just listened to junk, obviously no drums.  So what was I thinking of? Usually I cite In My Life as an example of Ringo’s finesse, so no clue why I didn’t put it this time.

Thanks for catching the error.

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Matt Busby said

Funny Paper said 
I don’t hear any drums on the Anthology “Junk”…  It must be so delicate it’s inaudible!  If you could pinpoint where they come in, I’d appreciate it, thanks.

Ok, so some of what I say comes out of nowhere sometimes.  Just listened to junk, obviously no drums.  So what was I thinking of?

I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that you were “thinking of” ‘Teddy Boy ‘, perfectly understandable for both songs are pieces of “Junk”…:-)

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Another story about Ringo being an awesome drummer.

http://www.musicradar.com/news…..ray-625594

Regarding the song Come Together

A part that perfectly encapsulates the drummer’s art – it sets a scene, it grooves, it grows, it serves the song, it is full of personality and it can’t be anyone else.

I need to look this guy, Al Murray, up. Here’s part of what he says in the article.

Because a lot of nonsense gets said about Ringo. Time to time on Twitter I’ve found myself determined to defend him from a sea of people I can only really describe as idiots. “Shit drummer” is the basis of the counter-argument about Ringo. It’s almost not worth addressing, you’d have thought him being the drummer in the most important band of all time would be enough. But not for some. You find yourself having to say well yes I love Neil Peart too, but he’s no Ringo. And similarly Keith Moon – who is a drumming law unto himself – no, I can’t see him playing in the Beatles to be honest. And then The Stones fans surface. Other people suggest – when I post that Ringo is one of the greatest of all time – that he wasn’t a patch on Buddy Rich, well, yes, but it was Buddy who covered Norwegian Wood .

And then there’s this truth.

These are reasons to love Ringo, but what is even more wonderful about him is how much he plainly loved playing the drums, how much he enjoyed it, and how cool he made it look. You seldom see him biting his lip, his brow furrowed in concentration, he wore his talent lightly and an ecstatic smile too. To be frank, if Ringo was crap then I’d happily take being half as crap as Ringo.

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2 August 2015
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tkj said
I just have to say btw that this thread was not meant as “Ringo sucks!”, but a thread where his drumming is open to debate. What is good, what is bad about it… etc? 
I dont think he is a bad drummer and I certainly agree that his drumming did something unique to their sound, its just that sometimes when I listen closely to his drumming on some songs it sounds like something anyone could do. And some of his drumming can be a little bit boring to me. Am I the only one with these blasphemetic thoughts?

No, I don’t find Ringo’s drumming boring. Like others have said before me: his style fit the Beatles’ sound very well. You can’t have four musicians trying to stand out the most all at once; that would create a cacophony. Ringo’s drumming stood out where it was appropriate, just like the bass or the rhythm guitar would become more prominent when the song asked for it. I also don’t think everyone can drum like Ringo did/does. I’ve seen the same argument about the Beatles’ guitar parts. people are often saying they’re a 3-chord band and their music is too simple. Well, I play a bit of guitar and if the Beatles’ music is far from simple. It may sound like it is, but I think that’s the crux: it sounds so deceptively easy, but it really is quite complicated.**

The only problem I ever had with Ringo’s drumming is that in a number of songs, he’d play the cymbals way too much to my liking. There are some songs where pretty much all you can hear as far as percussion is concerned, is the crashing of cymbals. I’m not a fan of that, but I am aware there are also people who absolutely love that. So, I’m not saying that was bad drumming. I’m saying I would have preferred something else. 

I think Ringo really was the best drummer for the Beatles and the lads obviously felt so too. That’s more than enough validation in my book.

 

** Yes, I know there are some easy songs in their catalog too. I can play some. 

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Only question you ever have to ask:  “Did you like the music?”

Answers everything.

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@Mademoiselle Kitty >^..^< said

<snip> I’ve seen the same argument about the Beatles’ guitar parts. people are often saying they’re a 3-chord band and their music is too simple. Well, I play a bit of guitar and if the Beatles’ music is far from simple. It may sound like it is, but I think that’s the crux: it sounds so deceptively easy, but it really is quite complicated.**

Indeed! Take She Loves You , for instance. It’s a fairly textbook tune in an easy key… until you get to that ‘Whaaat?’ C minor 6. 

The only problem I ever had with Ringo’s drumming is that in a number of songs, he’d play the cymbals way too much to my liking. There are some songs where pretty much all you can hear as far as percussion is concerned, is the crashing of cymbals. I’m not a fan of that, but I am aware there are also people who absolutely love that. So, I’m not saying that was bad drumming. I’m saying I would have preferred something else. 

This may be more an effect of the recording and mixing processes they used than Ringo’s drumming. Perhaps they liked to mix their cymbal crashes higher than you or I would prefer. (I agree they tend to obscure the other sounds, particularly on bad speakers. Again, not Ringo’s fault.) 

** Yes, I know there are some easy songs in their catalog too. I can play some. 

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OneCoolCat said
I don’t know why Ringo gets criticized while Charlie Watts gets praise. To me, Ringo can drum circles around Watts–at least on the songs recorded by their respective bands. Ringo’s stuff is far superior to Charlie’s–isolate the drum track on a Beatles song you know what song it is. Do the same for  a Stone’s song, I couldn’t tell ya. Does Charlie even do drum fills? Guess, I’ll never understand.

Absolute nonsense,watts played just about every style for the stones – even disco and reggae. I think watts was a much more powerful and inventive drummer than ringo. His playing on “get yer ya-yas out’ is some of the best live drumming i’ve heard for a rock band.

As for starr he wasn’t the greatest player operating in the 60s by some distance,but he didn’t really need to be. The beatles style required a straight accompanist,no one too flashy. And his sturdy playing was what they built all the psychedelic stuff around.

Linde said
I still don’t believe those White Album rumours. Paul did drum on some tracks, and maybe they misinterpreted that. Where do those rumours even come from?

Probably the fact that ringo himself admitted in the run up to his leaving the band during those sessions that he wasn’t playing well. Wouldn’t surprise at all if it is macca playing on a couple of other tracks that we didn’t realise.

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Of course it’s not Paul on those tracks. He has a completely different style than Ringo. His fills, as far as he even does them, are nothing like Ringo’s, just to name one obvious difference. I think the reason Ringo felt he wasn’t playing well, has more to do with being bored than anything else. 

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