I finally understand Ringo!

[Tilter]

I'll begin by saying that I arrived late to the party when it comes to listening to The Beatles. Yes, I've heard them throughout my life, know many of the songs, and appreciate and respect their contribution to modern music. I much prefer the older recordings and never cared much for Magical Mystery Tour or ironically, Sgt. Pepper's.

That said, this post appeared in my You Tube feed yesterday and blew me away. I'm enamored, and now completely understand the love and praise for Ringo. I can't stop listening and loving everything about it. I'm a big Steve Jordan fan and good lawd do I hear the influence now!

I've said it before but it's worth repeating - The best thing about music is that it knows no age, no time, and no circumstance. It's there for us always, waiting to be discovered and enjoyed, limitless in its reach and powerful in its influence.

 

[GretschMan61]

I get where you are coming from . When I was a teen in the 70’s I thought Ringo was a simple drummer. Once I was required to cover some Beatles tunes accurately I realized how great his feel and unique his parts are . I became a huge fan .

 

[Bandit]

? I guess I missed it again. ?

 

[nickrobotron]

Huge Beatles fan. Huge Ringo fan. But I am curious why this isolated drum track moved you. Where do you see its brilliance? Not saying it isn't brilliant. Is it the hi hat work? The minimalism?

 

[JDA]

almost sounds like nickle-silver hihats
which would be weird and likely not
Ringo 'hit' the drums; he put some weight behind it; listen to that bass drum; he didn't piz around.
Good for him. He put and had some weight behind it

 

[5stroke]

I'll begin by saying that I arrived late to the party when it comes to listening to The Beatles. Yes, I've heard them throughout my life, know many of the songs, and appreciate and respect their contribution to modern music. I much prefer the older recordings and never cared much for Magical Mystery Tour or ironically, Sgt. Pepper's.

That said, this post appeared in my You Tube feed yesterday and blew me away. I'm enamored, and now completely understand the love and praise for Ringo. I can't stop listening and loving everything about it. I'm a big Steve Jordan fan and good lawd do I hear the influence now!

I've said it before but it's worth repeating - The best thing about music is that it knows no age, no time, and no circumstance. It's there for us always, waiting to be discovered and enjoyed, limitless in its reach and powerful in its influence.

Thanks for posting! Any isolated drum recording of Ringo enlightens my drumming further and is a pleasure to hear.
Plus, I just noticed this YT channel has other isolated Ringo recordings as well...

 

[Tilter]

Huge Beatles fan. Huge Ringo fan. But I am curious why this isolated drum track moved you. Where do you see its brilliance? Not saying it isn't brilliant. Is it the hi hat work? The minimalism?

I love mid-tempo songs and grooves, but what caught my attention straight away was the sound of the Hi Hats and the accents that he's playing. It wasn't any single thing though; something else just grabbed me the moment I started listening. I don't think it's particularly brilliant or ground breaking, and often times the things that move us, aren't.

I'm sure there are plenty of players who would cite other songs as the pinnacle of showcasing Ringo's playing, but this just happened to be the one that hit me.

 

[MntnMan62]

I've been a Beatles fan since I was a little kid back in the early 70's. And as I grew to appreciate drumming I've also learned to appreciate the simplicity of his playing. What he did with The Beatles worked for it at that time. And in fact it's withstood the test of time because I still love listening to much of their music. However, when critically analyzing what Ringo did, I can't help but conclude that we are hearing all that he was capable of doing. In other words, he didn't have the chops to do anything more than we were hearing. Since he's been mentioned, Steve Jordan may be known for his simple straight forward grooving but anyone who's been listening to him over the years knows that there are lots of recordings where he shows the full breadth of his skills. John Scofield's Electric Outlet and Who's Who are two examples. And anyone who spent way too many hours up late at night watching him on the Letterman Show knows how he can stretch and play both simply and complex. Like I said, Ringo was right for The Beatles and he was part of creating ground breaking music with them but you don't need monster chops to replicate what he did. I'm not bashing him and in fact lately I've been focusing on trying to play more simply because at times simple is far better than complex.

 

[DrummerJustLikeDad]

Nice.

Just listen to that snare drum ring. Obviously, no one was much bothered by it, and they let it sing out gloriously as nature intended!

 

[MrDrums2112]

Though The Beatles were done not long after I was born, Ringo has always been a huge influence on me, from his playing style to his drum sound. I learned to play from Ringo’s drum parts. On our band’s recent CD project, the recording engineer said, “Hey, I love that Ringo fill you snuck in there!” I didn’t even realize I’d done it. A hero for many reasons.

 

[Nacci]

You fellas are trippin’. If someone posted that and said it was their 16 year old son playing in the garage you wouldn’t have known any better.

 

[JDA]

Why. There's a "Ringo" born everyday ; )

 

[BlackPearl]

You fellas are trippin’. If someone posted that and said it was their 16 year old son playing in the garage you wouldn’t have known any better.

Or if Bernard Purdie claimed it was him, some people would believe him.

 

[dirtysicks]

You fellas are trippin’. If someone posted that and said it was their 16 year old son playing in the garage you wouldn’t have known any better.

Right, I've seen vids of drummers playing like this and much better get flamed on here or met with "meh" comments due to being unimpressed. If someone were to post this same clip and say "Lars Ulrich Isolated Drums" everyone would be singing a different tune lol

 

[nickrobotron]

Or if Bernard Purdie claimed it was him, some people would believe him.

LOL. Excellent point.

Everyone says the same true thing about Ringo: He serves the damn song. Who cares about the isolated beat? That song rules and it's about as important as any pop song ever made, arguably. If not Lovely Rita, pick another Beatles track... As a bad drummer in a rock and roll band, I keep things simple and get asked to play in projects all the time. Maybe being good at drums is a waste of time.

I asked my original question because I felt like the playing was sloppy. The hi hat accents are in a cool place and add to the feel, but he's really inconsistent and it kind of ruins the groove. But it's not a super spacious song with the groove up front, so it doesn't matter. It was a keeper track on a goddamn Beatles record. I asked a recording engineer to isolate my drum track once after about 10 takes and he said, "That's a dangerous game. Just listen to the song." He knew I'd cringe and want to do it again.

 

[Bandit]

LOL. Excellent point.

Everyone says the same true thing about Ringo: He serves the damn song. Who cares about the isolated beat? That song rules and it's about as important as any pop song ever made, arguably. If not Lovely Rita, pick another Beatles track... As a bad drummer in a rock and roll band, I keep things simple and get asked to play in projects all the time. Maybe being good at drums is a waste of time.

I asked my original question because I felt like the playing was sloppy. The hi hat accents are in a cool place and add to the feel, but he's really inconsistent and it kind of ruins the groove. But it's not a super spacious song with the groove up front, so it doesn't matter. It was a keeper track on a goddamn Beatles record. I asked a recording engineer to isolate my drum track once after about 10 takes and he said, "That's a dangerous game. Just listen to the song." He knew I'd cringe and want to do it again.

Ya let’s all suck at everything. It is so much easier.

 

[Rich K.]

Right, I've seen vids of drummers playing like this and much better get flamed on here or met with "meh" comments due to being unimpressed. If someone were to post this same clip and say "Lars Ulrich Isolated Drums" everyone would be singing a different tune lol

I read this forum way too much and I don't remember any drummer getting flamed or met with meh comments.

 

[dirtysicks]

I read this forum way too much and I don't remember any drummer getting flamed or met with meh comments.

It's happened. It was a few years back and when it happened I actually left the forum for a while. At the time it seemed like anything other Ringo, Bonham or Peart (they were utterly untouchable and anyone who didn't like them were looked down upon as uncultured swine... ok maybe a slight exaggeration) was met with "meh" to be honest and vids of younger drummers who did chops were instantly looked down upon as "overplaying" and "not playing for the music."

 

[nickrobotron]

Ya let’s all suck at everything. It is so much easier.

I was being facetious. I was trying to say that Ringo's lack of skill, as some would say, doesn't matter in the long run. For him, he was creative and had a great ear and feel, and it worked out rather well. It really didn't matter if he sounded like someone's 16 year old son or if his strokes were inconsistent.

Everyone hones their skills for their own reasons. By all means, DON'T SUCK if you can help it. After all, it isn't a waste of time when you're jamming on your 13 piece drum set in your basement if you enjoy it.

 

[Bandit]

I was being facetious. I was trying to say that Ringo's lack of skill, as some would say, doesn't matter in the long run. For him, he was creative and had a great ear and feel, and it worked out rather well. It really didn't matter if he sounded like someone's 16 year old son or if his strokes were inconsistent.

Everyone hones their skills for their own reasons. By all means, DON'T SUCK if you can help it. After all, it isn't a waste of time when you're jamming on your 13 piece drum set in your basement if you enjoy it.

OK, I will keep practicing.