Advices for 'Ringo' drumming

I agree with most of whats been said here.Ringo is also a very musical drummer,and plays for every part of the song,and he tries to complement the feeling of the tune.His playing in general embelishes what the band/writer wants to say or not.

Anyway...also check out "A Hard Days Night",and Help".Both are great movies,and will give you some insight to Ringoss playing,but to Beatle music as well.

Steve B
 
It would seem to me to be a song by song trial-and-error situation.

It depends which era/s you're covering. The Ringo in the early phase was mostly a straight ahead rock n' roller - lots of power and energy. Later on, as the tempos slowed, Ringo played with a more relaxed style with more tom fills, and he came up in the mix. He was always conscious of the song as a whole, rather than releasing tension with fills every 4/8/16 bars he might slot a fill in anywhere that fit the musical flow.

More than most rock drummers, Ringo played the spaces without always doing 8th note ticking on the hats. You need rock solid time to leave all that space and keep it clean. And when he did play the 8ths, he'd often use the butter-the-bread stroke - usually accompanied by his famous head shake :)
 
It would seem to me to be a song by song trial-and-error situation.

It depends which era/s you're covering. The Ringo in the early phase was mostly a straight ahead rock n' roller - lots of power and energy. Later on, as the tempos slowed, Ringo played with a more relaxed style with more tom fills, and he came up in the mix. He was always conscious of the song as a whole, rather than releasing tension with fills every 4/8/16 bars he might slot a fill in anywhere that fit the musical flow.

More than most rock drummers, Ringo played the spaces without always doing 8th note ticking on the hats. You need rock solid time to leave all that space and keep it clean. And when he did play the 8ths, he'd often use the butter-the-bread stroke - usually accompanied by his famous head shake :)

We're covering songs from the WHOLE discography of the band so I have homework to do, no worries about that.

I have some difficulties with that butter-the-bread stroke, it seems the first movement (ahead) is naturally stronger than the 'return' move. Anyone tried to play this way?
 
I have some difficulties with that butter-the-bread stroke, it seems the first movement (ahead) is naturally stronger than the 'return' move. Anyone tried to play this way?

I've played this way on occasion if I get into a super-Ringo mood. I think your return stroke will get stronger the more you do it. But I've noticed with the weaker return stroke, you get a nice emphasis on the downbeats, which in my opinion is a trademark of rock and roll drumming.
 
I've picked this up - swishing the hats - from watching Ringo videos on utube. At the faster tempos it really works!

Peace
Davo
 
I've picked this up - swishing the hats - from watching Ringo videos on utube. At the faster tempos it really works!

Peace
Davo

i had a drummer ask me why i played this way as he said he had never seen anyone play like that before. i told him "go check out early Ringo/Beatles and you'll see why i play that way on those early Beatles tunes".

i saw a Beatles tribute band once and "ringo" played the hats in a straight-8 note pattern and TOTALLY missed the feel and groove of the "bread and butter" technique.

"you need that swish to get your wish" if you wanna play early Ringo. :) :)
 
I agree with most of whats been said here.Ringo is also a very musical drummer,and plays for every part of the song,and he tries to complement the feeling of the tune.His playing in general embelishes what the band/writer wants to say or not.

Anyway...also check out "A Hard Days Night",and Help".Both are great movies,and will give you some insight to Ringoss playing,but to Beatle music as well.

Steve B

Yes, Hard Days Night is classic. "If I Fell" is some tasteful Ringo playing. One of the best of all the great Beatles tunes. Ah the harmonies...nobody harmonizes anymore!!
 
The band I'm in, just last night, we goof around and try and do stuff we never did before, onstage, because we can lol. Well last night we tried "Something". Now I was raised on The Beatles and heard their songs hundreds of times but only ever played "Twist and Shout" and "I Saw Her Standing There", maybe a few other fairly easy to play Beatles songs.

So on "Something" I grabbed the mallets and played with them, I'm pretty sure that song is played w/ mallets on some if not all the parts, and I was not doing too bad until I got to the part where the lyric goes "You're asking me if my love grows/ I don't know/ I don't know"...you know, that whole section before George's gorgeous lead..

What great feel Ringo uses there, I don't know what I did there because I couldn't recall exactly what Ringo did there at the time, but I'm pretty sure Ringo's feel was way better lol

His feel is different for each song, you cannot nail that guy down. I guess you could say everyone is unique but somehow, Ringo is more unique than most.
 
The band I'm in, just last night, we goof around and try and do stuff we never did before, onstage, because we can lol. Well last night we tried "Something". Now I was raised on The Beatles and heard their songs hundreds of times but only ever played "Twist and Shout" and "I Saw Her Standing There", maybe a few other fairly easy to play Beatles songs.

So on "Something" I grabbed the mallets and played with them, I'm pretty sure that song is played w/ mallets on some if not all the parts, and I was not doing too bad until I got to the part where the lyric goes "You're asking me if my love grows/ I don't know/ I don't know"...you know, that whole section before George's gorgeous lead..

What great feel Ringo uses there, I don't know what I did there because I couldn't recall exactly what Ringo did there at the time, but I'm pretty sure Ringo's feel was way better lol

His feel is different for each song, you cannot nail that guy down. I guess you could say everyone is unique but somehow, Ringo is more unique than most.

That's exactly how I feel about him. Each song I play makes me think "I'm pretty sure Ringo's feel was way better" haha. So hard to get it right.

But I'm glad I'm going through this. It's one of those times you know you have something to work on, and hard. Very motivational!
 
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