Why was he considered a crap drummer when he was with the Beatles?
I don't know the technicalities of drumming but what are the reasons behind Ringo always been the butt of drumming jokes.
To me he sounds decent enough,it's not as if he ever spoilt a particular Beatles song.
Or did he?

"Photograph" by Ringo Starr is amazing.

And he made Born To Boogie, so he's alright by me.

Ringo singing "Photograph" at George Harrisons memorial concert is the one and only time Iv'e had to reach for the tissues.

I was crying.

Harrison, of course, wrote "Photograph" for Ringo. Would've been amusing had Ringo sung his Lennon-penned song "I'm The Greatest" at John's funeral.

I've heard drummers say that Ringo was more than just competent as a drummer.

I think some people assume he was crap because of his name and his jokey demeanour. He wasn't.

Ringo's work on "A Day In The Life" is generally praised by those in the percussive know.

He got the reputation as a shit drummer in the 70s, when it was all Ginger Baker and Bill Bruford, technical masterclass. Ringo's style was pretty basic, and he never even played a drum roll, much less a solo (unless you count the little one on "The End"), so it became popular to write him off as an unpolished basher. As soon as someone came up with the old joke "Ringo wasn't the best drummer in the world - he wasn't even the best drummer in The Beatles", the die was cast (it's not even true: listen to Paul McCartney's over-fussy splattering on "Dear Prudence").

In fact, he was energetic, solid and very imaginative in an understated way. By "Rain", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "A Day In The Life" he'd pretty much invented a style of his own - which was lifted blatantly by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, amongst others - and some of his fills from around this time are startlingly original. His heavy, close-miked drumming throughout "The White Album" is one of the best things about that record. Not a drummer myself, but I can hear what's good and bad, and drummers I trust are always enthusiastic about his stuff. He just wasn't a show-off.

Any excuse to link to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTbiu6P0lcw

I've heard a few drummers say that Ringo was a bloody great drummer, and they're more qualified than most to comment. I myself haven't heard enough of his playing to agree or disgree. Being ambidexderous would've certainly helped- or would it?

Yeah, it would. I remember seeing an interview with Ginger Baker in which he said that he did everything that he would normally do with his right hand - I think that the examples he gave were opening doors and holding "little Ginger" (my name for it, not his) when he went for a piss.

Other that than, Taylor has pretty much nailed it, as ever. In 1963, the role of the drummer was very much a secondary one in more or less all bands, and Starr's role on the early Beatles tracks (at a guess, up to "Rubber Soul") probably wouldn't have been to play much more than a straight four on the floor. As The Beatles' music became more experimental, so did his drumming, and he developed a style which (like the percussion Holy Trinity of Moon, Baker and Bonham) was completely his own. You'll very seldom hear drummers criticise him - I've been playing the drums for almost 25 years, and would give my right arm (which, I guess, would at least give me a Rick Allen-esque gimmick) to have a style of playing that was so automatically distinctive and completely, well, appropriate for their sound at the time of "The White Album" and "Abbey Road". You can't imagine those songs being played with any other percussion track.

It's important to remember that, while guitarists already had, say, Hank Marvin, Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins to go on, drummers at the start of the British beat boom really had comparatively little to go on, influence-wise, apart from Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa and the like.

There is, in the first wave of British rock drummers, quite a variety of different styles. Charlie Watts, Mick Avery of The Kinks, Mitch Mitchell and Bobby Elliott of The Hollies all came from jazz backgrounds, so continued to use the jazz grip (even though it's less well suited to 4:4 music than the matching grip) and with their snare drums at a pronounced angle (this came about from snare drummers in marching bands, where the snare drum was so high and at such an angle that it was the only way that you could play it effectively. Ringo Starr came from a skiffle background, and I don't think that he had any jazz experience. Likewise, Keith Moon (who also played a matching grip) came from playing the bass drum in a marching band and a surf band.

There are times when I really, really love OTF. This thread is a very good example. Thank you, 200percent and Taylor especially.

Just listen to the end of"Strawberry Fields Forever" (Take 7 & Edit Piece) on"Anthology 2" - absoloutely fantastic! Even Lennon has to tell Ringo to calm down!

N.B And it also debunks the "I Buried Paul" nonsense! Cranberry Sauce indeed!

Taylot pretty much covered it. I know a bit about drumming and Ringo could really drive a band. No less authorities than Hal Blaine and Al Jackson Jr. said so. They should know.

twohundredpercent wrote:

QUOTE:
a Rick Allen-esque gimmick

He was only channelling Moulty...

Dave Grohl also says Ringo's a great drummer. Having drummed a bit when I was Master Beast I tend to agree.

Primarily he kept it simple. Less is more.

Ringo's skills are possibly also overlooked on the early Beatles sides since these tended to use a lot of extra percussion (tambourines, congas etc.) but no one else could have pulled off what he does on "Tomorrow Never Knows," even though he only does one pattern and it's heavily compressed in the production - what a pattern!