My Drummer Said That RINGO Sucks, So I Dared Him To Play THIS Beatles Beat!

Here’s the link to my “Heaviest Beatles Moments” video: https://youtu.be/0uF-rMsL6ck

George Harrison said of Ringo, "he only needed to hear a song once and he knew the drum part it needed". When the songs are being written by 3 of the greatest song composers of all time, that is an extreme compliment to Ringo's genius!!

The best drummer ever is the drummer who plays exactly what the song calls for.

There's a great joke that is right on point. Gene Krupa gets a letter addressed to the "World's Greatest Drummer." He doesn't open it and says, "I know who this is for." So, he sends it to Bill Bruford. Bruford smiles and shakes his head and forwards it to Buddy Rich. Rich opens the letter while smiling and saying, "It CAME." He reads the first line, and it starts, "Dear Ringo," ...

What makes Ringo one of the best drummers ever is his talent for CREATING beats. It's relatively easy to play most Ringo's parts, but the difference is that he actually created them from scratch.

I had a drummer who had the same mindset towards the Beatles. Said all Beatles songs were boring and simplistic, Ringo is a bad drummer, etc. We wanted to learn the song “Rain”, he couldn’t drum it to save his life. He is no longer my drummer…

Paul McCartney says with Ringo, you never had to worry about him speeding up or slowing down—rock solid.

It’s one thing to play a cover perfectly. It’s another to create the music from scratch, like Ringo did hundreds of times. A true musical genius. Any drummer can just fill it with noise, but Ringo was a real artist, adding the perfect fill without overdoing.

Should have asked him to sing Act Naturally while drumming that beat. Ringo pulled it off live, and often. Absolute legend, was Ringo.

My Father was an Orchestra Leader from the "Swing" era, he was not a rock n roll fan. When the Beatles arrived on the scene, HE bought their first album and sat and listened to it with us. He told us that Ringo was a true drummer, a great musical talent because he understood how important it was the keep the beat spot on always. His talent kept the band in sync, exactly what a drummer's first and foremost function is. He loved the Beatles, thought Lennon/McCartney were an amazing song writing team (as they proved over and over) and would explain why certain songs were such masterpieces. George was equally important because he brought to the band exactly what they needed. My Dad would be 109 if he were alive today - he knew music.

The fact that the other three Beatles still used Ringo as their drummer on solo albums says a lot.

Ringo's 'simplicity' was pure genius.

I used to be a drummer. The biggest argument among drummers was always Ringo and there was no "He's okay." middling opinions about him. Thing is, there was a guy who was on the Tonight Show w/ Johnny Carson, a lot, named Buddy Rich. He was the bona fide winner of a contest for the world's best drummer, over and over again. And, one time he said he had Ringo Starr over at his house and he'd like to show a clip of his playing. Johnny was not going to have it, thought it sounded mean and beneath B.R. to be that way, expecting it to be a terrible joke. But, no, Buddy convinced him and he showed Ringo when he was not just playing what was needed for a Beatles song and told Johnny that after a while he, Buddy Rich, had to quit because he could not keep up with Ringo. It was an awesome clip! Didn't find that, unless it turns out to be on this vid, but here' the guy that admitted he could not keep up with Ringo: https://youtu.be/2-yQWPanTyw?si=cYF7uK1xsyUKlmwp

The weirdest and best thing about Ringo is if you just looked at his face you would think he wasn't doing anything at all, he looks like he's chilling watching TV

You know Ringo was very good because John & Paul were perfectionists & never even looked tp replace him once.

I had a drummer buddy back in high school, late ‘60s. He was a fantastic drummer and even then could have replaced or at least competently mimic just about any drummer in the rock ‘n roll universe at that time. He told me back then how great Ringo was. He was one of my best friends and I have lost track of him, and I don’t think he’s with us any more. His name is/was Mike Jenkins. Anyway, he demonstrated several things about the drums and Ringo that I could never emulate in a thousand years on a drum set (I would’ve made a crappy drummer) that totally blew me away, and I have since maintained Ringo’s (as well as Mike’s) greatness to everybody I’ve talked about it with.

Ringo STILL has that relaxed, completely comfortable look when he plays. He's just that naturally good.

Ringo is a human metronome. He's got perfect timing and his fills were always tasty and only where needed. I hate it when people say he isn't a good drummer. He is a GREAT drummer!

An engineer who worked with the Beatles in Abbey Road said Ringo was the most reliable of the Fab Four because he needed mostly one take to record his parts , no timing problem. Also John Lennon stated that Ringo was already a professional before joining the Beatles and drumming was his job actually. And that since he was a left handed who was mostly self taught on a right handed kit he would come with unusual patterns that a lot of right handed drummer would struggle to replicate. He may not be the most technical drummer, and was not fond of drums solos , but he contributed to a solid rhythmic section and has his own style.

Also, listen to the drumming on two of my fave Ringo moments: "Rain" and "Come Together".