Two examples are “All you Need is Love” in 7/4 time, and “Here Comes the Sun” with repeating 11/8, 4/4, and 7/8 passages in the chorus. Ringo’s ability to play odd time signatures helped to push popular songwriting into uncharted areas. You can set an electronic metronome to a perfect 126 beats per minute, then play it along with Ringo’s solo and the two will stay exactly together. Some might say that it is not a great display of technical virtuosity, but they would be at least partially mistaken. His eight measure solo appears during “The End” on the “B” side of Abbey Road. He only took one solo while with the Beatles. Ringo hated drum solos, which should win points with quite a few people. The Beatles rarely if ever had this problem with Ringo. If the drumming doesn’t feel good, the performance of any additional musicians is doomed from the start. He is the catcher to whom the pitcher/songwriter is throwing. The stylistic direction, dynamics, and emotions are filtered through the drummer. In most recording sessions, the drummer’s performance acts as a barometer for the rest of the musicians. ![]() And yes, there is a great amount of musical taste in his decisions of what to play and when to play it. Ringo’s “feel” for the beat serves as a standard for pop-rock record producers and drummers alike. Had he not had this ability, the Beatles recordings would sound completely different today. Today an electronic metronome is used for the same purpose, but the Beatles had to depend on Ringo to keep the tempo consistant throughout the dozens of takes of the songs that you know and love so well. This allowed the Beatles to record a song 50 or 60 times, and then be able to edit together different parts of numerous takes of the same song for the best possible version. Along with help from the engineers at Abbey Road studios, Ringo popularized a new sound for the drums by tuning them lower, deadening the tonal ring with muffling materials, and making them sound “closer” by putting a microphone on each drum. 6,1965), the sound of the drumset started to become more distinct. About the time of Rubber Soul (released Dec. Ringo changed the sound of recorded drums. These same “wannabe” drummers also noticed that Ringo was playing Ludwig drums and they immediately went out and bought thousands of these drumsets, thus establishing Ludwig as the definitive name in Rock & Roll drums at that time Elvis’s drummer was looking at a collection of backs. When Ringo appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, he immediately caught the attention of thousands of “drummers to be” by towering over the other three Beatles. ![]() Ringo started a trend of placing drummers on high risers so that they would be as visible as the other musicians. Ringo showed the world that power was needed to put the emphasis on the “rock” in Rock & Roll music, so he gripped both sticks like hammers and proceeded to build a foundation for rock music. They were dressed in tuxedos and suits and held the drumsticks in the “traditional” manner of military, orchestra, and jazz drummers. All the Rock & Roll drummers featured with Elvis, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis were mostly R&B drummers that were making the transition from a swing drumming style of the 40’s and 50’s toward the louder and more “rocking” sound that is associated with “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. Ringo was the first true rock drummer to be seen on TV. ![]() Rock drummers along with marching band and orchestral percussionists now mostly play with a “matched” grip, and drum companies have developed straps and accessories to accomodate them. Ringo’s grip changes the odd left hand to match the right hand, so that both sticks are held like a flyswatter. This grip was originally developed by military drummers to accomodate the angle of the drum when strapped over the shoulder. Nearly all drummers in the Western World prior to Ringo held their sticks in what is termed the “traditional” grip, with the left hand stick held like a chopstick. Ringo changed the way drummers hold their sticks by making popular the “matched” grip of holding drumsticks.
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