Ringo Starr

Too often has The Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr, been the butt of some unkind jokes. Falsely reportedly that a gag purported by his bandmate John Lennon, ...

That’s perhaps Ringo’s crowning achievement in life: he inspired literally millions of people to pick up the sticks and have a go themselves. It remains one of the Beatles’ ultimate fan favourite songs and we’re given even more room to appreciate the track through Ringo’s unique playing style. He then went on to detail what exactly he loved about it: “I was into the snare and hi-hat. The isolated drums will leave you in total awe of Ringo’s mastery but, more importantly, it dispels the myth that he’s not even the best drummer in The Beatles. The difference is that Ringo was not only capable of achieving what was required but doing it with an effortlessness that seemingly annoyed his contemporaries. Paul’s contribution was the way Ringo played the drums.” This comment provides perhaps the biggest bugbear people have when it comes to Ringo — he was always under heavy direction. A sequence of interesting fills that he attributes to his unique style of drumming. The striking opening lines, “She said, she said, I know what it’s like to be dead,” were attributed by Lennon after a particular night with acid took place with members of The Beatles and The Byrds. The song ‘She Said She Said’, a track penned by Lennon for the 1966 album Revolver, was once described as “an ‘acidy’ song” by Lennon. It was the beginning of the band’s rejection of their pop star tagline. However, below, we have just the thing as we’re bringing you five isolated drum tracks to prove that Ringo Starr was one of rock music’s understated geniuses. In fact, his refusal to embellish his playing style is what endeared him to the rest of The Beatles. The truth is that Ringo may not have been a studious percussionist, or particularly gifted with what was deemed as precision playing, but he had that one unteachable thing that every musician craves — he had style.