The simple reason Ringo Starr is such a unique drummer
The Beatles are indisputably the biggest band of all time. They spent the 1960s revolutionising production and paved the way for the music industry as we know it today, all while navigating Beatlemania and penning some of the greatest songs of all time. John Lennon and Paul McCartney forged what is considered to be the most important songwriting partnership in music history, writing lyrics and melodies that would still resonate over half a century later.
Given how wide-spanning and long-standing their legacy is, it’s difficult to claim that anything about the Fab Four was underrated, but Ringo Starr’s contribution to the band has sometimes been overlooked or understated. A running joke that Starr wasn’t even the best drummer in The Beatles has often been attributed to either Lennon or McCartney, though neither the ‘Imagine’ songwriter nor the Wings frontman ever actually said those words.
Between this and his reserved drumming style that prioritised the song over solos, his individual talents have sometimes been underrated by audiences. It’s shocking, considering the respect awarded to almost every other element of The Beatles’ output and considering Starr’s real talent for the instrument.
Starr’s style with The Beatles had a distinctive groove and plod, but it never overshadowed the instrumentation it accompanied. Rather, it worked in service of the song, working with it towards the same goal. In this way, he’s a drummer’s drummer, a player who is best appreciated by those who share in his craft rather than audiences looking for spectacle.
Alongside his conscious decision to play in service of the song, Starr himself has suggested that his distinctive drumming spawns from his physical style. Describing himself as a “left-handed right-handed player” in an old interview, he explained how his somewhat ambidextrous playing sets him apart.
As Starr recalls it, he was left-handed first, but his grandma thought he had been “overpowered by witches,” urging him to switch hands when he wrote. When he grew up to become one of the most famous drummers of all time, this would continue to impact his playing style as he learned to play right-handed despite his left-handedness.
The Beatles drummer went on to explain the traditional positioning of drums – the placement of the snares, the hi-hat and the bass drum– suggesting that a right-handed player could play the toms with “natural flow.” Starr, on the other hand, because of his strange, left-handed, right-handed leanings, struggled with this. “Now my problem is I come off at the left,” he explained.
While this could be seen as a drumming shortcoming, Starr opted to channel it into his style of playing. “That’s when I break everything up because I can’t actually do the normal thing,” he explained, “so that’s what created the style of my playing and made it more my style.” You can hear the impact of this on tracks like ‘Come Together’.
Between his distinctive left-handed right-handed style and his decision to always work in tandem with the song, Starr secured his place as one of the most beloved drummers of all time, though he often isn’t given the credit he’s due. Listening to him talk about his method only serves as further proof of his mastery of the instrument.
Listen to ‘Come Together’ by The Beatles below.
