[DRUM MUSIC]
Well, all you guys out there, or more
to the point, all you girls and guys.
A lot of girl drummers now, I'm glad to say.
This is my kit.
I finalized that this is enough drums for me many years ago.
Because if you remember anything about me,
I used to have two tom-toms.
This is my snare.
It's the center of the kit and the drum you use the most.
This is the top tom.
We call this the top tom because it's easy to get to.
And then the floor tom is here.
It's a lot deeper.
So you can make yourself sort of low deep or high deep,
you know.
It's like--
[DRUMMING]
--great.
Oh, and don't forget the bass drum.
[DRUMMING]
Where would we be without that?
And then I've got the hi-hat.
[DRUMMING]
[LAUGHING]
Then I've got this second hi-hat.
This is not on regular kits.
I put it in for me because I do this a lot.
And I can go--
[DRUMMING]
And as you can tell if you listen,
this one is like a little looser--
[DRUMMING]
--so it gives me more color to play.
It gives me different sort of sounds
depending on what I'm doing.
And this is the crash cymbal.
This of course, is the big guy.
[STRIKES CYMBAL]
Oh yeah.
This is the ride.
The ride cymbal is usually played
with a steady kind of pattern.
So that's the ride cymbal.
And this is just one I like to have around.
It's up to you if you have one.
[STRIKES CYMBAL]
It's a lot lighter so sometimes when
I have to like sort of crash the big one--
[STRIKES CYMBAL]
--that's a bit too heavy so--
[DRUMMING]
That's enough.
And that's it.
This is the kit.
And this is a brand new kit.
[LAUGHING]
If you know anything about me, I do play Ludwig drums.
I've always had Ludwig drums and I still love them to date.
This was the first snare drum I ever had.
[DRUMMING]
Oh, deep.
This is the actual drum I had.
It was Black Pearl and it came with the 20 inch bass drum.
And that was the first kit.
I mean, this is practically as big as the bass drum.
But you know, you play things a long time,
you want to keep them.
[DRUMMING]
One, two, one, two.
[DRUMMING]
REPORTER: Who does he look like, Ringo, you or your wife?
RINGO STARR: A bit of a each, actually.
REPORTER: Has he made any musical noises yet?
He really had it last night.
I mean, that was a bit annoying.
REPORTER: Have you decided what to call him yet?
RINGO STARR: Zak.
Z-A-K. So my son was nine years old
and he wanted to play drums.
So I said okay, well I'll give you a lesson.
And I've given a lot of kids this same lesson
because you have to get this if you want to play.
And it's just tapping the hi-hat, tapping the bass drum,
and tapping the snare.
So you've got a lot of things that are automatic now
but we all have to learn it.
[DRUMMING]
That's the first that you've got to--
[DRUMMING]
One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two.
So I gave Zak this first lesson.
And then I said okay, go and do that.
And then like 10 days later, I said come on,
I'll give you another lesson.
[DRUMMING]
And he said, well, I can do that, Dad.
I said, you're on your own.
And he has been.
And he's turned into the most brilliant player.
You know, he's just magnificent at playing drums.
And I've given that lesson to a lot of kids.
That's the easiest thing we can do.
But it's really not easy.
It's coordination.
I mean, you've got to coordinate both legs and both arms
and work it all out in your brain.
If you can do that, this is for every kid
on the block who has decided he wants to be a drummer
and he's got some drums.
[DRUMMING]
Lesson number one.
[DRUMMING]
Lesson number two.
[SHAKES TAMBOURINE]
So on every record I ever made, we
had other things that were around in the studio.
One of them was maracas,
[SHAKES MARACAS]
Tambourine,
[SHAKES TAMBOURINE]
And the cowbell, which is so great.
You know, you put that on the beat.
[TAPS COWBELL]
Goes with anything.
That's the cowbell.
And you can hold it.
[TAPS COWBELL]
You can change the volume of the bell.
[TAPS COWBELL]
It's so great.
That's a simple way of playing it.
And then we're adding more to your groove, the tambourine.
I love the tambourine.
You've got to give it a good-- so you get them moving.
[SHAKES TAMBOURINE] They go side to side.
[SHAKES TAMBOURINE]
Yeah!
All for the rhythm, all for the feel, all for the--
it gives it more power.
And then there's the maracas.
[SHAKES MARACAS]
But I like to just go--
[SHAKES MARACAS]
So it's hitting, you know.
But many people
[SHAKES MARACAS DISCORDANTLY]
Next year we'll be doing the percussive school.
In the days I was around, I had this set of bongos
and they're on like at least 15 Beatles tracks because we had
the bongos and you put them on.
I have to hold them between my knees.
[TAPS BONGOS]
Anyway, the rhythm pattern I knew and used all the time was
[TAPS BONGOS]
That's not going to work.
[TAPS BONGOS]
We need Sheila E.
[LAUGHING]
If you look at any footage of the Beatles
especially, what you'd find is I had a set up like this.
I invented the back for the drum stool
because I would be on that stool ready.
If anybody started, I'm ready.
You don't-- oh, he's down there, he's having a coffee
or whatever.
I was always ready to play.
And I had a little table here with a little drink and a pack
of cigarettes and my lighter.
But I have not a cigarette in 30 years.
Thank you, Lord.
And I feel better.
And that's just how it was.
And you see them all chatting because they
have the overheads.
And I'm just, oh okay.
And this was where I lived and Paul
would just-- two, three, four.
[DRUMMING]
I was always ready.