Re: zak vs ringo

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>to management but you gotta give Ringo some of the credit, too.  It might 
>look tame by today's standards but he played with a kind of wildness & 
>originality.  He worked up a sweat.

Since nobody appeared to talk about grip tonight, I'll have a go at it.  
There is a traditional drummer's grip where the sticks are held something 
like a pencil.  You see it in older pics of drummers all the time, the drum 
and fife corp, and all that.  I don't know anything about it really, but I'd 
say it has the advantage of speed.  All you have to do is rock your hand and 
you get noise (drumroll, please!).

There are still drummers that use this grip, and I gather that it was 
standard until Ringo came along.  However, Ringo held his sticks in both 
fists, the better to whang hell out of drums with the full length of his 
arms.  Since he was notable drummer, many rock drummers have picked up this 
technique, and I think it has now become the standard.  Keith Moon used this 
grip, and Zak uses it, too.


keets