What Cymbals Did Ringo Play on Please Please Me?

Brendan shares some insights on Ringo's cymbals and recreating the cymbal sound on Please Please Me. Having the right cymbal can be crucial to getting closer to a Beatle sound.

[jamesdean]

Hi Brendan, very informative! Keep them coming, I really enjoy all the tutorials but these reviews are the best, drums are the best! You are a very talented and informed musician/drummer great job!

[lukester]

Can you please do a cover of magical mystery tour?

[dreamerjazz]

I like how Ringo's hi hat sounds the best on Happy Just To Dance With You. Through please please me, it sounds like Ringo has the hat closed through most of the songs, so it had that very Beat like sound I like.

[abbeyroad]

I really appreciate the research you did and the fact you got almost the exactly same gear. Mad respect.

[merontfeelta]

Cymbals are a set of instruments that creates a sense of atmosphere (My personal opinion). I didn't know that his cymbals were perforated.
Thanks.

[beatleszilla]

Please do more of these gear videos. Especially for drums! I loved your Hollywood kit video, and I’d love to see one on the Black Oyster Pearl kit!

[mathewporras]

This was very interesting and helpful. Can you do more Ringo drum info videos?

[drutgat]

Very interesting, Brendan (and I am not even a drummer!).
Thanks for this, and please keep these kinds of videos coming.
I read a Keltner interview recently in which he said he told George that he was taking the hi hats when he was leaving Friar Park at one point. He said that he had been intending to give them back to Dhani.

[sqn]

The cymbal ending on please, please me is definitely a "sizzle" cymbal.

[oldenmusicianco.]

Hey Brendan, I know this isn’t the particular topic of this video, but I’ve been listening closely to Abbey Road for the drums and I’ve noticed that Ringo has 4 different distinguishable cymbal sounds (other than his hi-hats). There’s that cymbal on Come Together, which I can’t hear on anything else (I also noticed the drum sound in this song is quite different than the other songs on the album apart from entire tea rags on the drums), the cymbal on I Want You, Something, Oh Darling and the bridge in Here Comes the Sun, the other cymbal in the bridge in that too, and the Zyn Sizzle. I think that the cymbal played on I want You, Something and Oh Darling is what you said that A Zildjian & CIE is very close to, but I don’t know what those other two that I mentioned are, whether the mixing has differed their pitch and they’re actually the same cymbal or something and where else they are in the album. Do you have any ideas? By the way, I’ve been loving these drum videos so far, I’m obsessed with Ringo’s sound.

[kevinmoore]

Fantastic - more like this please! The ones where you talk are extremely valuable to many of your viewers. I'd also be curious about how you categorize the various Beatles tempos and grooves in your mind. Which songs use the same types of grooves; which earlier drummers influenced them; how you guy set the tempos for your videos (do you have the track in your headphones to match the tempo changes?). I've noticed after extensive study that Ringo, Hal Blaine, Art Jackson, Modeliste, and James Brown's various drummers all have a certain ebb and flow appearance when you look at their tempo maps.

[estevanromero]

I’m still wondering when fixing a hole is gonna come out. One of my favorite Beatles songs. And of course all the supplemental videos to. Stay safe wash your hands thank you guys for doing the things that you do I’ve never seen people this dedicated I love it👌🙏

[Scotttyist]

I had an uh-huh moment when you revealed your hi-hats as AGOP Xists. I recently went shopping at Drumtek for a 16" crash and we tried out numerous cymbals in the store to get that dry, medium decay sound I wanted, which was something Freddie Marsden might play, and the cymbal I settled on was an Xist. The guy who sold it to me told me that it was part of a budget pack of cymbals and he didn't know why it was out loose from the box. It's a cheaper cymbal but it was exactly what I was looking for.

[jamqc]

This is a small detail but I really like your drum sticks. What brand are they? They have that vintage look

[alunjones]

Basically, whatever drummers could afford back in the 60s.

Ajax was an acceptable ride cymbal for many starting out and probably easier to play than Kamala, Krut, and Zyn - all budget.

Super Zyn would have been considered a luxury, although Avedis Zildjian was offered with Ajax and English Rogers kits.

You would occasionally see Ufip cymbals. I read the manufactured five-star Super Zyn for Premier.

I did also read, way back, that Ringo used Paiste cymbals - Dave Clark may have used them also.

Apart from a brief time using Trixon drums, Dave Clark was essentially a B&H drummer - prigressing from Ajax to English Rogers - but then, of course, USA Rogers after negotiating an endorsment contract.

Enjoyed you video, very much!

[SILVERPYGMEES]

great info, we just covered this song. The cheap cymbals gave him a unique sound!

[thomasmoje]

Ringo also got a very unique 'trademark' washy sound out of his high-hats: many videos I've seen of Ringo riding on semi-closed hi-hats with a 'sweeping' motion of his right hand playing the hi-hat notes as opposed to straight 8th note hits on the hats. On many tunes the hi-hat ride pattern sounds almost like a ride cymbal with a constant 'wash' as opposed to just tight 'chicks' on the hats. I have a set of hats that closely approximates that sound: an old Zildjian 15" thin with rivets for the top paired with a heavy 'Zenjian' 15" hand-hammered bottom. Amazing the sounds drummers were able to get out of their cymbals before the plethora of cymbal choices available to drummers today.

[MICKEYDELFINO]

Ringo invented the slightly open hi hat that produces that sizzle sound. Perhaps do a video on that?

[howardevans]

Contrary to the Ajax info here, this is something out there more plausible - Ringo used Stanoples for the Paistes in the early days... 18'' and 20''. you can see them on some early photos since their bells are hugggeee UFO type things. There also is a rumor that he used 14'' Arbiter 602 hats on the Please Please Me album.

[patricklawlor]

DID that Sonor tractor drum stool come from a Florida, Rogers drum member ? Same one in the Monkeys photo with Davey Jones sitting at the drums