Mickey Dolenz, open handed player?

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
I just saw a video of the Monkees "I'm a Believer" from 1966.
Wouldn't you know it? On the video Dolenz played it open handed.
They were acting to the song, not really playing it, and I'm pretty sure it was Hal Blaine who actually recorded the drum tracks, but I thought it was pretty curious to see an example of open handed playing in 1966. Anyone have any earlier examples?
I know he was hired as an actor, but he learned the drums well enough to play live dates as I understand.
The Monkees were put on the same bill as Jimi Hendrix once, supposedly it was a disaster, did anybody here happen to catch that show?
 
I just saw a video of the Monkees "I'm a Believer" from 1966.
Wouldn't you know it? On the video Dolenz played it open handed.
They were acting to the song, not really playing it, and I'm pretty sure it was Hal Blaine who actually recorded the drum tracks, but I thought it was pretty curious to see an example of open handed playing in 1966. Anyone have any earlier examples?
I know he was hired as an actor, but he learned the drums well enough to play live dates as I understand.
The Monkees were put on the same bill as Jimi Hendrix once, supposedly it was a disaster, did anybody here happen to catch that show?

Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys played open-handed (another person whose band's drum tracks were mostly recorded by Hal Blaine!). You can see clips of him live from 1964 or so (e.g., the TAMI show) riding on the hi hat with his left hand. I suspect he probably was just left handed, and that's why he played that way.

Ed Pierce
 
They both just couldn'td play the drums.....and are in no way "Pioneers" of open handed drumming - lol lol lol

Bernhard
 
Not saying Mickey was a pioneer of anything drumming. But who was the first "famous" open handed player?
I think it was a guy named Eddie....
 
Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys played open-handed (another person whose band's drum tracks were mostly recorded by Hal Blaine!). You can see clips of him live from 1964 or so (e.g., the TAMI show) riding on the hi hat with his left hand. I suspect he probably was just left handed, and that's why he played that way.

Ed Pierce

Interesting Ed. Dolenz had his kit set up lefty, and still played open handed.
 
Dennis was left-handed, as was Buddy Harman who did actually played on a righty kit on occasion. I know there are early videos of him with Johnny Cash, but it may be just for the video. As a lefty, I am sure that he was in more than a few situations where he had to play on a righty kid.
 
I am laughing mao! Funny stuff!
 
Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys played open-handed (another person whose band's drum tracks were mostly recorded by Hal Blaine!). You can see clips of him live from 1964 or so (e.g., the TAMI show) riding on the hi hat with his left hand. I suspect he probably was just left handed, and that's why he played that way.

Ed Pierce

I heard that Dennis taught Micky how to play or helped him at least.

In spite of what dolts think Dennis was a great drummer and it is NOT easy to play 'open-handed', gotta give him props for the talent he had- and I Don't see how anyone could say Ringo was any better, cuz he wasn't! And I'm sure the Beatles had just as much studio players on their records as the Beach Boys. Just because the credit wasn't given doesn't mean they weren't utilized. ;-)
 
I heard that Dennis taught Micky how to play or helped him at least.

In spite of what dolts think Dennis was a great drummer and it is NOT easy to play 'open-handed', gotta give him props for the talent he had- and I Don't see how anyone could say Ringo was any better, cuz he wasn't! And I'm sure the Beatles had just as much studio players on their records as the Beach Boys. Just because the credit wasn't given doesn't mean they weren't utilized. ;-)

Dennis was at the very least a competent drummer, and I think he could be a driving and energetic player. Apparently he played on more Beach Boys sessions than was once thought--I've heard that the studio logs show that he played on "When I Grow Up to be a Man" (which has a cool drum part), "I Get Around," "Girl Don't Tell Me," "Wendy," "That's Not Me," and a bunch of other Beach Boys tunes (this is based on something I read once by Jon Stebbins, who wrote a biography of Dennis). Actually, when I found out that he played on "Wendy" it made sense to me--even though I dig the drums on that, there's a little bit of a flub when the drums come back in at the end, and I always though it seemed like a strange mistake for a studio pro like Hal Blaine to make (who, for a long time, I assumed was on this recording).

The Beach Boys used way more studio musicians than the Beatles (especially from about 1965 onward), but they still played their own instruments on their records a fair amount of the time.
 
Oh yeah, I read that Mickey Dolenz was right-handed, but the drumming instructor he worked with was left-handed (or vice versa), and that is why he developed an unorthodox playing style. Kind of like a left-handed guitarist playing a guitar strung for a right-hander upside down (the guitar, not the guitarist).
 
Mickies kit was set up whatever way suited the crew at the time of the shoot. I have seen a lefty set up a righty set up, a WTF set up and everything in between. I think I even saw it set up like a lefty, as he was a lefty but played like a righty. Yep very confusing. Oh and did I mention his lovely daughter.
 

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he was an actor/singer who learned to play drums after being cast in the Monkees TV show

Right, but after being cast in the Monkees TV show and learning to play drums he was an actor/singer/drummer. None of us knew how to play until we learned how to play. The fact that he learned to play for a TV show doesn't change the fact that he learned to play, and in fact kept on playing after the TV show ended. He's been playing the drums for 47 years. That makes him a drummer.
 
They both just couldn'td play the drums.....and are in no way "Pioneers" of open handed drumming - lol lol lol

It kind of makes sense, though.

In spite of what dolts think Dennis was a great drummer and it is NOT easy to play 'open-handed', gotta give him props for the talent he had- and I Don't see how anyone could say Ringo was any better, cuz he wasn't! And I'm sure the Beatles had just as much studio players on their records as the Beach Boys. Just because the credit wasn't given doesn't mean they weren't utilized. ;-)

Got any theories on why [***couple words deleted by the mods***] John Lennon and George Harrison kept using him post-Beatles, when they were also using Jim Keltner, Jim Gordon, John Guerin and Alan White?

(For the record, the words deleted by the mods were not swear words.)
 
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Mickies kit was set up whatever way suited the crew at the time of the shoot. I have seen a lefty set up a righty set up, a WTF set up and everything in between. I think I even saw it set up like a lefty, as he was a lefty but played like a righty. Yep very confusing. Oh and did I mention his lovely daughter.


good lord she is blessed
 
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