Drums: bass pedal advice please

[Satori]

If you play drums, are you really shit-hot at playing quick doubles with one foot without tiring?

Preferably heel up, as heel down just causes fatigue.

Must you use the bounce of the pedal off the head, or can you control and force it much the same way as the exercise of doing doubles with your hands on a pillow?

How many springs are on your pedal? How tight are they set? Does a good pedal make all the difference (I heard it does not, as long as you have something pretty good it shouldn't matter)?

thanks,

Satori

 

[Misanthrope]

Im not a drummer but i enjoy trying my chances are double bass
and ive seen a number of drummers and the good ones use a convination of half lifting and using the whole leg and using only the ankle to kick its like a little of both at the same time and its really economic that way, only catch is that you need to sit rather high so your legs are hanging completly.
And those people who said a good pedal doesnt makes the difference obiously have never tried an iron cobra

 

[Russell]

I'm shite at doing quick doubles so can't be much help.... But if ur willing tofork outa but there's a new bass drum pedal out(well was new about 2 years ago) that hits the drum as one usually does and then when you lift the first pedal back it strikes again with another beater - enabling youto easily do any double bass drum beats with one foot I want one!

 

[Misanthrope]

how about 2 of those togheter
4 hits insanity!

 

[ante]

Nicko McBrain from Maiden is a sucker on playing doubles with one foot, I dont remember which album he is proving it most on but I think it´s somewhere in time or Peace of Mind

 

[Malaclypse]

do as follows
tune the spring relatively tight, so that the pedal comes back quickly
kick the pedal with your heel (try to touch the pedal with the whole foot, though) at the lower end. when it springs back, raise the heel and kick it down again with the tip of your foot.
if you're really good you can do this with a double bass pedal, but this is quite tricky because of the timing.
keep trying, though
hope this helps

s.

 

[Russell]

Originally posted by VultureCulture
do as follows
tune the spring relatively tight, so that the pedal comes back quickly
kick the pedal with your heel (try to touch the pedal with the whole foot, though) at the lower end. when it springs back, raise the heel and kick it down again with the tip of your foot.
if you're really good you can do this with a double bass pedal, but this is quite tricky because of the timing.
keep trying, though
hope this helps

s.

Shit my drum teacher taught me how to do that I'd completely forgotten tho And I found it really hard!

 

[Malaclypse]

had my teacher only taught me half of that...
or how to tune drums
i'm just experiencing the effects on tweaking my kit. it's awesome how much you can get out of it if you know how. since i altered the settings of my pedals, i'm at least 15-20% quicker with feet.

 

[Satori]

Originally posted by ante
Nicko McBrain from Maiden is a sucker on playing doubles with one foot, I dont remember which album he is proving it most on but I think it´s somewhere in time or Peace of Mind

I would sell my soul for Nicko's right foot.

I think it's somewhere in time, fuck this album has got some fine playing.

Oh shit, I just realized who I am replying to, Anders! It's an honour to speak with you. You really put a lot of feeling into your playing and I love your jazzy/lazy style. As they say in Jamaica.. respect!

Satori

 

[Satori]

Originally posted by VultureCulture
do as follows
tune the spring relatively tight, so that the pedal comes back quickly
kick the pedal with your heel (try to touch the pedal with the whole foot, though) at the lower end. when it springs back, raise the heel and kick it down again with the tip of your foot.
if you're really good you can do this with a double bass pedal, but this is quite tricky because of the timing.
keep trying, though
hope this helps

Yea man! I spent about 3 hours doing this tonight, damn it's hard. But it works. This was the techinique I was looking for.

I found it works precisely as you explained. At first I tried slamming down my heal to make sure I was kicking with the motion of my leg instead of the tip of my foot, then it gradually got smoother. Fuck it's hard, but I can tell it's going to be worth the effort. It's definitely not a natural thing, it feels really bizarre but I can feel that in time my foot/leg will learn the motion.

It occured to me that this is exactly the same motion used when playing a double with the hand, the arm drops the first hit and then the wrist snaps the second. It's so obvious I should've been able to figure it out. I was trying to force the double by making my ankle snap twice (it doesn't work very well).

Anyway, thanks for the great advice man. It was more helpful then you can imagine.

Satori

 

[Malaclypse]

glad i could help

 

[Satori]

Originally posted by VultureCulture
glad i could help

Are you very good at doing this? If so, how long did it take you to "master" it?

Do you play double bass too? If so, do you have any pointers for this too?

To your knowledge, does anyone play alternating doubles with both feet instead of playing quick singles?

cheers,

Satori

 

[Malaclypse]

with one foot (right) i'm quite ok, for i had no double pedal the first 2 years. but then i got lazy... alternating strokes is too hard for me since i can't do them appropriate with my left foot. not long ago i tried to change my whole style of double bass drumming.
in the past i used my whole leg from knee to foot to push the pedals down, which resulted in a loud punch, but you can't do this all to quickly. heels down is tiring as well, so now the idea is to keep the feet raised al the time and just tap the front end of the pedals with your toes. you won't go very loud, but in my case about 100% faster
i have to coordinate my muscular contractions, though at the current state, right produces synchrone beats while left does what it wants when it wants to...
i think i'll have to sit myself down for a few days... but i'm so fucking impatient.