Need tips on how to do blast beats!

[xxprincess_wildchildxx]

Hey there I play drums in a metal band and I'm having some difficulty doing blast beats/gravity blasts...I can do it a few moments before I have to stop because it starts to sound sloppy! If you could help me out that would be great...I'll love you forever heh.

 

[DemonJay]

I'm fairly good at doing blast beats, but I still have a way to go on them.

I find with blast beats (and with drum playing in general) it's always best to play them at slow tempos so you build muscle memory. If you try to go fast right from the get-go then you will develop sloppy habits which are even harder to break. So ignore the goal of going fast all together, just focus on getting your blast beats clean and comfortable to play. Then at that point you would want to start speeding things up.

 

[Conti]

Since blast beast are the most grim beats ever you must summon Satan himself while playing them.

 

[xxprincess_wildchildxx]

That's a good point,thanks! I guess I'm rushing the speediness factor a little too much. Any specific way I should hold the sticks? And when doing gravity blasts I always get frustrated because the sticks never bounce back the way they should...it just sounds like im hitting the rim and it sounds all clanky.

 

[rfe]

The best way to hold the sticks is more loose than the traditional matching grip, use mostly the index and thumb to hold the thumb, and hold the sticks with the other fingers to stabilize the stick so it doesn't go flying all over the place.

Just practice getting comfortable with the ride and snare. As DemonJay pointed it best, take your time, speed up gradually. Doing blast beats require strong flexibility, so you will want to develop that.

 

[DemonJay]

That's a good point,thanks! I guess I'm rushing the speediness factor a little too much. Any specific way I should hold the sticks? And when doing gravity blasts I always get frustrated because the sticks never bounce back the way they should...it just sounds like im hitting the rim and it sounds all clanky.

Gravity blasts are difficult to pull off for this very reason. Even with matched grip, you'll notice that your sticks won't bounce back the same way since your right hand (if your right handed) is stronger than the left. I had this exact same problem too.

I got past it by doing the method I mentioned before, by starting off slow and focusing soley on playing clean and controlled. I'm developing muscle memory by doing this, this is the goal you're going for, not speed, it's muscle memory. Once you train your self to play controlled, you can simply speed things up and you'll be able to keep up.

Don't get frusterated with this, this is a process that took me months to learn as well.

 

[xxprincess_wildchildxx]

Hooray dudes, its working I'm getting faster!
Though still some problems with my left hand, but its getting there
Thanks for the help!

 

[MasterT44]

Since blast beast are the most grim beats ever you must summon Satan himself while playing them.

You can't give a better answer than that.