Bass drum double strokes

[plainsman]

alvin's raised a very good point about foot wear/shoes

my take is, there isn't a strict rule that says you cannot play without shoes (with socks, or just barefoot etc.) but its more practical to wear shoes, for reasons alvin has listed above :lol:

ideally, learn to adjust for footwear as well. if ur slide is good with shoes and can't get it working without, u'll still missing some piece of the puzzle.



for me personally, i'd rather play with nice-looking shoes :lol: i've gigged with repertoire that has demanding footwork requirements wearing all sorts of stuff, including steel toe boots, pointy mid-cut boots with zipper 6 inches above ankle etc. none of it affects me much. no blister, nada zilch.

this is not a must-have skill, but if you can.... learn to adjust!!!


cheers

 

[kazuki]

hi guys,

a alightly out of topic question, where can i buy a bass drum practice pad like the one in the vid? it looks really good and doesnt slide around!

thanks!

 

[Bor]

I bought mine from Nigel at Drums Resources. Its a small shop located at the basement of Excelsior / Peninsular Plaza. Its pretty much the same as the one in the vid but it'll still slide around unless you have a carpeted floor or alternatively back it up against a wall to restrain it which is what I do for mine. I believe other places such as swee lee and ranking sports (both at bras basah complex) carries it too...

Alvin and Plainsman, thanks a lot for your tips. Have been playing without shoes for almost all my drumming life but I guess I'll standby some shoes by my drumset next time Would love to come to the meetup as well but my Sats are all fully packed... But anyhow thanks to all for your help.

Keep drumming!!

 

[kazuki]

thanks Bor!

how much did u buy yours?

carpeting is np, in fact i heard that its a must otherwise down stairs still will complain XD

 

[Bor]

I cant remember the exact price but if I'm not wrong its should be $70 to $100 depending on which type you get. Go check it out at Nigel's store, he also has a lot of other interesting stuff.

 

[alvinthedrummer]

That one in the vid looks like a gibraltar bass drum pad....accent music sells it for $99 bucks...

 

[xenOgenesis]

hmmm for me, i actually do the normal toe technique. the first time i tried to do double kicks, it ended up that i was vibrating my leg, much similiar to shaking leg(haha). then slowly, i trained my single leg kick and tried to make it sound as though its a double pedal kick.
but of course, the kick won't be that loud...

see tony roysters single pedal kick...his leg is darn fast...

 

[Bor]

I've been working on sliding for nearly one week now, and thanks to good tips from my teacher Jimmy and many others in the forums, I've managed to get the hang of it.

I can now do alternating doubles between my right hand and my right foot (using slide technique) at a decent speed of 16th notes = 150 bpm, and fairly comfortably for an extended period, even without shoes.

Personally, to compare and contrast sliding and heel toe, I would prefer sliding. Just after one week of practising, my doubles are much cleaner, louder and more powerful. Not to mention that it feels as though there is room for me to work up the speed much more. Yup and it reduces the strain on your knees and its easier to incoporate into grooves and such, as you don't have to deviate from the heel up position. Although it definitely takes a lot more practise to get and more leg muscle to execute, but I believe the results more than justify the cost.

Although I'm no pro at it yet, I have some tips to share based on what I discovered in my practise, hope its helpful:

1) Try not to think of sliding when you're learning this technique. Instead you should think of playing two distinct notes instead of trying to slide your way through and hope for the best. Play with your heels suspended for the first note, and for the second note, come down with the ball of your toe and your heel at the same time, so that the heel drops a bit lower. The slide will automatically come as a by-product of getting the correct motion.

2) Keep your heels suspended in the air before making the first stroke. It helps to release a bit of tension.

3) Apply the slide to samba beats! Play the samba bass drum ostinato with using ONLY slide technique. Work at it patiently from a slow tempo up and you'll see the difference. Personally, this is the trick that clinched it for me.

I've posted a link below hope it helps anyone interested to learn it. Hope it helps.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u8ayYI3Y5k4