THE HEEL DOWN THREAD

[h3r3tic]

Hey people! ;)

After a while of playing heel up, I accidnetly was playing heel down so that I wouldn't disturb my folks at home lol :P and for my surprise it felt cool playing heel down I felt a little more control on double bass patterns but after a few seconds of playing double bass fast like a play on heel up, the ankle strated hurting a little bit :(.

Any suggestions on how to overcome this problem and to have a relaxed practise on heel down?
Thanks! ;)

[Johnest]

It's always the same answer for all those kind of practice... Start slow and built your speed gradually... Don't over-do it and respect your speed limit. I almost play everything heel-down because i can play much more relaxed that way but don't forget, heel-down is less powerfull than heel-up.

[Osh]

I play heel down all the time too - was never told how to do it by my first teacher, he just said "put your feet on the pedals" - crap teacher. And i got used to doing it so it's easier for me than heel up.

I struggle with heel up to do anything fast, for me it's loads easier heel down - all you need to move is your foot, if you're using heel up, you're moving your whole leg up and down, for me it's just so much easier to get my foot to go fast, than my whole leg to go fast.

I guess it's down to the fact that I've always played heel down - for the past 6 years. I practiced a lot to get my doubles out so i guess that's all you can do. Just practice heel down a lot. Or just don't bother, at least if you're used to playing heel up, you don't have to worry about power.

I just bought myself a twin pedal and i am struggling to get power out of it, and have resorted to practicing heel up. i hate it though. So uncomfortable! You can't rest, if you're not using the pedal, you're having to hold your leg up in the air and not rest it on the pedal - unlike the heel down technique.

[vadrum]

I think you will notice that most drummers will use both techniques. when playing quiet or slow they will use the heel down, when playing loud or fast they use heel up. experiment w/ both, there is no harm in moving from heel up to heel down. as for building speed w/ the heel down, thats a "one step at a time" scenario. slow down the tempo and gradually build it back up over time.

[foursticks]

Yes I agree with vadrum, incorperating both techniques into your playing gives you a better control over the bass drum and you'll be able to do certains things easier with one way than the other and the same vise versa.

[Casper "DrPowerStroke" Paludan]

And don't assume HU is "loud" and HD is "quiet". A great excercise that Dom gaver me was to play 8ths really softly, and then progressively louder, starting over at soft volume, all heel up. At very loud volumes, HU carries most, because you are using your whole leg, but playing sift on HU is surprisingly effective. DPS

[k3ng]

I think you will notice that most drummers will use both techniques. when playing quiet or slow they will use the heel down, when playing loud or fast they use heel up. experiment w/ both, there is no harm in moving from heel up to heel down. as for building speed w/ the heel down, thats a "one step at a time" scenario. slow down the tempo and gradually build it back up over time.

Yeah like DPS said, I actually do it the other way around... i find it more effective for me. And also I prefer playing heel down, so I try to get my volume from there and hey presto it works!

Anyway, when switching from heel up to heel down you must realise that you're using a completely different type of motion. Different muscles are invovled. So start of as if you were learning something completely new. Whatever you did as a prelude to playing heel up, do it again when practising heel down.

[DestinationDrumming]

Hi h3r3tic,

I've just had this conversation with my drum teacher. I've got used to playing heel down (only been playing 9 months though) and having difficulty getting quick doubles (my quick by the way is 75bpm!). I spoke to my drum teacher about this and he said to lift my heel so my ankle had less pressure on it and to play with my ankle rather than my whole leg. So the leg doesn't move but the ankle does. I've found, like you that playing heel down gives me a sore ankle and playing heel up is too but exercising different muscles and the main thing is that I've found my speed has increased although after a few days my consistency isn't too good.

Lots of the guys here have said it's such a good thing having a drum teacher rather than using DVD's etc and this is one case where I wouldn't have been able to progress without his help.

Hope this helps
Good luck
Kevin

[h3r3tic]

Hi h3r3tic,

I've just had this conversation with my drum teacher. I've got used to playing heel down (only been playing 9 months though) and having difficulty getting quick doubles (my quick by the way is 75bpm!). I spoke to my drum teacher about this and he said to lift my heel so my ankle had less pressure on it and to play with my ankle rather than my whole leg. So the leg doesn't move but the ankle does. I've found, like you that playing heel down gives me a sore ankle and playing heel up is too but exercising different muscles and the main thing is that I've found my speed has increased although after a few days my consistency isn't too good.

Lots of the guys here have said it's such a good thing having a drum teacher rather than using DVD's etc and this is one case where I wouldn't have been able to progress without his help.

Hope this helps
Good luck
Kevin

Hey bro :)
so it's like heel up but you're using the heel instead of lifting your leg right?

[DestinationDrumming]

That might work. He was saying it was a more subtle movement than making each beat with the whole leg i.e. your knee moving up and down with each beat. Like the leg is suspended by the big thigh muscles and stays still (ish) which then allows the ankle to move up and down more freely without the weight of the whole leg on it.

LOL I'm sat here demonstrating as I write just in case you can see!! :0)

[h3r3tic]

I've been playing heel up for a long time, but since I saw videos of Thomas Lang explaining the importance of both heel up and heel down because of dynamics, I've been wondering to try heel down.

And when I experimented I found out that the stroke may be a little weeker than the ones on heel up, but I think that heel down gives more control, at least that was I felt when I experimented heel down.

How about you? what do you think about this way of playing with your feet?
Thanks ;)

[tamadrummer132]

i used to play heel down, but i realized taht i get more power when playing heel up, and i could go faster. to me the only advantage of heel down, is that you get less tired. but i play heel up.

[drumbandit]

i play a mixture of both just depending on the situation. i find it easier to play consistantly fast beats with heel down but heel up works better and gives me a nicer feel when playing.
Tom

[h3r3tic]

Though heel down seems to give less louder strokes than heel up, it looks like it is very good for speed?

Is it true?
Is it good for extreme tempos?

[JCM]

You can go equally fast with either technique. I use heel down and I want to master it before I move on to heel up. Also, both techniques use different muscles.

[caprisun3484]

i used Heel Up for everything
the only thing i think that Heel Down is good for is control

[h3r3tic]

i used Heel Up for everything
the only thing i think that Heel Down is good for is control

That's what cauaght my attention when I tried heel down. Lots of control in deed ;)
But I can't remember who said to imagine the heel down as the finger technique... less muscle group.

[d.c.drummer]

Heel down is good for control but with practice, you can be just as effective heel-up

[EternalArcadia]

thomas lang actually emphasizes that anyone should be able to play the same thing with heel up you do with heel down or vise versa.

hes able to go just as fast heel down than he is heel up and still get the same even strokes. so speed can accomplished either way the way i see it.

[djsgirl05]

i usually play heel up if i'm doing fast songs. and heel down for slow. i think either way works for whatever speed. it just automatically does that for me.

[dea]

Interesting... I played heel down for decades until a few years back. Now, I play heel only, toe only, heel down, toe and heel down together. This can change at anytime during a single song and normally I'm doing all of it all throughout the song. What drives the changes are where my accents are placed.

Example,
I'm cruising along with standard bass drum on 1 and 3. Now I want to throw a bass drum strike on the backbeat along with 1 and 3. At that point, I will drop my heel down only causing the bass drum strike. This gives a nice accent on that backbeat if one wishes.

My suggestion is that you learn every position. You won't regret it since your entire foot now becomes part, and supports the groove. Oh man, its heaven!

[h3r3tic]

Interesting... I played heel down for decades until a few years back. Now, I play heel only, toe only, heel down, toe and heel down together. This can change at anytime during a single song and normally I'm doing all of it all throughout the song. What drives the changes are where my accents are placed.

Example,
I'm cruising along with standard bass drum on 1 and 3. Now I want to throw a bass drum strike on the backbeat along with 1 and 3. At that point, I will drop my heel down only causing the bass drum strike. This gives a nice accent on that backbeat if one wishes.

My suggestion is that you learn every position. You won't regret it since your entire foot now becomes part, and supports the groove. Oh man, its heaven!

thanks :) I'll try that