Virgil Donati's doubles on the feet?

[h3r3tic]

Can anyone tell me which technique Virgil uses on his feet to play double strokes?

[aydee]

Can anyone tell me which technique Virgil uses on his feet to play double strokes?

here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44OaOWYmQs

[h3r3tic]

here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44OaOWYmQs

Thank you so much!!

So it's just heel up doubles;)

[Jeff Almeyda]

That technique takes years to master. Virgil has the best sounding doubles of all.

[h3r3tic]

That technique takes years to master. Virgil has the best sounding doubles of all.

I believe in you bro!

Oh yeah he does in deed have the best sounding doubles!

[Just Drums]

Virgil does the displaced doubles on his feet which is the same effect as accenting the second stroke in your double stroke roll on your hands. It prevents that second stroke from being weaker.

RLLR RLLR ....etc.

[fazzybOO`]

Can anyone break down the science of what he's doing at 1:40 onwards?

Virgil does the displaced doubles on his feet which is the same effect as accenting the second stroke in your double stroke roll on your hands. It prevents that second stroke from being weaker.

RLLR RLLR ....etc.

Ah, okay, cool :)

[HintiFlo]

hey h3r3tic!

Toe-Heel is what i would call it. If you now what 'heel-toe' means: just other way round. This techniques don't necessarily mean you're putting your heel down to the board, but acutally possibly play with toe and pad of your feet.

RLLR RLLR ....etc.

Are you sure? I didn't go deeply go into Virgils technique, but i beg to differ.
i rahter think it's RRLLRRLL..., not Heel-Toe but Toe-Heel.
For the rest i totally agree with you: when you're stomping with your heels on the off-beats, it's preventing your seconds from getting weak.

greets, Flo (first post in drummerworld.com/forums/, please pardon any language-errors, english isn't my mother-tounge)

[Jivi]

Are you sure? I didn't go deeply go into Virgils technique, but i beg to differ.
i rahter think it's RRLLRRLL..., not Heel-Toe but Toe-Heel.
For the rest i totally agree with you: when you're stomping with your heels on the off-beats, it's preventing your seconds from getting weak.


If look at that doubles video of Virgil, you'll see that he is infact doing RLLRRLL. I believe you can still do "Toe-Heel" with that as it is still a double.

[Adam]

hey h3r3tic!

Toe-Heel is what i would call it. If you now what 'heel-toe' means: just other way round. This techniques don't necessarily mean you're putting your heel down to the board, but acutally possibly play with toe and pad of your feet.



Are you sure? I didn't go deeply go into Virgils technique, but i beg to differ.
i rahter think it's RRLLRRLL..., not Heel-Toe but Toe-Heel.
For the rest i totally agree with you: when you're stomping with your heels on the off-beats, it's preventing your seconds from getting weak.

greets, Flo (first post in drummerworld.com/forums/, please pardon any language-errors, english isn't my mother-tounge)

Yes, Virgil tends to mostly play inverted (rllrrll) doubles instead of the standard rrllrrll. He says that it makes it easier to feel/count when you play them that way.

As for his technique, there is not a lot to it. He basically just stomps out two strokes with his ankles (which takes years to get strong like that) and at higher speeds he tends to swivel and slide his feet to take some of the work away from the ankles.

Virgil's feet are, in my opinion, a lot cleaner and louder that Thomas Langs (though Lang can do anything with his feet). I think it's because his technique is a little bit more functional.

[HintiFlo]

Oops, sorry!

yeah you're right, i watched again: RLLRRLL...
thanks for all the information, i got a lot to practice again ;-)

greets, Flo

[Just Drums]

hey h3r3tic!

Toe-Heel is what i would call it. If you now what 'heel-toe' means: just other way round. This techniques don't necessarily mean you're putting your heel down to the board, but acutally possibly play with toe and pad of your feet.



Are you sure? I didn't go deeply go into Virgils technique, but i beg to differ.
i rahter think it's RRLLRRLL..., not Heel-Toe but Toe-Heel.
For the rest i totally agree with you: when you're stomping with your heels on the off-beats, it's preventing your seconds from getting weak.

greets, Flo (first post in drummerworld.com/forums/, please pardon any language-errors, english isn't my mother-tounge)

Positive. I was about 5 feet away from him in a clinic. And then he explained the sticking afterwards. ;-)

[Drum-Head]

I have seen a few videos where he explains all this and asked him at one of his clinics - there is no specific technique implied in Virgil's doubles on the kicks. He just plays them like you would normally do playing heel up, once mastered and up to speed you get what you see on the videos of him playing them. It's as simple as that.

I'd like to mention though that although he does tend to play inverted doubles, he has no problem at all playing doubles in any way what so ever. One of his exercises for developing them was this:

||: RRLL RRLL RRLL RRLL | RLLR RLLR RLLR RLLR | LLRR LLRR LLRR LLRR | LRRL LRRL LRRL LRRL :||

Remember though, doubles like that take YEARS to master. And although it is always better to have the most control possible, playing doubles on the kick is not a vital thing to learn. In my opinion, there are other things to master before getting on to this.

Regards,
Christopher.

[Wavelength]

--- playing doubles on the kick is not a vital thing to learn.

I think the ability to play clean and solid double strokes with the kick pedal is a rather useful skill to have. It will help playing various 16th note (and 8th note triplet) variations in grooves, and can give your fills a whole new vibe.

[Adam]

I think the ability to play clean and solid double strokes with the kick pedal is a rather useful skill to have. It will help playing various 16th note (and 8th note triplet) variations in grooves, and can give your fills a whole new vibe.

I agree. We play doubles with our hands for a reason, and usually we can play them faster than singles! I agree that learning to play singles well enough should come first.