OUCH, my foot!!!!

[filkove]

Hello all,

I haven’t been playing very long, maybe a few years worth over the past nine years (on and off). I have a BIG problem!!!

I use the ‘Pacific Drums by DW DP402 Double Bass Drum Pedal’, when I play the mallet (or whatever it’s called) comes back and taps me on the top of my foot. It’s a slight tap but after a while I start to get a bruise and it starts to hurt. Sometimes I have to ice my foot for a few days just to get the swelling down. The only adjustment you can make on this pedal is the spring tension and I already have it on the tightest setting.

So my question is… is it me and how I play, or is it the pedal that SUCKS???
Also, what double bass pedal would you recommend for me to get?

Thanks all,
Filkove

[nebula821]

hmmm... I'm not sure what to tell you but I can say that I used to have a really crappy pedal several years ago and it would do that regardless of tension setting. It may be your pedal but I don't claim to be an expert on drum gear.

[TitanSound]

Yeah it just sounds like a bad pedal. Best thing to do is go to your nearest drum shop and try a better pedal. If it does not happen then you will obviously replace said crappy pedal. But it should not happen anyway. If its flying all the way back to the top of your foot then you are using too much motion in trying to get it back to the drum head!

Plus if you can only adjust the spring tension then you would want a better pedal with more adjustments anyway, that way you can get the exact feel you are looking for.

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

I've seen this problem before. It might be worth actually trying to loosen the spring tension. Basically the beater is tilted too far back for the starting position and in returning to position, it goes that bit further. There's no way of adjusting the pedal's distance from the head is there? Other than that I suggest you get another pedal; the Pacific pedals aren't great.

[NUTHA JASON]

Agreed. you may have to pay a bit more for a pedal that allows for more custom adjustments like beater angle but it is worth it. personally i would rather play with bad sticks and less that the best tomtoms if it meant that i could afford to buy a state of the art pedal (happily for me i can afford all good things but, i was a jobless teenager once).

j

[MattRitter]

I'm almost 100% sure there's nothing wrong with your pedal. My new students have this problem all the time. Some of them are women wearing sandals- painful! After we work on their technique, the problem goes away without changing anything about the pedal. Usually, the problem comes from letting the foot lose contact with the footboard for a split second. When that happens, the pedal momentarily doesn't have the weight of the foot to keep it in check. So the momentum of the beater takes over and makes it fly back too far. The solution: make sure you keep your foot touching the pedal at all times! Secondly, adjust your bass drum technique so that you are not bringing the beater back as far when you make each stroke. In other words, make a smaller motion.

I promise you these are the issues, and my suggestions above can solve them. I wouldn't speak so confidently about it if I didn't see this exact, foot-bruising problem on a weekly basis!

Best of luck!

Matt Ritter
Bass Drum Techniques For Today's Drummer
www.UnBuryingTheBeater.com

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

Actually, Matt has a point there. Give that a go before considering buying a new pedal.

[filkove]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

i had the plesure of trying a diffrent bass pedel today and WOW what a diffrence.

not only did i not hit my foot one time but i was able to do things that i didnt even know i can do. the pedal was just really cofortable and felt like it was just a continuation of my foot rather then a pedal.

so now i'm going to post a new thred under the Drum Gear section and ask about pedals... anyone that can help, see you there...

v/r
filkvoe