fundamental problem with double bass technique.

[cynicalsleeper]

Hello all,

Im having a lot of problems playing single stroke rolls with my feet. Ive been practicing this with a metronome for a good half a year now, & I'm still struggling to get 16th notes at 104bpm comfortably.

The problem seems to be two-fold. If I play for more than a bar or two, I start to lose my balance on the throne & my upper body starts to tilt forward, where I usually try to keep upright & have good playing posture, & the other part of the problem is that my calves & ankles start to tense up to the point that I struggle to play if I try to play faster than about 16ths at 100 bpm.

Ive watched countless videos about this, & spoken to other drummers, & everyone seems to say 'play from your ankles'. I use a lot of ankle naturally when I play single bass beats, & I dont seem to have a problem, but when I attempt to use both feet I get the above problems. I have had a little success with sort of bouncing the pedal with the ball of my foot using my ankle (like dribbling a basketball), but Im not really in control of what Im doing & I get so little power out of it that its hard to hear the bass drum under the cymbals.

Initially I thought that the problem was that my left foot was significantly weaker than my right, so Ive practiced single bass beats using solely my left to the point where I can comfortably do what I do with my right with it, but it hasnt made any difference to my inability to combine the two feet.

Im playing barefooted or in socks, my pedal is set almost as loose as it will go, & my bass drum head is fairly tight, & Ive been playing heels up.

I know Ive rambled on a lot, but I wanted to go into detail so hopefully someone can help diagnose the problem. Im nearly at the end of my tether with this, any advice or tips will be greatly appreciated.

- Jack

[ace76543]

I had this same problem, except at around 120-125. Here's your solution:

Every day start your practice routine by playing 16ths at 80bpm for 5 mins leading right and 5 mins leading left. Do this until it's second to breathing (for 2 weeks - a month, maybe even longer...it all depends on your body). Put it this way: by the time i moved up i had put a book beside my kit to read while i did this. You should be able to have your mind completely elsewhere while still playing even 16ths, even if the metronome isn't on. When you're EXTREMELY (and i cannot stress that word enough) comfortable with this, start playing 10 mind leading left and 10 mins leading right, as well as 5 mins left/right at 85 bpm. This process is extremely slow, and you will NOT see results for a long time. BUT IT WORKS. Even on days that you don't play, try to get in 10/20/30 mins of this playing very slowly and evenly. EVENLY. That's another key word. It should sound like a computer is playing, not you.

I have more to say but i'm on some stuff whose name i'm going to keep to myself so i forgot it. I'll post more tomorrow

[cynicalsleeper]

Thanks for the tip ace, I'll incorporate it into my practice. Did you find your heels starting to creep upwards when you played, so eventually youre resting on the balls of your feet?

Does this matter, or should I aim to keep my feet relatively flat to the pedals?

[ace76543]

I play heel up, so my heels are already up. If you play heel down, that's fine, BUT you should start to practice playing heel up too. At faster speeds most people use heel up...couldn't tell you why.

TLDR; Practice both ways equally

[cynicalsleeper]

I play heel up, so my heels are already up. If you play heel down, that's fine, BUT you should start to practice playing heel up too. At faster speeds most people use heel up...couldn't tell you why.

TLDR; Practice both ways equally

I play heels up, what I meant is that my feet seem to rise so theyre in the same position as if I was standing on tiptoes. If you see what I mean,

[defregano]

keep your feet flat. raising your heels puts a lot of tension in your leg as you can notice

[ace76543]

keep your feet flat. raising your heels puts a lot of tension in your leg as you can notice

That's not true. If playing heel up puts so much tension on your leg, why do so many people - amature and pro alike - use it? If anything, keeping your feet flat will put tension on your leg. If done improperly it can severly damage your achilles tendon

[defregano]

i think you may have misunderstood..my post. There is nothing wrong with heel up playing...I play heel up most of the time. The original poster mentioned that his heel raises up to the point that hes playing with his toes. I was commenting on that. That creates tension. If he lowers his heel to an inch or two off the pedal his leg will feel much more relaxed.