How to practise heels up?

[robertondrums]

Hi everyone, I just want to know how you double bass monsters practise your heels up technique. I've been playing double bass for about 7 or 8 months and I can reach 140bpm 16th notes using my full leg comfortably (I have got to 160bpm in the past but struggled).

So how do you practise getting faster just using that ankle motion?

Currently I have been practising just the ankle motion at 130bpm to 140bpm but can't get faster. Is this the correct way to do it?

I can do heel up easily with both feet by themselves at nearly any tempo even at 210bpm. But put them together and they just panic.

What can I do about this?

Any suggestions are most welcome. Thanks for your time.
Robertondrums

[Gretsch88]

Hi Robert, I play almost completely flat footed and use the muscle on the top of my thigh
to power my legs. Trust me this will make it alot easier....try it. your still gonna be moving your whole foot. Dont' completly rest your foot on the pedals/pedal...cool. Denny

[RollingStone000]

Look around on youtube for the slide & heel toe techniques.

[donv]

I'm surprised more people haven't answered. When I was young I played heels up, but I've seen that "heels up" has different meanings. To me, it was heel just off the pedal, but I've seen drummers that would have made good ballat dancers their heels are so far up. I couldn't tell you how I practiced heels up, it just happened. It seldom happens anymore.

My nephew is a successful death metal drummer and through him and his shows I've met some double bass players and I've talked to alot of them about their speed. One thing many have in common, especially the europeans is to use a pedal where you can adjust the the relationship between the beater and footboard movement like the axis pedals.

check this video out:

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

At 1:18 you get a quick shot at the feet of one of the drummers I've talked to. Notice how little his feet--footboard--are moving compared to the beater. How he plays with those boots on, I don't know. He's playing heels down and he doesn't use heel toe which IMO allows for some cool stuff, but not singles. Well, maybe with triggers and limiters so each beat sounds the same regardless of what the drummer is doing.

Since your question was more about speed then heels up I added this.

[Fiery]

So how do you practise getting faster just using that ankle motion?
Just practice playing faster and let your feet and legs figure out the motions.
From your whole post it seems you mostly lack balance. Just try to stay relaxed and slowly add bpm to your maximum, don't try to jump straight from 140 to 160. Another thing that really helped me with double kick control and coordination is practicing heel down as well as heel up. I never play music heel down, but it helped my general playing to practice that way.

[JT1]

Hi everyone, I just want to know how you double bass monsters practise your heels up technique. I've been playing double bass for about 7 or 8 months and I can reach 140bpm 16th notes using my full leg comfortably (I have got to 160bpm in the past but struggled).

So how do you practise getting faster just using that ankle motion?

Currently I have been practising just the ankle motion at 130bpm to 140bpm but can't get faster. Is this the correct way to do it?

I can do heel up easily with both feet by themselves at nearly any tempo even at 210bpm. But put them together and they just panic.

What can I do about this?

Any suggestions are most welcome. Thanks for your time.
Robertondrums

If i'm honest, i'm going to echo what Fiery said, when you get to certain speeds you have to let your legs muscles figure it out, which way to move and how much force to use. You should also experiment with where to put your foot on the pedal and what positions make it easier. Also think about how high you are sitting, not too high and not too low. How far you sit away from the pedals is a very important factor and i tend to sit so that my feet just hang above the center of the pedals. For ankle motion making your spring tension loose can help a lot as it makes the stroke easier but if you play a different way, tighter might be for you. Try having a little tinker with the adjustments to see if you can get it to work for you rather than you work for it! Good luck.

[stabmasterarson]

you've got to just play, experiment, but don't change your pedal settings too drastically, let your legs get used to your pedals. I think everyone has a different way of doing it that only they can figure out for themselves.

[robertondrums]

Thanks so much everyone, for your posts. My PC has been out off action for a while so I havent been able to reply, just recently though my feet just seemed to suddenly master the heels up technique out of no where. It was really strange because I did a row off gigs and I believe that the change in enviroment somehow made me relax more. Then when I started to play at home again it just all seemed to happen naturally and fall into place. I have been practiseing a lot heels down as well and it really does work. Thanks so much everyone for the posts its been of great help.

Robertondrums