George Kollias
DRUMMERWORLD PRO DRUMMER
My foot technique is very similar to my hand technique, almost the same thing actually.I've listened to a fair bit of Nile, I quite enjoyed Annihilation of the wicked as well as some of your other work, I found it had a lot more depth to it from a musical stand-point then most death metal, you were playing fast but I could hear technique to it.
One question I have which you may not get asked all the time is about achieving high foot speed with a single peddle.
Do you believe it is essential for fast kicks that you utilize a double-kick pedal or can you reach some fairly impressive speeds with a single foot?
I noticed you said the right foot often leads, how essential is it to have the left foot complimenting it?
The reason I ask is because some friends have been showing me a lot of metal drummers who do bass kick fills and they believe it will fit the dynamics of a couple of songs but I'm quite unwilling to move my high hat away from the snare, I like having it close and I like the ability to clap it and create different sounds with pressure on the high hat pedal.
As a right handed drummer it is like:
Right Foot=Leading Foot
Left Foot=Slave Foot
Everything starts with the right foot, the right foot get's in and out of the beat, sets starting points, balance in between and stops.And no matter how fast the leading foot will go, my left will always follow. This is why i advice drummers to NOT train their left foot THAT much. You need to have a leading foot, otherwise both will want to lead and you will end up in flams...i saw that happening many times to my students.
As for speed, double bass is different. Different world...
Yes you can play fast with one foot, possibly 16ths up to 140bpm or more but why push it that much when you can go with 2 kicks?
It all depends on the style you play, i never use 2 kicks outside metal.I try to focus on other areas.