THE HEEL TOE THREAD

[britchops]

heel/toe, or moeller technique is the best. transformed my playing - foot and hand technique. makes playing sooooo easy too.

britchops

[Les Ismore]

I feel like heel toe should have a different name. When I first learned it, I literally tried playing with the back of my heel to the tips of my toes, and footboards generally aren't long enough for this. Once I figured it out, it's absolutely nothing like its name.

You're right, what you learned is 'not' like its name- Heel/Toe. There's the confusion.

Heel/toe is just as the name implies, the heel makes the first strike, the toe follows, its a walking motion. So yes you're limited to foot size fitting the pedal board.

There's a lot of confusion from people describing/showing a double stroke that uses the toe/ball of the foot to depress the foot board accentuated by dropping the heel.

There is a stroke that exists in which the heel of the foot contacts the pedal board first sending the beater into the head, followed by a strike on the foot board from the toe creating the second hit of a double, this stroke has a name, it is called heel/toe. Few people can do this stroke w/any proficiency, its very difficult to learn.

If you have your foot hanging off of the foot board and you do a quick double stroke with your toe planted by dropping your heel, that is another type of stroke that exists and its being improperly referred to as heel/toe.

When someone says bass/snare, its not FT/snare, the FT imitating the bass drum stroke.


Pete Riley demonstrates a simple slide technique to pull off a double, its not heel/toe. He doesn't use the words "Heel/toe", he's not claiming its heel/toe, b/c its not. A lot of people confuse this stroke with heel/toe. This stroke has limitations due to the fact in it there's a place in it where you lose contact with the foot board while having to change direction at the same time, this creates a demand for balance. Pete uses his right foot to balance, and maintain his stability.



Jarred Faulk (@2:52) describes it correctly, and (@ 3:00) 'illustrates' it correctly, but then @ 3:11 he tells you what he's really doing ("... a toe/toe stroke).

Faulk is causing confusion here. He uses the term 'Heel/toe' to create an interest, then shows a an advanced toe slide technique where little to no slide is used.

3:22- He admits right here "The first heel hit won't actually create any stroke." Right, its then not 'heel/toe' b/c heel/toe means the first heel contact creates the first impact of the double.

3:32 He shows both strokes are made by the toe. So why the hell he calls this Heel/toe is beyond me. It creates nothing but confusion.

4:56 This is not heel/toe, there's no reason to strike the dead portion (behind the hinge) of the foot board with your heel to make this stroke happen. Kinda senseless, but he describes it with meaning. He's right "That's actually ridiculous."

5:46 there's your stroke, not heel/toe, both contacts are made with the ball (toe) of the foot.


As I said b/f, there's no copyright on the name, so people can call whatever they're doing heel/toe, tho in reality there is a stroke which employs the first stroke on the board from the heel causing the first hit of a double.

This is Jarred Faulk's version of a heel/toe stroke, that's what he (and others) should be saying. In reality its a heel actuated double stroke, not a heel/toe stroke proper.

[feldiefeld]

The technique I use is more of a "front/back"....kind of like what Weckl described in his video from the '80's, "Back to Basics." It is not "heel/toe".....I think of it as "front of the ball of your foot/back of the ball of your foot." When this technique is played fast, it LOOKS like a slide, so some might call this technique the slide....but I don't think of that way....what looks like a slide is really just the result of the "front/back" motion.

If anyone has interest in checking it out further, I wrote an article about it at:

http://bit.ly/HqfeCQ

This technique has worked for me for over 30 years. I can promise you it works like a charm once you master it.

[TreeClimbingFeet]

1) So people like 'Morgan' from Henker, and Guido Wyss on double beater pedals like the giant-step and dualist pedals are using heel-toe method (Waterson type method, not Faulke)? They're going so fast I can't really tell exactly what they are doing, eg RHRTLHLT (doubles)or RHLHRTLT (chasing).

HENKER http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcAuXrThJXk
GUIDO WYSS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvQArNyJMsY



2) TIM WATERSON http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzXH4lXHmwM - at the end of this video I found it hard to differentiate between what he is doing and Jojo`'s technique. Can anyone explain the difference for me?

[Arky]

As for that Henker drummer and Guido Wyss... Nobody can do around 300 bpm 16th notes with single strokes - at least not the regular version although there's a few drummers who can do 300 w/ swivel - which are singles, too but some don't consider them 'real' singles.

Honestly I still haven't fully grasped how quad pedals work but look at that Henker drummer's foot speed - it looks like 'normal' but produces more notes. You can absolutely forget that anybody could hit those speeds 'for real' if not using quad pedals or some technological thingy other than standard pedals. So you're doing very well if you're hitting 16th notes in the 200-250 bpm range.

As for Tim: In that example he's using constant release but (for demo purposes) brings his heel down all the way. Now if you keep the heel off the pedal this would be Tim's "pump(ing)" motion as explained on his DVD (highly recommended!). For 'real' heel toe you'd typically lift your toe after the toe stroke while with constant release the toe will stay on the pedalboard all the time. Personally I prefer constant release but do bring down my heels all the way down like in Tim's example, especially at higher speed, for more power. Of course Tim can do a lot more - in fact pretty much anything one could think of with feet. Check out his DVD, there's some unbelievable stuff there. He can hit around 360 bpm with double strokes, for a full minute!

PS: It's *Jared Falk* - pretty simple spelling actually.

[TreeClimbingFeet]

Anyone tried the Vruk pedal extender?

http://www.vrukpedal.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXRz0SuPDsE#t=1m20s

[beyondbetrayal]

Heres 2 videos I made of my technique, Its called HEEL/TOE but i refer to it more of a double stroke.. I have my springs cranked up for the rebound and I made these vids right after i learnt the technique.. After a few months of tweaking settings and practice 250bpm 16ths is not a problem and its got alot tighter... you don't NEED axis pedals for this but it does help to have a long board.
It can be done on a short board too it would just take getting used to the motion.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaGaAfDkhLM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FTSLL2tD0E

Heres a slightly more recent sound clip of the techinque.. your pedal settings make a big difference at these speeds to not have a "bouncy" feel to it... slowly getting it close at 240bpm.. still needs some work

https://soundcloud.com/scott-patters...racticing#play

[Reggae_Mangle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4YKFOJmxyA

Heel-toe video!

- Reggae Mangle