Double Kick Single Pedal Elation !!!!

Witterings

Silver Member
I've always loved the gospel fills and sound of double kick using a single pedal and have spent the last 2 years working on it relentlessly hour after hour after hour and have gone through 3 different teachers, each giving me different excercises to try and break down this complete block that I've had and just haven't been able to overcome to the extent I'd become slightly obsessed with it
.

One of the fills I've worked and worked and worked on is this one
http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/thomaspridgengospelfill.html
but just couldn't get right.
When ever I've tried playing RLRLKK it's never worked and it's mainly been the spacing as there's been a nice even 1,2,3,4 for the RLRL but I've stuck the 2 kicks way too close to the RLRL if I try and demonstrate the spacing / how I was playing it it'd be

R L R L KK

I as trying to put the Thomas Pridgen fill to music and struggling so thought I'd get the notation out and look where the 1,2,3 and 4 actually fall so I could literally count it through as I played it. I'd always looked at it as 2 turnarounds made up of 9 notes that were the same pattern followed by a different pattern of 6 notes and was counting it 1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3 then as the 2nd turnaround started back to 1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3 and then the last 6 as 1,2,3,4,5,6.
To get it to fall on the 1,2,3,4, beat so I knew where it was in relation to the bar I easily saw I then had to count it in sextuplets which to start off with felt REALLY weird especially as I was used to counting the beginning of the second turnaround as one but was now counting it as 4.
Lirterally though this only took a few minutes and all of a sudden I realised my spacing had totally changed and become much more even and the speed I was able to play it at smoothly and precisely had virtually doubled.

I sat there in almost disbelief, scared to breath in case it interrupted it and I wouldn't be able to play it like that again.
I held my breath and then tried another of the gospel fills that I struggled with and again for a few seconds found it a little strange as I was now counting it in 6's as opposed to something else to get the 1 to fall on the beginning of a pattern and within minutes it had exactly the same result as the 1st
I then tried the one that I could never get right which is one of the Aaron Spears fills and again exactly the same and lastly I'd struggled just to get an even sextuplet of RLRLKK as I counted it as RLRLKK but literally just changed it to counting numbers instead ie 1,2,3,4,5,6

Sorry if this seems a little boring to everybody else BUT if you knew the blood, sweat, tears of frustration and hour after hour after relentless hour I've spent trying to get this and having had a complete block that I've experienced then you'd understand the elation I'm feeling at the moment and why I wanted to shout if from a roof top somewhere and as I'm scared of heights this forum is my rooftop for today !!

Don't get me wrong I'm not going to suddenly be Aaron Spears or Thomas Pridgen overnight and it'll still take a lot of time / work to perfect BUT I think I'm past the hardest bit and about to enjoy the ride down the other side - - - the other reason I'm so ecstatic is having put SO much of my practice time into it now means I can put so much more time into improving other area's of my playing.

That aside I've also posted it with headings that are searchable / relevant so anyone else having a similar problem may find it and you never know it may help !!!!!!

Happy drumming everyone and thanks for reading my rant !!!

PS I bet I go home tonight I won't be able to repeat it and will be posting tomorrow asking how to build up doublekick speed :)
 
cool story! its certainly a great feeling finally nailing a part/rudiment/passage and getting it to the point it comes naturally. i felt similar elation getting even relatively simple things up to scratch, in my case triplet fills.
also remember to document/record your progress. it really makes a difference- especially as you look back on how far you've come. even if you know you've got something down, in a years time or longer...? you'l hear yourself on a different level all together. its satisfying to HEAR that progress comming back at you through those speakers.

ps: there WILL be days you come back to it and it just wont happen- know when to walk away- life is too short! and you will feel it come back belive me. sometimes that heasdspace you're in cant be changed no matter how many times you've blazed through something in the past!

Keep the positivity up!
 
Nickkk,
Must admit I've had a few of those WOW moments recently, twice simply by chance in the last couple of weeks I've out on a track that I haven't attempted to play for a good 6 months and when I last had struggled to get close. This time sat down and suddenly played them quite easily and all you sudden you just sit for those moments and realise that all the practice and hard work you've put in really is starting to pay off and you are improving more than you think.

The only thing is though I don't actually consider it hard work as I love it !!!!
 
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