double bass speed question 4 you

bud7h4

bud7h4

Silver Member
Are you able to play faster if your kick sounds better?

The difference for me can be dramatic, from about 200 bpm to 240. Oddly enough it seems as if my ears tell my brain that a crappy sounding kick means the pedals feel heavier.
 
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You'll have to define what sounding 'better' means. And what a "crappy sounding" kick drum sounds like. I primarily play a single pedal, and I like my bass drums to be wide-open and slightly ringy because I want that drum sound to project into the audience so they perceive it as a bass drum. From what I've seen of speed metal double bass players, it's required that you have a heavily dampened bass drum because you're playing so fast that you'd lose definition in what you're playing, right? And even in George Kollias uses triggers, doesn't he?

So to me, something heavily dampened can be construed as "crappy", but for your music, it has to be that way or we just wouldn't get what you're playing as you fly along in the 'dubba-dubbas'. Or can you get away with a Bonham-esque bass drum sound and play fast double bass patterns?
 
I can get at what you're saying, I don't play double bass heavily anymore though. I feel like it's all just a mental game, when I sit down at a set that I don't think sounds "good" I generally won't find my playing to be where I want it to be. Same goes for if I find a set that is "good", I'll feel like everything is just falling into place as it should. I assume you're just experiencing this and in that case I don't think it's a physical/ set in stone thing thing that if it doesn't sound good then it'll automatically be harder to play on that's holding you back but more of you mentally holding yourself back whenever you get on a bass that doesn't sound "good".
 
Matt Bo Eder said:
You'll have to define what sounding 'better' means. And what a "crappy sounding" kick drum sounds like. I primarily play a single pedal, and I like my bass drums to be wide-open and slightly ringy because I want that drum sound to project into the audience so they perceive it as a bass drum. From what I've seen of speed metal double bass players, it's required that you have a heavily dampened bass drum because you're playing so fast that you'd lose definition in what you're playing, right? And even in George Kollias uses triggers, doesn't he?

So to me, something heavily dampened can be construed as "crappy", but for your music, it has to be that way or we just wouldn't get what you're playing as you fly along in the 'dubba-dubbas'. Or can you get away with a Bonham-esque bass drum sound and play fast double bass patterns?
Click to expand...

The most important thing for fast double bass is to be able to hear the attack of each note cleanly from your monitor or headphone.

As far as the sound that the listener hears, a Bonham type sound would be way too muddy and boomy. The faster metal sounds are less resonant and have a much shorter note but when played at speed, they sound incredibly aggressive.
 
Matt Bo Eder said:
You'll have to define what sounding 'better' means. And what a "crappy sounding" kick drum sounds like.
Click to expand...

Well, for example, my home kit is an acoustic converted with mesh heads and triggers. With the sound module on my double bass speed is all there, max about 240. Remove the sound, which then just sounds like a practice pad, and it kills my speed, yet nothing has actually changed but the sound.

Now, this only happens with double bass. My single pedal speed remains constant.

It just occured to me I can also play faster dbbl bass to music than I can to a click or metronome.
 
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