This bothers me :\

Mukund

Senior Member
Hey everyone !

I've been playing double bass since 2010,so that makes it around 4 years.
I used to play clean single strokes at 160-190 bpm.
Now here comes the sad part,now I can't even play at 120 properly.
This happened two months back.(Everyday my double bass became sloppy and slower and today my feet can't even play 120)
There can be many reasons-Pedal tension,seat height etc.
I've been playing in the same seat height since i started,so i guess that's ruled out.Pedal tension? Maybe but when i was able to play clean and fast strokes,i had the same tension.
So what's wrong here?
Have you ever been in such a situation?
 
How about batter head tension. Has it changed. Batter head is worn and loose? Old spring on pedal
 
I think you are either overtrained with your legs and they need a few days to recover or you have let your practice regimen slip and you are out of shape.

I would be shocked if a relatively minor thing like spring tension could be responsible for such a drastic drop.
 
Did something happen to you 2 months ago ? Some sort of injury ? or perhaps damage to the kit. Seems odd for a sudden change to happen.

If not an obvious physical injury perhaps some form of auto immune disease ?
 
I realize it is impolite to ask, but how old are you?

.
 
You're burning yourself out by trying to make something nonmusical. If you had a track to play along to that removed the numbers thing you'd get faster. Judging yourself by the speed of your feet against a clock of sorts is EXACTLY like judging your prowess as a lover with the results of a ruler. Yeah I said it...
 
There can be many reasons-Pedal tension,seat height etc.
I've been playing in the same seat height since i started,so i guess that's ruled out.

Not necessarily.

If you were at the wrong seat height all along, you could have slowly pinched a nerve/vessel that lead to an eventual slow down.

I ended up throwing out my neck/shoulder pretty badly, and (3 doctors later) turned out it was from the height of my computer monitor, which only manifested itself over a period of several years. So just because seat height seemed right at the time, doesn't mean it was right all along.

Changes in diet, exercise, or sleep can also affect the body in odd ways.
 
This is where technique really matters. In the same way that certain hand and finger movements will allow you to hit clean and fast all day with little fatigue, there is a way to use the pedals to get maximum effect with minimum wear and tear. It's good that you're hitting this relatively early on in your drumming, as it might be more easily corrected.

I would suggest finding a teacher that can help you develop good pedal technique at any speed, with the focus being on bettering your pedal stroke, and worrying about speed later (it comes with repetition anyway). For me, I find that "powering" the pedals is less effective than trying to float the entire motion of the pedal stroke (where all of the motion is controlled, not just the downstroke, and you're using a little bit of rebound from the drum to keep the beaters flying).

There's something similar to this in golf, where if you try to power through the ball like Happy Gilmore, your shot will be less precise and get less distance than if you let gravity take the club down through a well-controlled swing.
 
Back
Top