Fear of going back to a single pedal

Like playing in time ;)

Hey now, we don't want to scare off the double-pedal folks with something like that. It's not like we want to take away their china cymbals, so they will still have something to keep time with.
 
Watso, it's true that hats require more subtlety but I'd imagine the extra facility from playing double kick would come in handy.

I'm too old for frantic music. The focus on speed in double bass rolls doesn't move me musically. There are very few folks I've heard who can do fast double bass rolls with any sort of pulse or groove. It takes away from the flow of the music IMHO and becomes the focus of the music. I went though the backlash against souless shredders on guitar bit and thought the baby got thrown out with the bathwater. Hopefully some of the more talented folks will slow down just a bit to where they can swing those double bass rolls and create music that flows and still requires technical facility. Otherwise I fear the same kind of "anti-chop" backlash in drumming.

Good point. There was a time when Bellson and Baker etc were doing something new, exciting and cool. And there was also a time when Hendrix and Blackmore were amazing audiences ... or Trane and Coleman and Pharoah ...

Humans being humans, we take everything to its absolute limits to find out how far it can go - and then go beyond that if we can. Then we say it's been done to death and suuucks. What was once a fresh exciting sound is just a muddied and over-heavy bottom end.

Out with the old, bring in the new! Only now we're theoretically better informed for the experience of see how far - in this instance - double bass can go. I say "theoretically" because we seem pretty good at forgetting lessons of the past and reiterating in ever decreasing circles. The learning process is not linear ... in 10 years time chances are people will still be debating this stuff as though nothing had been said today about it ...
 
I practice with Donati's book but musically I'm using it less lately. I still enjoy using it as a 'secret weapon' and I'm just not ready to let it go, and it's probably not something you should throw away once you've acquired the skill.

I do notice a difference in mentality when sitting at a kit with a single pedal vs just not using the double.
 
I'd be interested to see how many posts you get here on guys who have double pedals (or double bass drums) and over time just stopped using them. Then it would confirm my sneaking suspicion that double pedals are the most musically unnecessary pieces of gear that the industry has shoved down everybody's throats ;)

I wouldn't say it's an "unnecessary pieces of gear", for some styles it's almost compulsory to have double bass or double pedals.

Count me in as an ex-double bass drum and double pedal player, used them for well over 25 years, since the end of 2010, I gave it all up, I'm now a happy single pedal player.
 
I have two kicks(tuned differently)

I have a double pedal on the right kick and a single pedal on the left kick.

I have options, been playing double bass since the late 70's AFTER I felt real
good and solid about my right foot and its friend, the Ludwig Speed King.(that was the first 12 years as a youth)

I don't have to use double bass, but if I want to, and also want to use 2 differing sounds,
the tools are right there.

Same for the 2nd snare
Same for the Timbales
Same for the 2 Hi hats
Same for the 9 crashes, 2 splashes, 2 Rides, and 2 China's

These are MY tools and I use them accordingly. This would be my setup whether
I was playing MSG, a small Club, a party Jam, or in my drum cave.

I am NOT from the school of whining about lugging gear around. My Kit is set up
to the way I play. I like Options if they make the music better.
 
I have two kicks(tuned differently)

I have a double pedal on the right kick and a single pedal on the left kick.

I have options, been playing double bass since the late 70's AFTER I felt real
good and solid about my right foot and its friend, the Ludwig Speed King.(that was the first 12 years as a youth)

I don't have to use double bass, but if I want to, and also want to use 2 differing sounds,
the tools are right there.

Same for the 2nd snare
Same for the Timbales
Same for the 2 Hi hats
Same for the 9 crashes, 2 splashes, 2 Rides, and 2 China's

These are MY tools and I use them accordingly. This would be my setup whether
I was playing MSG, a small Club, a party Jam, or in my drum cave.

I am NOT from the school of whining about lugging gear around. My Kit is set up
to the way I play. I like Options if they make the music better.

With a kit like that, how often do you get calls for small gigs? If I knew a drummer would be insistent on bringing that much stuff, no matter where the gig was, he'd be near the bottom of my list. I've been jammed into tiny spaces on everything from $50/man wine tasting rooms to several thousand dollar weddings and corporate events. And had to adjust the PA, drum kit, and/or amount of guitar pedals accordingly.
 
I wouldn't say it's an "unnecessary pieces of gear", for some styles it's almost compulsory to have double bass or double pedals.

Count me in as an ex-double bass drum and double pedal player, used them for well over 25 years, since the end of 2010, I gave it all up, I'm now a happy single pedal player.

I totally agree Henri.

I dabbled in a double pedal over the years. Heck, I dabbled in two bass drums thinking I'd be a rock star back in the late 1970's.

If I had to, I'd go back to a double pedal before two bass drums for sure.

For the context of what I play, there's just no need for either.
 
I'm sure I could live the rest of my life without touching a double pedal again and be perfectly happy. I got one in the late 90's when I bought my Rockstar kit. The thing broke though, so I had to make it a single pedal. It's a good pedal, an Axis, and I've been using it ever since. I had a set of DW5000's that I bought with an e-kit in 2008, but I didn't like the kit and traded it for a Marshall practice amp. I left the pedals at my mom's house and now they've mysteriously disappeared. Oh well, I still have my old Asba for a second kit.
But the fact is, I really don't need one. I play the single pedal pretty good and do a lot of stuff many drummers would do on doubles. But I can see where it would be useful on the song endings. The other thing I don;t like is that the left pedal goes exactly where I like my HH pedal and I don't like putting my HH pedal outside because I just got so used to having my HH's closer to me. Maybe that's where some 16" HH's would come in handy.

I know a guy from the East Coast who had to leave his drums behind for now. He was going to MIT in LA. The only thing he brought with him was his double-pedals.
 
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If I knew a drummer would be insistent on bringing that much stuff, no matter where the gig was, he'd be near the bottom of my list.

I'm OK with that

My gigging days were the 70s and 80's, and even back then, playing music
was not career oriented, in fact, it never was.

My playing these days follow this hierarchy:

1.FUN
2.Keep learning
3.Teaching
4.Recording via request
5.Jam/Gig

Have had sticks in hand since the 60's, so do the math.
 
There is quite a bit of double bass on the radio, these days. If you get a gig in a modern rock cover band,you will probably need a double pedal
 
I was in the same boat about 4 years ago. I felt naked without it, but it wasn't practical to haul around the double bass pedal to gigs anymore. I still practice with it every once in a while, just for old time's sake and to keep the chops up, but I never need more than a fast double with my bass drum for any gigs I do. Plus, I have learned to do so much more with my hi hat foot. The hi hat is really a beautiful pair of cymbals that you can finesse expression from with your foot almost as much as you can your hands. If I would have stayed with the double kick, I might not have discovered and developed that, and I wouldn't have as much control with my right foot, either.
 
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