AARGH! NOT burying the beaters at slow speeds, impossible??

EvilDrummer

Senior Member
How the hell do you not bury the beater at slow speeds. Playing stuff at 200 bpm is easy but this for some reason is really hard.

I've been trying to unbury the beaters for 6 months now and while for fast double bass work I prefer playing with the beater off the head but playing beats and slow double bass stuff below say 120 BPM I still have way more control when burying it.

The problem is when I play RLRLRL at 60 BPM for instance. I's really hard to not get an inbetween ghost note as my feet are doing the up motion in preparation for the next stroke.

Does anyone have any kind of tips for this.

The answer is obviously that I never practice those slow speeds and need to do it more but I could use some guidance here.

Also I realize you would never play double bass at 60 BPM, you would simply use one foot but it's a weakness and it will show up on other stuff as well.
 
Why are you beating yourself up over this?
By the way, I can play 60 bpm on double bass without burying. :)
I only play doubles for practice to keep in shape. I never play doubles with a band.
 
Sounds like you need a fundamental shift in your bass drum technique for a while. Much like your stick technique, your limb doesn't need to still be "stroking" when the beater/stick hits the head. Concentrate on playing the bass drum with a foot that stops the forward/downward momentum BEFORE the beater strikes the head. It's just that easy, but for somebody who has a habit of burying the beater, it's just that difficult.

After practicing like this for a while, like maybe a year, you should be able to do it effortlessly, and then you'll have another VERY USEFUL tool to use in your playing.
 
After practicing like this for a while, like maybe a year, you should be able to do it effortlessly, and then you'll have another VERY USEFUL tool to use in your playing.

MAOW. Had a lesson on this yesterday, and I spent many subsequent hours PRAYING that what I'd been told wasn't true.

Alas!
 
I became fluent at not burying the beater several years ago when I began to play Jazz with an un-ported resonant head for the first time in my life.
I learned how to play both heel up and down without burying the beater at any speed unless I wanted to.
I recently bought a double pedal and I translated what I learned from my Jazz playing to my double pedal playing.
It is true, I never play doubles with a band. I only play them for practice. it is great exercise.
 
Are you burying the beater while playing just a single note? When playing a normal groove for instance.

Perhaps you need to tune up the reso a little bit for more rebound, or set the beater further back, raise the throne, perhaps move it back a little. But what you need to practice is playing along with a metronome, and catch the footboard, or just follow it on the way back up with your foot right after the stroke.
 
I think Caddy gave you the best practical advice. It will likely just take time. As someone who learned to play on an unported drum muffled only with felt strips, I find it very hard TO bury the beater. I've always had to strike the note and let the beater get out of the way, or I'd get flutter or unintentional doubles.

All I can tell you is, it's doable. You'll just have to practice!
 
Sounds like you need a fundamental shift in your bass drum technique for a while. Much like your stick technique, your limb doesn't need to still be "stroking" when the beater/stick hits the head. Concentrate on playing the bass drum with a foot that stops the forward/downward momentum BEFORE the beater strikes the head. It's just that easy, but for somebody who has a habit of burying the beater, it's just that difficult.

After practicing like this for a while, like maybe a year, you should be able to do it effortlessly, and then you'll have another VERY USEFUL tool to use in your playing.

I've already done a fundamental shift in my technique. I always practice playing with the beater off the head. It's just that when playing slow you need a different technique. A year? I think I can do it in a few weeks. You only need a few thousand correct repetitions for muscle memory to take over. If I practice the correct motions it should take much less than a year :p

I guess I just made this realisation and made the thread in frustration haha. I kind of already know what to do. I need to practice those problem speeds :p
 
Are you burying the beater while playing just a single note? When playing a normal groove for instance.

Perhaps you need to tune up the reso a little bit for more rebound, or set the beater further back, raise the throne, perhaps move it back a little. But what you need to practice is playing along with a metronome, and catch the footboard, or just follow it on the way back up with your foot right after the stroke.

Yes, regular beats I prefer burying. I can do both but I might get occasional ghost notes. It's just when playing slower rlrlrl with my feet or lrlrlrlr and playing stuff on toms in unison I get some unintentional ghost notes. Maybe balance is the problem.
 
Are you burying the beater while playing just a single note? When playing a normal groove for instance.

Perhaps you need to tune up the reso a little bit for more rebound, or set the beater further back, raise the throne, perhaps move it back a little. But what you need to practice is playing along with a metronome, and catch the footboard, or just follow it on the way back up with your foot right after the stroke.
Good advice here.

Also to OP: could recommend adjusting your bass drum upwards a bit, on the resonant side, tilting the angle of bass drum(s) towards you a bit more. Especially if you have them horizontal to the ground or even downwards. Any of those subtle adjustments, including the beater "lie", tensions, etc. adjustments can go a long way.
 
Try doing good ol' Stick Control with your feet. Heels down, let the beaters come off the head. This will strengthen your ankle muscles and build control. Also tension up your pedals a bit...
 
Good advice here.

Also to OP: could recommend adjusting your bass drum upwards a bit, on the resonant side, tilting the angle of bass drum(s) towards you a bit more. Especially if you have them horizontal to the ground or even downwards. Any of those subtle adjustments, including the beater "lie", tensions, etc. adjustments can go a long way.

Cool I'll try it. I've already had some success with adjusting the beater angle a bit further back and use stiffer spring tension. It helped a lot.

Anyway, the problem is I'm playing the fast tempos technique slow which is sort of like playing free strokes with hands. The beater bounces back freely and is unhindered by the foot. This is great because it develops the feet like 100 times faster than playing the "slow" technique but now I need to learn "downstrokes" so to speak where you stop the beater an inch off the head.

Anyone know of a video on youtube demonstrating a good "slow" bass drum technique?

I think I should be playing more with my legs when playing slow. I use a lot of ankles.
 
Try doing good ol' Stick Control with your feet. Heels down, let the beaters come off the head. This will strengthen your ankle muscles and build control. Also tension up your pedals a bit...

I've done that A LOT in the past, I really don't think this is the solution to this particular problem. I think it's better to play a few thousands of repetitions of just RRRR RRRR LLLL LLLL RRRR RRRR RRRR RRRR and then the same left lead. Using the correct technique that is. When muscle memory kicks in I won't even have think about it. When playing simple stuff like that you can just worry about nailing the correct technique since techique is the problem here, not lack of control.
 
One important side note would be that you practice your technique with one foot at a time,
not just RLRLRLRL at whatever speed. Play R R R R and L L L L, and play it in different
positions to the pulse, too. Sometimes just playing + + + + (upbeats) instead of going with
the pulse is causing some movements that we don't want to make.
 
Make sure you're confident that the technique you settle on is a correct one before you start doing thousands of repetitions. Whether burying or not, the technique, form and position of your foot should stay consistent from slow to fast. Make sure you're contacting the pedal board with the ball of your foot, not your toes.
 
Make sure you're confident that the technique you settle on is a correct one before you start doing thousands of repetitions. Whether burying or not, the technique, form and position of your foot should stay consistent from slow to fast. Make sure you're contacting the pedal board with the ball of your foot, not your toes.

This is what I'm worried about really. I'm 100% sure that my fast temos technique is a good one because it works very well for me, I can do it effortlessly and it feels great. I know that technique doesn't work at slow speeds because the pedal is left too unhindered and flops all over the place.

I know from experience that as long as you practice the correct motions you can get stuff done in a week.

But how do I know the correct motion? What I want is a technique that is just relaxed and effortless, no tensions etc. Can anyone say anything that can get me in the right direction?

You say ball of foot, I'm using a flatter foot, almost heel down. Do I keep the toes on footboard lift the heel a bit and then just drop the leg hitting with ball of foot? That's how I think it should be done.
 
Maybe instead of starting fast and working down to slower tempos, you could start really slow and work up to the problem tempo? Then you can really focus on the motion that you're looking for.

That's what I was getting at.... Start slowly, heels down, once you build strength and coordination (technique). Then move onto heel up and faster tempos.

It's kind of like Freestroke for your feet. This is a solid technique, also like Freestroke with your hands,, you'll see results quickly...
 
Maybe instead of starting fast and working down to slower tempos, you could start really slow and work up to the problem tempo? Then you can really focus on the motion that you're looking for.

Yes I think that is the problem, I've always just played bury the beater at slow tempos. I just need to do it really slow letting the beater bounce back.

That's what I was getting at.... Start slowly, heels down, once you build strength and coordination (technique). Then move onto heel up and faster tempos.

It's kind of like Freestroke for your feet. This is a solid technique, also like Freestroke with your hands,, you'll see results quickly...

Haha I've been tought by Bill Bachman so I know my free strokes. The thing is, when I practice fast I'm using "freestrokes" on my feet but when playing slow that technique doesn't seem to work on certain tempos because as the weight of the foot goes down between strokes it's "resonating" with the tempo and making the beater come dangerously close to the head occasionally hitting it.

I've been practicing heels down for a few months (stick control) as part of my routine, it has helped me to play 200 BPM ankle motion stuff. However it's not going to help me with this since I think part of the problem is balance and playing heels down is not going to help with balance. (I've practiced heels down to death, 1 hour every day for a few months). The problem seems to occur when shifting weight from one foot to the other at slower speeds.

Since I'm used to playing bury the beater I'm used to put too much weight on my foot when preparing for the next stroke. Maybe I should stop playing drums for a few weeks and only practice foot control on the kit to kind of forget the old technique.
 
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