is the foot technique holding me back?

shan12 · #1 02-05-2008, 07:47 PM

Im using the heel-toe for my foot (i play single bass btw) and ive been trying to do 3 or more consecutive strokes using the heel toe. When i try to go fast, i can pull the first 2 beats fine but the third one seems to be spaced out and comes slower and usually louder than the first stroke. Am i the only one experiencing this? And the strokes seem to come out with different volumes too. Any kind of help will be greatly welcomed =D

#2 02-05-2008, 07:51 PM

Well before you try and find out if it's the technique that is the problem, you need to make sure that you're not playing faster than you can go at the moment. It's best to start SUPER slow, making sure that each note comes out as evenly and cleanly with the dynamics that you intend. Then you can slowly get faster and faster with it and I'm sure you'll see improvement. But eventually you'll hit a point where you'll just feel that the technique is not working and you have to make some adjustments. But first you have to start at the beginning tempo wise and work your way up.

kellycurrie · #3 02-06-2008, 09:22 PM

I've never spent much time on the heel-toe technique but a teacher of mine once taught me a pretty cool way of playing a couple of really quick strokes on your kick.

Assuming you play heel up, try skipping the ball of your foot along pedal to achieve a quick double stroke. Start at the back of the plate so you have room for the second stroke closer to the front. Keep practicing and then try stepping it up to 3 strokes in one push.

Keep in mind the technique really only works for quick bursts of kick. I usually place them in the 2 or 3 16th notes leading up to a snare hit. Peronally I'm quite fluent at 2 strokes and only beginning to get comfortable with the third. My old teacher was awfully good at this - he could easily do 3 or 4 at a time and it sounded great.

Once mastered I really don't see much need for a double kick pedal.

Oh, by the way, no harm in keeping up practice with the heel-toe. Theres some killer videos out there of guys who can really rip it up with that method as well.