16th notes on single kick pedal

C

Crispykids

Junior Member
There's a drummer named Zach Hill who has managed to get his single kick speed up to pretty fast 16th notes even though it is choppy at times. How do you even start training your foot to do this?
 
Never heard of him, but I wouldn't freak out too much on just the idea of 16ths on a single pedal because 1) if the tempo is slow enough, they're not impossible to string together, and 2) even if you could run them up evenly at a faster tempo, they'd likely be too quiet to be effective.

Usually on a single pedal, they come in twos, or occasionally threes. That's not at all unusual and is where I'd suggest focusing your efforts.

If I needed to run straight and continuous 16ths (and I never do, even as a meathead rock drummer), I'd just get a double pedal.
 
JoJo's new DVD has everything you need to know. There are different techniques to achieve what you want (i.e. flat foot)
 
Yeah, both his DVDs are mind-blowing. I played double-bass for almost 8 years, when I bought his latest DVD I was kind of frustrated. I had to start back from zero, to compensate years of bad technique and practice. One month has passed now, the results are impressive. As for the hands in his first DVD (push-pull, etc.) he shows different techniques that can be more appropriate in terms of speed and power for metal drummers than the traditionals we generally see around. (In case some of you are wondering, I'm not payed by JoJo to promote his DVD ahah :D)
 
Jojo is really amazing! How a normal people could make it so fast !!??
I even thought I clicked the fast-forward button by accident when I was watching his DVD!
 
Crispykids said:
There's a drummer named Zach Hill who has managed to get his single kick speed up to pretty fast 16th notes even though it is choppy at times. How do you even start training your foot to do this?
Click to expand...

A good exercise that I got from one of Joe Morello's videos is this: play one bar of quarters, followed by one bar of 8ths, then one bar of 8th note triplets, and then one bar of 16ths. Keep repeating that over and over again to a metronome, and gradually bump up the metronome marking, as long as you can do so while still keeping it even sounding. Morello recommended doing it ten minutes a day. I found it was a great way to build up my single bass drum pedal speed. When I practice it, I'll alternate between doing it heels up and heels down. I usually start at quarter note equals 60, and try to get it up to 100 or higher by the end of the ten minutes (I'll also usually play quarters or 8ths on the hi-hat while doing this).
 
eddypierce said:
A good exercise that I got from one of Joe Morello's videos is this: play one bar of quarters, followed by one bar of 8ths, then one bar of 8th note triplets, and then one bar of 16ths. Keep repeating that over and over again to a metronome, and gradually bump up the metronome marking, as long as you can do so while still keeping it even sounding. Morello recommended doing it ten minutes a day. I found it was a great way to build up my single bass drum pedal speed. When I practice it, I'll alternate between doing it heels up and heels down. I usually start at quarter note equals 60, and try to get it up to 100 or higher by the end of the ten minutes (I'll also usually play quarters or 8ths on the hi-hat while doing this).
Click to expand...

I just wanted to chime in and say that I absolutely love this Joe Morello exercise. Sometimes my focus will be on my hands and I'll forget to do it, and I'll notice that my right foot is slowing down. Then I'll do this exercise for ten minutes a day for a week or so and suddenly my foot is alive again.

Definitely recommended.
 
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