Anybody switch from double to single?

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Since January of last year I have been selling/buying/trading gear to finally get 'my' setup.

Sold my old double iron cobras after 8 years of use, got a single pedal, then returned that and got a double of that same new pedal. lol

But don't use it at all, most likely going back to single as I don't play much double anyways due to space, and a loss of passion for it really.

Must admit that if I didn't change things up, I would not have advanced at all in hand technique, creativeness, and especially hi hat technique. Also my bass pedal foot is better too! I was probably half the drummer I am now literary but will never forget the good times!

Overall, it doesn't matter what you use as long as you are happy, and/or its serving its purpose in making music!
 
dat yeti said:
Since January of last year I have been selling/buying/trading gear to finally get 'my' setup.

Sold my old double iron cobras after 8 years of use, got a single pedal, then returned that and got a double of that same new pedal. lol

But don't use it at all, most likely going back to single as I don't play much double anyways due to space, and a loss of passion for it really.

Must admit that if I didn't change things up, I would not have advanced at all in hand technique, creativeness, and especially hi hat technique. Also my bass pedal foot is better too! I was probably half the drummer I am now literary but will never forget the good times!

Overall, it doesn't matter what you use as long as you are happy, and/or its serving its purpose in making music!
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Good morning:
I'm kinda in the exact reversed opposite, opposite, situation- I used a double pedal for years than took off one of my toms to make it 5 piece, removed the double pedal, raised up my seat a few inched higher and lowered my cymbals to point were I could lay on top of them, say around chest height. My playing has never been better until........a few days ago, I fractured my right foot.

Now that I have broken my right foot, I pulled out the double pedal and am starting to use my left foot for bass and have a drop clutch for hi hat!!! I'm kinda looking for a better pedal that has outstanding "slave" left foot bass response. I love my old yellow foot plate Mapex due to its light weight and easy sensitivity. The Speed cobra and DW9000 series proved too heavy for me in the past.
 
Hey,

I've recently gotten into a lot of doubles these days, but I used to be a singles man. Using only singles built my right foot technique, I use a weird technique (a heel-to-ball technique) which allows me to do quick doubles with my feet. I've gotten into doubles because there's so much double pedals allow you to do, and it really helps limb independence.
 
I lugged around my double pedal for years, never even took the slave out of the case. I just pulled it out and put a single in. I simply don't use it anymore
 
jspitza said:
Good morning:
I'm kinda in the exact reversed opposite, opposite, situation- I used a double pedal for years than took off one of my toms to make it 5 piece, removed the double pedal, raised up my seat a few inched higher and lowered my cymbals to point were I could lay on top of them, say around chest height. My playing has never been better until........a few days ago, I fractured my right foot.

Now that I have broken my right foot, I pulled out the double pedal and am starting to use my left foot for bass and have a drop clutch for hi hat!!! I'm kinda looking for a better pedal that has outstanding "slave" left foot bass response. I love my old yellow foot plate Mapex due to its light weight and easy sensitivity. The Speed cobra and DW9000 series proved too heavy for me in the past.
Click to expand...

Unfortunate news...But yay mapex! I love those pedals, just got a p950 (last models made had a black plate :(, miss the yellow) and I swear this must be the one pedal for me. I already have falcon double so depending if I ever get used to that terrible skinny footplate I'll keep it or sell it.
 
I've wanted 2 pedals, since the day I picked up 2 sticks.

Taking one of my pedals away is like playing with one stick. Could someone find music played with one stick? Probably, but adding another limb, usually adds a dimension that wasn't there previously. Whether or not that dimension is missed is up to the listener. For me, nobody has ever told me,"hey man, that double bass stuff (whether just accents here and there, 16ths, 32nds, sextuplets, etc...) is just too much. Only give me half of that."

I'm not speaking on redundancy, but dimension.
 
I switch between the two depending on the giog and genre. The pedals are just tools, it's how you use them that makes the difference. I do prefer the single simply for the ease of set up and lack of weight to lug!
 
For me it would be like eliminating vowels to somehow make better use of consonants.
 
Yeah, I switched from a double to a single, just because I never used the thing. I had the double set up at home for a long time, but wouldn't take the slave out to gigs because it was unnecessary and bulky. Eventually I didn't bother setting it up at home either and then finally I sold it.
 
i think of switching at times but when i use a single i find my left foot searching for the slave pedal ha ha!
 
When I was laid off about ten years ago I was playing in two bands. The music (surf and classic rock) only required a single pedal, and I only had my trusty Speed King. When I went back to working full time I had to quit the classic rock band and I bought a new set of drums and a Pearl double pedal. I got the Joe Franco book and was having fun messing around on my "home" kit. Never used it on a gig. Now I've been rehearsing with a 60's band and I'm spending my time learning songs and I haven't had much time to work on my doubles. Both my kits are set up Ringo-style as a four-piece with a crash and a crash/ride and a single pedal. My reasoning is that if it's there I tend to use it. (I guess i'm just weak that way.) Maybe when I have all the songs down perfectly I might re-attach the slave.

By the way, I have to have a cowbell on "Hard Day's Night" or it just doesn't sound right. :)
 
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When I started with punk I used to use a single and have to do crazy fast doubles. over the years being in a metal band I have switched to double bass and worked on foot speed yada yada and double kick has sort of taken over my drumming.

I have 2 kits, so recently I have been using one with a single pedal. It's interesting how empty my fills sound sometimes, or beats, but it is just because I am used to overplaying and using the pedal for linear blast of kick.

Without it I find myself now working more on accents, groove, ghost notes etc. i should also add I removed a tom. the less you have, the more creative you have to be.

It did take a bit to get used to, but its nice to get my single foot doubles back to where they should be.
 
This is something I really want to respond to. About 98% of the cover tunes we play in classic rock bands was written and executed with a single pedal. When John Bonham befriended Carmine Appice in the 60's, and showed up for Led Zeppelin with a monstrous double 26" bass drum kit, Jimmy page told him that it was "too much", take the other bass drum home! When Led got together in 2007, with Jason Bonham, Robert Plant was kind of "taking the Mickey" out of Jason, talking about "Jason Bonham with his double bass pedal" LOL!

Anything in popular music that needs to be done can be done with a single pedal in my opinion, as long as it's the "right" pedal, and I'll go no further here!

But as a player who is passionate about funk,(my favorite player in the world is Garabaldi) I would say that there's NEVER an opportune time to take your foot off the hi-hat. Indeed, the hi-hat is the key thing to the "feel" of your groove. I do a lot of hi-hat stuff, opening it on the "e's and uh's of the sixteenth notes, and the "and" of the eighth note. I hardly ever use the ride cymbal except on big choruses. To me, double bass drum stuff is a waste of time and effort.....and it has definitely affected the quality of the modern drum solo.....listen to "Far More Drums", by Joe Morello when he was with Brubeck...now to ME, that's a drum solo, very tasteful, musical, it builds to a great climax, etc.....Nowadays, it's all about banging on the double bass drum, as fast as you can! Musical pushups! More is better! It's like fake boobs...don't even get me started on that! LOL!
 
I don't know, Carter Beauford (and others of course!) does a pretty good job of double stepping the hi hat and double pedal in a seamless way, and it's pretty funky...
 
I Love that guy! AND, he plays that "open" style too, it's different. I love his funk chops on "Too Much"....he's crazy!
 
4815162342 said:
I don't know, Carter Beauford (and others of course!) does a pretty good job of double stepping the hi hat and double pedal in a seamless way, and it's pretty funky...
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You know, I've done a lot of "double bass" chops by using my right hand opposed to my left foot (I'm a total lefty, so a right-handed guy would use the opposite hand/foot)...if you tune your toms way down like I do, about 1.5 turns from totally slack, then you can play your tom against your kick and it really doesn't sound that bad. Because most kick stuff happens in between backbeats anyhow! If you have an electric pad that has a kick sound in it, or you have a trigger setup, you can actually do a "hand kick" with the same method! I did that for quite a while in the 90's, I was playing "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul using the hand/foot thing, it sounded just like double bass drums! LOL!
 
I've recently switched to a single pedal mainly because, well, I suck at double pedal/double bass drum patterns. It's not a natural way for me to play, no matter how hard I practice. This led me to realize I play much better and naturally with a single; I'm more creative. For a very long time I wanted to do all the "cool" stuff other drummers were doing with two pedals.

I had to take a step back and really evaluate what I bring to the mix as a drummer, what I do best, and how can I solidify those things but also keep learning. Trying to do things for the sake of loving drumming or thinking it's cool has kept me from truly progressing naturally.

I grew up on cats like Steve Gadd, Steve Jordan, Anton Fig, Chuck Morris, Al Foster, Jeff Porcaro, and J.R. Robinson. Those grooves are imbedded way deep in my soul, so that has helped in realizing my direction as a drummer.
 
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