What do you do when.....

(Future)DWdrummer

Senior Member
.... Your right pedal breaks during a gig -_____-

So last night my band opened up for Vivian Campbell and Mandy Lyons.... During the second song, my right beater fell off..

I fixed it in between songs and just kept playing.

At the start of out second to the last song, the chain that connects the top part of the pedal (where the beaters are) to the actual pedal board snapped.

Definitely couldn't fix that lol x)

Luckily, I was playing with a double bass pedal so I just played with my left foot...

What do you do when something like this happens during a gig??? Do you just play with your left foot if you can? Or what happens when you don't have a double bass pedal and this happens?

Curious to know what you all have to say :)

Jacob G.
 
I'd probably just whack the hell out of the floor tom and hope its deep enough sounding that nobody would notice.
 
When I was gigging I always had an extra pedal. The old Ghost pedal looked like it was going to fail for years but never did. I never had to use the extra.
 
I'd probably just whack the hell out of the floor tom and hope its deep enough sounding that nobody would notice.


Yep !

The floor tom gets a good wack with the stick in my right hand on 1 and 3.

Or at least on the 1.


.
 
When I was gigging I always had an extra pedal. The old Ghost pedal looked like it was going to fail for years but never did. I never had to use the extra.

Those things are like tanks. I have four of them now.
 
I think the professional thing to do is carry a replacement for EVERYTHING that isnt optional.

Lugging that much equipment is a pain...granted...but at least have it in the vehicle...and everyone has the 10 minute solo ready to go to cover for the equipment switch-out.

Working out signaling before hand is also a good thing so the audience alarming quizical looks between members can be kept at a minimum.

Plan ahead...and practice...just like playing.
 
I had this happen at a jam the other night. 4 bars in and the beater flies out of the pedal. Fortunately it was a grinder blues song so I was able to lean over and put it back in while just playing time with my left foot. More fortunate, it was a DW pedal with the drum key snapped into the base.

Otherwise it's the floor tom or using the butt of the stick on the bass drum.

I saw a show once where the drummer forgot his pedal. He turned the kick on it's side like a floor tom, propped up on something, and hit it with a stick until a buddy came by with a pedal.

I recently found a folding DW5000 strap pedal which takes up very little room in the hardware bag but could serve as a primary and certainly makes a good backup. The original reason for grabbing it was for the Safari kit where I have all the hardware in a bat bag. But I've started taking it to regular gigs as a spare. You never know. Just having it will probably prevent the main pedal from breaking.
 
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