Learning Drums Lesson - Alternative Bass Drum Techniques Video Lecture

today we're going to be looking at
alternative techniques for playing the
bass drum so far
we've mostly been playing in a heel down
or flat footed position but it's worth
investigating a few of the ways of
playing the bass drum using a more heel
up approach or using a combination of
foot and leg strokes to play multiple
notes on the bass drum it's also worth
noting now that for all the bass drum
techniques we look at today the beater
must not be kept against the bass drum
head after each stroke but instead
should rebound away from the head to its
start position let's take a closer look
at the bass drum foot using a normal
heel down or flat footed technique with
a heel down playing technique your foot
should be rested on the foot plate with
the beater back away from the drum head
your leg and foot should be relaxed and
then we release the beater slightly and
using the muscles on the shin part of
the leg in conjunction with rotation at
the ankle the foot pushes the beater
forward the beater should then come off
the head after having struck the drum
and should return to the start position
exercise one heel down
one two three four
now we can take a look at some heal up
techniques at this point it's worth
mentioning that although we refer to
these techniques as heal up most people
play a system whereby your heels should
only be up for a small amount of time
and in fact your heels should be down on
the footplate again in between strokes
to avoid too much lifting from the leg
or hip we can break most of heal up
playing into two parts the leg stroke
and foot stroke a combination of these
two movements will help us achieve all
kinds of bass drum patterns with
hopefully minimum effort the leg stroke
should begin with your foot flat on the
footplate and the beater should be a few
centimetres from the drum head the calf
muscles push up and the front thigh
muscles lift gently so that the heel
rises using a rocking motion on the ball
of the foot and articulating from the
ankle try to hop onto the foot plate the
beta will first of all go towards the
head and then it will be released
quickly land on the ball of the foot
therefore making the beater strike the
head whilst the heel practically lands
at the same time let's try the previous
exercise again using leg strokes
exercise to leg stroke
one two three four remember that with
the leg stroke the motion should be
generated from the foot and ankle and
that you should be careful not to lift
too much from the hip another good tip
is to raise your stool slightly higher
so that your thighs are at least
parallel to the floor okay let's now
move on to the foot stroke the foot
stroke is always played before the leg
stroke as a part of a group of more than
one note the motion is similar to the
leg stroke except that as the heel is
being raised the foot plays one or more
note as part of the upward movement I
found a good way to isolate the feel of
a foot stroke is to put your stakes down
and practice foot strokes by cradling
your thigh in your hands this allows you
to feel the motion of the foot stroke
through a pivoting type action from your
ankle by using cuff and shin muscles
let's try our exercise again this time
cradling your leg in your hands and just
utilizing the foot stroke exercise 3
foot stroke
one two three four
the really useful thing about foot and
leg strokes is that we can articulate
multiple notes and I would suggest you
go back and apply these techniques to my
previous funky bass drum independence
lessons but for now here are some
classic examples of where we can use our
new heal up technique remember in these
next written exercises L stands for leg
stroke and F stands for foot stroke
exercise for
one two three four exercise five one two
three four
exercise six one two three four
exercise seven
one two three four
before we finish our look at alternative
bass drum techniques
it's also worth looking at one more
method known as rocking technique or
sometimes called toe heel method it's a
technique that consists of two strokes
the up stroke and the down stroke which
are used to articulate multiple notes in
a forward and backward rocking type
motion to play an upstroke use the heel
as the pivotal point and play a
flat-footed stroke with the ball of your
foot and with an upward motion raise the
heel of your foot at which point be sure
to release the beater from the head now
you're ready to play the down stroke
from the position you're now in all you
need to do is play a leg stroke by
landing on the ball of your foot forcing
the beater to play the drum head again
whilst the heel practically lands at the
same time this really is a great way to
play two three four or even five notes
at a time on the bass drum
here's a nice fill exercise using right
left with the hands followed by the up
and down strokes of rocking technique
exercise eight
one two three four there are many
different techniques available when
playing the bass drum pedal and there
are many names for what are essentially
a handful of methods most people find
that with some practice a combination of
peel down for quite a jazz type
feathering on the bass drum works well
but that for loud rock type grooves a
more punchy heal up technique works best
explore as many variations on these
themes as you can and try to incorporate
your new bass drum control into both
groove and fill type settings
above all be patient when trying out
your new skills you'll probably find
that adjusting from your old ways takes
quite a bit of dedication stick with it
and practice these things every day and
you'll soon find that these new
techniques will take shape good luck and
bye for now