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00:25What is going on, you guys?
00:27Today, we are talking about double bass, and more specifically, some tips that'll help
00:32you get started with it, get more comfortable with it, maybe even get a little faster.
00:36If you're a fan of heavy metal music and you want to be able to play it on the drums,
00:39double bass is a key ingredient, and you're going to be utilizing it all the time.
00:43For most musical genres, the entire band is relying on the drummer to keep in time with,
00:47and they're usually listening to the snare and the kick.
00:50And it's even more important for metal, especially when, let's say, maybe the guitar is doing
00:53some really fast palm-muted sixteenth notes that are supposed to lock in with the double
00:57bass, so we gotta make sure we're giving them those solid machine gun kicks for the foundation.
01:01This is why it's crucial that you start working on your foot coordination, your technique, the
01:05evenness of your playing, because with double bass, we want to be as consistent as possible.
01:10First, let's talk about techniques, since this is something I get asked about almost
01:13every week.
01:14The technique I use, and what a lot of other metal drummers use, is called heel up.
01:18And it's pretty straightforward.
01:19The heel is off the ground, or off the pedal board, about 99% of the time.
01:23Playing at a slow tempo, we're pretty much moving the whole leg up and down.
01:32And I'm not really putting any weight into my heels, we're mostly touching the pedal
01:35surface with the balls of our feet, you know, the meaty area.
01:38And if you're asking why we're doing heel up and not down, well, I encourage you to try
01:42hitting the bass drum with your heel on the floor, or on the pedal board.
01:50You'll find that with your heel down, it's a lot harder to hit the drum because it's forcing
01:53you to use less muscles.
01:55If you do want to play heel down, though, you will definitely want to loosen your spring
01:58tension to make it a little easier, but wait, hold on, wait a second, we are not talking
02:01about spring tension yet until later on in this video, stop getting ahead of me, you know
02:05I don't like it!
02:05All right, so we got the slow tempo, right?
02:07Full leg, up, down, up, down?
02:11Yeah.
02:11For faster tempos, it's going to be much more of an ankle motion than a full leg motion.
02:20Kind of the same concept with, you know, with our hands, when we're playing faster, we're
02:24going to use a lot less full arm and more wrists and fingers, right?
02:27Same thing with double bass.
02:28You will notice that my knee doesn't go up and down as much when we're going faster.
02:38The feel is pretty different between tempos as well.
02:40You'll notice that when I go faster, it's more of a bouncing motion than a stomping motion.
02:45And no, I'm not doing any kind of swivel technique, I'm literally just bouncing my foot like that.
02:51And you're probably wondering, what are these contraptions that I have attached to my bass
02:55drum pedals?
02:55And these are the brand new Quiet Kick practice pads by Drumeo, and also appropriately the sponsor
03:00of this video.
03:01The Quiet Kicks are pretty different than a standard kick practice pad, and that's because
03:04they use a special angled beater that you insert from the underside.
03:07So when you step on the pedal, you're swinging the beater down instead of sideways.
03:11And you just clamp the pedal to the pad like you would with a bass drum, and BOOM!
03:15You're ready to practice.
03:16This makes them extremely portable because of how small they are.
03:18You can literally take them anywhere.
03:20Because when we're away from the drum set and playing on a practice pad, it's usually
03:23kind of a pain in the butt to lug around a big heavy kick pad too, so this is much
03:27more practical.
03:28You can use these with pretty much any bass drum pedal.
03:30The pad surface is also wide enough for a double pedal.
03:33I'm using these with my Axis pedals, and of course, the Axis E-Kit triggers for extra
03:37fun.
03:37Comes with two spikes here.
03:38These will stop it from sliding across the carpet if you hit really hard.
03:41You also get three pad surfaces that you can attach with the Velcro here.
03:44We've got one super thick long-lasting pad.
03:47This one's pretty dense.
03:48And it also comes with two lighter ultra-quiet pads.
03:50The Velcro makes it super easy to swap them out.
03:52You can even put the pad on vertical if you want.
03:55Or if you practice like a madman, you happen to wear out one spot on the pad, you can move
03:58it and then wear out a different spot on the pad.
04:01Alternatively, they also just have replacements for the pads if you want to do that.
04:04And yes, the special angled beaters are included, of course.
04:07These are pretty funky looking, eh?
04:09Check out the Quiet Kicks for yourself.
04:11I will put the link below in the description for you.
04:13And if you have a double pedal, there's also a bundle on their website that includes
04:16two beaters instead of one.
04:19Okay, next let's talk about your seat height and the distance from the pedals because this
04:24is more important than people think.
04:25This will drastically change how you play and also the feel.
04:28You don't want to sit too low because that's going to mess up your lower back.
04:31And you also don't want to be too high up to where your feet aren't even touching the
04:34floor.
04:35That's going to put unnecessary strain on your legs, too.
04:37Usually you want to set it so your hips are just slightly above your knees when you're
04:41in playing position.
04:42Even though for myself, I do sit a little bit higher up just to take extra pressure off my
04:45back, and when I'm doing the double-stroke heel-toe technique, I kind of have to lean into it
04:49to go faster so that makes it a little easier.
04:51This is personal preference, of course, so you do what is most comfortable for you.
04:55Just make sure it's not on the extreme side.
04:57And in terms of how far back you're sitting, you want to keep it as natural as you can.
05:01Wherever your legs and feet just naturally fall down when you sit down, that's where
05:04you want to try to position your pedals.
05:06And it might look like my pedals are a little bit further away from me than normal, but that's
05:10because I'm using longboard pedals, so I prefer to have my feet touching the pedalboard
05:14a little further down, it's a little easier to play faster that way.
05:17But I am not having to extend my legs outwards to reach for the pedals at all.
05:20Bottom line here, stick with what is comfortable and what feels natural.
05:24And remember, just because your favorite drummer sits a certain way does not mean that exact
05:28same positioning is going to work for you, too.
05:30But I'll tell you this, once you do find the perfect seat height and pedal distance,
05:34you will feel much more balanced when you're playing, and therefore have much more consistency
05:38in your playing.
05:39This next tip is important if you really want to get serious with your double bass.
05:42Control is more important than speed.
05:56Believe me, I know, it's a lot of fun to go fast, but we cannot poop without peeing, that's
06:00just the way it is.
06:01Do not start out by just going as fast as you can and then trying to go up from there,
06:05you
06:05will crash and burn.
06:07Okay, maybe like 1% of drummers can do that, but for the most of us, we need to put
06:10those
06:10building blocks down first at the double bass party before we invite Sonic the Hedgehog
06:14and Speedy Gonzales.
06:15I cannot tell you how many times I've seen drummers that can fly, like, no joke, over
06:19300 BPMs, but it's kind of sloppy, there's a little popcorn in there, and when they try
06:23to put it with the hands, it just falls apart.
06:26So do not be afraid to slow the fuck down.
06:29Make sure you're focusing on the consistency of your hits.
06:31Even if you have to go back to square one and just concentrate on having even spacing of
06:35notes, this will take you a lot farther than just speed, trust me.
06:51You can totally tell when a drummer is not comfortable at a certain speed.
06:54You know, the kicks will start to get a little flammy sounding, or they're just trying to
06:57go as fast as they can.
06:58It's not even necessarily sixteenth notes or triplets, it's like, okay, here's what I got.
07:02So please, if you want to go faster, make sure you are comfortable enough to go faster,
07:07and only increase the tempo when you are ready.
07:09This brings us to the next tip, practice with a metronome.
07:32We are humans, and sadly we will never have the exact perfect timing as a computer metronome
07:38or a drum machine, but if we practice along to a metronome enough, we can get pretty damn
07:42close.
07:43It is also worth mentioning that most bands nowadays will use a metronome or a click track
07:47to record their songs in the studio, so if you're a session drummer, this is a very valuable
07:51skill to have.
07:52Although it is worth arguing that some metal songs just sound way more aggressive when
07:56they don't use a click, so take that with a spoonful of egg yolk.
07:58But in my humble opinion, using a metronome will not only just give you overall better
08:03timing, but it'll make you a cleaner player as well.
08:05And it's also a great way to track your speed progress.
08:07And here's a pro tip for you, if you're able to use a metronome with your band when you
08:11guys are playing live, do it.
08:12If you've never played to a metronome before, start out slow, you gotta get a feel for it.
08:16It might take a little while, but once you get used to it, eventually it becomes second
08:20nature.
08:20Even if you just set it to like really slow eighth notes and you're just playing the quarter notes
08:24at first, this is still a great way to get started.
08:34Okay tip number five, if you're trying to make some progress, make sure you're practicing
08:38at speeds that aren't super easy for you.
08:41There's always a certain tempo range for everyone where they're just really comfortable, it feels
08:44like they could just run with it and they could just play it forever.
08:47For me, that's probably somewhere between like 180 and 200, give or take a dun dun dun.
08:51Thank you.
09:21Gracias por ver el video.
09:25Y usually, if you go much higher or lower than your comfortable tempo range, it's going
09:29to be much more difficult to pull this off cleanly, so your muscles are going to be working
09:32harder.
09:33These are the tempos you should be practicing at.
09:35And that doesn't mean you shouldn't be playing at your favorite speeds, but if you want to
09:38keep getting better, you need to keep pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.
09:42It's literally one of the best ways to learn new things, right?
09:44Let's try something stupid slow, like, I don't know, like 77 BPMs.
09:48This is not going to be great, but let's go.
10:08Just make sure that you're not straining yourself or tightening up too much, because that's
10:11going to limit your movement.
10:12You want to train yourself to be as relaxed as possible while you're playing, so then
10:15eventually even the slowest or fastest tempos will feel like a walk in the park.
10:19My next double bass tip for you is practice playing rudiments with your feet.
10:39Some of the best metal drummers out there are not only known for their fast double bass,
10:43but very creative double bass patterns as well.
10:45I mean, just look at Danny from Tool or Thomas from Meshuggah, those are two legendary drummers
10:50who are both known for their creativity more than their speed.
10:53And that's because they know rudiments.
10:56I'm not going to tell you to go learn all 222 rudiments, but practicing some of them with
11:01your feet is a great way to start developing your double bass muscles.
11:04Not to mention, you can actually make some pretty sick drum beats from some of the rudiments.
11:08For example, we have the triplet-style four-stroke roll.
11:22I know this may not seem super complicated, but once you do it a bunch of times and at
11:26varying speeds, you'll start to feel it in those legs.
11:40It's the whole stopping and starting part of it that makes your muscles work differently
11:44than if they were just doing running double bass the whole time.
11:46Another fun exercise to do is try to play Bleed by Meshuggah.
11:50And I know some of you are like, dude, are you kidding me?
11:52How am I supposed to play that?
11:53And I don't care how fast or slow you do it, I don't care if you just do the feet
11:56by
11:57itself without the hands, because you know what?
11:59I suck and I can't even do the feet and the hands together.
12:01But doing hurtes like this is very good for your leg muscles.
12:13And again, since this is not a constant running double bass groove, it kind of makes you stay
12:17on your toes and make sure that you're getting all the hits cleanly and putting the spaces
12:21in the appropriate spots too.
12:22There's also gallops if you're a power metal fan.
12:36Another really fun exercise is playing the call and response game.
12:39Play something with your hands and then try to replicate it on your feet.
12:42And no, it doesn't have to be insane, just challenge yourself a little bit.
13:09And lastly, we can do the hands and the feet simultaneously doing different patterns.
13:14And the key thing to focus on here is how cleanly you can play them in unison, because basically
13:18the end goal is to do everything our hands can do, but on our feet as well, right?
13:22So this is a great way to practice that.
13:38Tip number seven is a chore that most of us lazy drummers don't like to do, and that's make
13:43sure you spend time working on your non-dominant foot.
13:57There's many ways you can do this, even if you're not sitting at the drum kit.
14:00Maybe you're on the couch or at your desk, you just start tapping your foot.
14:03Get it moving, get it used to doing everything that your main foot does.
14:06It's even worth taking the time to play some drum beats using only your left foot like
14:10you just saw, and I'll do it again.
14:25Just get that foot used to hitting the bass drum more, because you know, the main reason
14:28most drummers have a bad double bass foot is because the main foot is used to just playing
14:33the bass drum a lot more.
14:34It has more playing experience.
14:36For example, let's say you've been playing drums for like five years without a double
14:39pedal just like a single foot, how many bass drum hits do you think you've done on your
14:42right foot versus how many you haven't done with your left foot?
14:45It could be thousands or even tens of thousands, depending on how often you play.
14:48So you know what?
14:49Start tapping that crappy foot right now.
14:51Even while you're watching this video, I don't give a shit.
14:53Do it now!
14:54But seriously, just start doing more drum beats here and there with your left foot whenever
14:57you can.
14:58Doesn't matter how easy or hard it is, the whole point is to just get more playing experience
15:02with that other foot.
15:15You can even do exercises that help with your non-dominant foot.
15:18For example, throw on a metronome and hit every downbeat with your main foot, and then hit
15:22the two, three, and four with your left foot.
15:36You really gotta work that left foot there.
15:38Well, depending on the speed.
15:39But you're gonna feel that burn and that's what we're looking for, daddy!
15:42Okay, let's talk about spring tension next because that's another one I get a lot of
15:45questions about.
15:46To explain spring tension, basically the tighter that the springs are, the faster the beater
15:50is gonna come back to you.
15:52Because if we didn't have springs on bass drum pedals at all, there would be nothing
15:54to bring back the beater to allow you to hit it again.
15:57It would just stay against the head the whole time, one time, no double whammies.
16:00So you might guess that higher spring tension is much easier to play faster with because
16:04it feels bouncier.
16:05And you would be correct!
16:06Just remember though that if you crank your spring tension too high, yes it'll be really
16:10easy to play the fast stuff, but then it becomes a lot harder to play the slow stuff cleanly.
16:14Because at that point, the springs are giving you so much tension that they're almost fighting
16:18with your feet and bouncing the pedals back faster than they need to.
16:21So most of the time, that also means that a lower spring tension is going to feel lighter
16:25on your foot.
16:26But keep in mind, you need to have it tight enough so you can play the faster stuff too.
16:30If you're trying to play fast and you're finding that the pedals aren't coming back
16:33fast enough to your feet for what you're trying to play, then your spring tension is probably
16:37too low and your legs are doing way more work than they need to.
16:40Especially your hip flexors!
16:41The goal here is to get the tension set just right so that the bottom of your feet are
16:45almost always touching the pedal board.
16:47Once you figure out a high speed that you want to shoot for, play around with the spring
16:50tension and try playing at that high speed multiple times with different tension settings
16:54and you'll see what I mean.
16:55You'll eventually find your sweet spot.
16:57Once you get really comfortable with it, you can just, it'll feel like you're just sort
16:59of bouncing a basketball.
17:02But when you're first starting double bass, I definitely recommend using a medium or even
17:06a low spring tension because your muscles aren't used to it yet.
17:09You want to ease them into it and you don't want to hurt yourself.
17:12That's going to bring us to my next tip.
17:13Don't over practice.
17:15Some of you may not have realized this, but yes, there is such a thing as practicing too
17:18much.
17:19This can also apply to other instruments or activities.
17:22There's always going to be a couple of fresh young musicians out there who just, they just
17:26pick up the instrument and they want to go, go, go, go, go.
17:28They want to practice 10 hours a day.
17:29They want to make really quick progress.
17:30They want to be the best fucking player in the world.
17:33But practicing too hard or too much can be just as bad, if not worse, than not practicing
17:38at all.
17:38Even if you think you're practicing smart and you're always challenging yourself, if you
17:42do this too much or too often, you eventually will come to a point where you just stop making
17:46progress and your mind starts getting distracted.
17:48And if you're not progressing how you want, this could lead to lowering your confidence
17:51or lead you to over practice even more.
17:53At this point, you're just wasting time, right?
17:55Or maybe even strengthening your bad habits.
17:57I mean, just look at me and all my wrist problems.
17:59My ulnar nerve is starting to get fucked lately and hurting my elbow.
18:02I am a prime example of a drummer who's just played way too many blast beats.
18:06You know, it's those repetitive motions that get you, man.
18:08And in more extreme cases, over practice can lead to depression or burnout.
18:12You know what?
18:12I've experienced those things too.
18:14So seriously, monitor yourself.
18:15If you're starting to feel pain, you're most likely overworking your muscles and you
18:18need to take a break.
18:19There is nothing wrong with just practicing a couple hours a day or you don't even have
18:23to do it every single day.
18:24You can do it every other day or every third day if you want.
18:26Sometimes it's healthy to take days or even a week off.
18:29You know, you need a fresh restart sometimes.
18:31Just practice until you feel like you got a good workout or you're tired.
18:34You know, it's okay to push a little bit beyond this point, but don't do that all the
18:38time.
18:38I know you want that speed.
18:39I know you want that control, but these are not things that happen overnight, unfortunately.
18:44Takes a lot of time to develop that muscle memory, and it's not immediate.
18:47You know, sometimes it takes years.
18:49Be patient.
18:49And here we are, you guys, tip number 10, and that's to play along to your favorite songs.
18:54Even if they don't have any double bass in it, add it yourself.
19:11The whole point to this one is to add more enjoyment to your practice routine.
19:15If you're practicing along to songs that put you in a great mood and they're just fun
19:18and you're having a great time, it's going to be more likely you're going to want to
19:21practice again real soon.
19:22When I was first starting double bass, I was like 14 years old.
19:25I remember I was listening to a lot of Rammstein at the time.
19:28We just did a little Duhast there.
19:29That's a nice slow one, but if you want a little faster...
19:43And for a more advanced example of doing this, I might have actually shown this in an older
19:48video.
19:48But if you want a crazy double bass workout, put on Laid to Rest by Lamb of God and just
19:52do crazy fast triplet double bass through the whole song.
20:11And if you want more easy song examples for learning double bass, I have a video of that right
20:15here.
20:16And holy shit, that's going to do it for this lesson video, you guys.
20:19I sincerely hope this helps you along your double bass journey.
20:23Thank you all so much for watching, and we'll see you next time!
20:26Click!
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