00:00Hello, welcome back, Klaus Hessler here talking to you about pedal technique.
00:04And in this next third lesson, we'll be looking at an exercise which is taken from my publication Daily Drum
00:13Set Workout.
00:13It's actually a hand exercise, but as we have been discussing before, it's really pretty valuable to transfer things from
00:22hands to feet and then simply see what happens.
00:26So this exercise is about organization of single strokes. It's never two rights or two lefts in a row. It's
00:36constantly alternating right-left or left-right.
00:40And I would suggest to actually practice that with feet on the floor and then also on your pedals.
00:49With feet on the floor, again, make sure your heel is always down and also make sure your neighbors underneath
00:59you hear what you're practicing.
01:01Okay, so there should be some decent punch as your foot is really hitting the floor.
01:08Okay, the organization of the exercises itself is always the same.
01:15You use that basic sixteenth note foundation, right-left, right-left.
01:22The right is the note above the line, the left is the note below the line, so that helps to
01:30indicate the sticking without using right-left letters.
01:35So the first combination, basses and letter A, will then look and sound like this. Check it out.
01:44It's one, two, three, four.
02:10And a little bit of B, basses and B.
02:34And a little bit of E.
02:47And so forth.
02:48Again, after a while of playing, you may actually need some rest because your feet are losing volume.
02:57But I'm pretty sure that this is going to improve relatively fast.
03:03So after a couple of days of practicing that, you'll really feel how your ankle and how the muscles involved
03:10in all of these movements will gain more power.
03:14So that actually, I mean foot technique is actually one of the few things in which the improvement of a
03:23certain, say, muscular force actually helps to play your instrument.
03:29And usually, I'm not too much of a fan of understanding that any added muscular force helps your playing.
03:39Many times, I'm afraid it doesn't help your playing.
03:43Many times, I'm afraid it doesn't help your playing.
03:43At least that's true for me.
03:44But that's some sort of truth you have to discover for yourself.
03:50Okay?
03:50So practicing that with feet flat on the floor, no matter what combination you pick, is something which really helps
03:59strengthen your ankles.
04:01You can also try and do that with feet flat on the pedal.
04:07It really heals down.
04:09So if you use a combination like basses and letter A, it's going to sound like this.
04:14One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
04:38Or some other combination, maybe still, let's say, K for instance, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one,
04:53two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
05:01Whatever, you stay with each combination for a minute before you go to the next one.
05:07Also, it's helpful and of course a pretty important reality check if you can also play these exercises with heels
05:17up.
05:18So if you say you take the basses and letter A again.
05:42Or a bit of B for instance.
05:59And so forth.
06:00Or a bit of H maybe.
06:03Or a bit of B.
06:24No matter which combination you pick, stay with it for one minute before you proceed to the next.
06:30And maybe one more thing to remind yourself when you're practicing all of that.
06:38To me, to me personally, and maybe that holds true for you as well.
06:43Control is always before speed.
06:45So before I look into any sort of tempo and bringing your metronome up a few notches, I always try
06:53to be really in control of things and try to play everything in the most fluid, effortless, comfortable way before
07:02I look into speed.
07:04Okay.
07:05So far with these exercises,
07:07So far with these exercises,
07:11Gracias.
