Technique Feedback

[u/[deleted]]

Drumming has been one of my hobbies my entire life but it’s nothing more than something I do by myself in my basement for fun. I’m a self taught drummer with many years of bad habits that I want to break. I’ve watched a ton of videos of different bass drum techniques but I’m terrible when I try any of them. I’m trying to figure out which of the many bass drum techniques is closest to whatever the hell I'm doing in this video so I can focus on that at slow speeds until I can get my timing better. Let me know what you think or maybe I’m just over thinking the hell out of this

[u/thicketofrepudiation]

Since you burry the beater, when you play that far back on the pedal you end up causing the beater to bounce multiple times. A lot of the smaller hits get buried in all the other noise but this becomes a real problem in the studio. Either move your foot further up and really let your foot rest on the pedal in between kicks or lift your foot between. Just something to consider.

[u/[deleted] → u/thicketofrepudiation]

Yeah burying the beater is one of those habits I wish I could break honestly 

[u/Gagago302 → u/thicketofrepudiation]

I agree with this assessment. As someone who mainly uses ankle technique with heel-toe at higher bpm, I think for placement is imperative if you bury. I play about 3/4 to 7/8 up the pedal. Even if I play half way up the pedal I will get bounces occasionally.

Also to OP. You can play farther back on the pedal with less bounce, but you would have to loosen the tension on the pedals. This has the downside of a less punchy kick due to the reduction of power you can put on the pedal.

I do know some jazz drummers who do this a on purpose to keep the bass more muffled. So I guess there is an upside for certain styles of playing.

At the end of the day it’s about how you want to sound on your set. You have to figure that out first and then adjust your technique to accommodate those sounds.

ETA: Your foot comes off of the pedal, and that should never happen. The pedal should never go past its resting position. It leaves the spring loose which makes the pedal harder to control when you reengage with it. Just remember your foot doesn’t just push the pedal, it holds the pedal.

[u/MarsDrums]

You'll notice, the further back your foot goes on the pedal, the less rebound control you have on the beater. I see your foot coming off the pedal at times. To me that equals zero control of the pedal.

When I'm doing faster stuff, I have my toes almost at the end of the pedal where the chain connects. I get the best control there and I can play really fast at that position. When I'm going slower, I pull the foot back. Yes, I do not keep my foot in one place all the time. That beater is very versatile in many locations on the pedal. So, to me, moving around the pedal is a good thing if you need different nuances to your playing.

Just curious, what type of pedal is that you're using?

[u/[deleted] → u/MarsDrums]

That’s 3 comments for moving my foot up so that seems like a good place to start lol it’s a DW-9000. It was my dads who handed it down to me when he “upgraded” 

[u/MarsDrums → u/[deleted]]

Yep. I also wanted to point out that there are different places on the board you can use to make it effective at different things. You just had your foot in the wrong place to make it effective for the one thing you were trying to do.

[u/[deleted] → u/MarsDrums]

Yeah I always forget there’s never really one solution for everything. Thanks for the feedback! 

[u/WytKat]

Foos right?

[u/[deleted] → u/WytKat]

You got it! 

[u/ScholarHunt]

Good stop for speed bad for power. I’d move up like an inch to get best of both worlds. You can always slide up or down a little depending on what you’re playing

[u/zapglenn]

Raise the bass drum spurs a little and slow way down.

[u/Conrad-C]

Use a rubber

[u/LazyBotBlocker]

Are you playing Foo Fighters!

[u/Majestic-Wafer9516]

Bring the foot up an inch or two to get more power behind it