Adam, thank you, thank you, thank you for putting yourself out there for all of us. Your first two double bass videos are fantastic. I am 73 years old and you, my friend, inspire me to keep forging ahead.
Sounding better! You've probably felt and noticed the tension in that left leg as well... Getting each leg and foot to be able to play the 16th notes individually and continuously at the same tempo before alternating them will really help with the timing and flams on the feet. Again, I'm excited to see this series. Thanks Adam!
Edit: For the past 6 months or so I had played with beater weights in the same position. I've since removed them and it was like lifting a heavy blanket off of my feet. Needless to say they're really good for "weight training".
Great suggestion! My left foot/leg feels brutalized after every session. Literally shaky, sore, and unstable for the rest of the day. Lol. It most definitely needs its own attention, as opposed to getting thrown in the deep end with my right foot. Glad you're here Cam!
Adam - this is one of the most interesting projects happening in the “drum sphere” of the internet nowadays. Thank you for sharing this journey. It will make for a lot of content, and wisdom in your clinics, etc. We don’t often get to see highly developed pros go through the struggles of developing what is essentially a new skill - and acclimating to mechanically different pedals at the same time. Seeing the “re-baselining” exercises you are going through shows how tough this is - and how necessary all this stuff is for developing a whole new skill space. It kind of reminds me of when Neil Peart went back to scratch & took lessons from Freddie Gruber & Peter Erskine when he decided to develop serious big band chops. That took a lot of work- and served him for 25 years. Keep it up!! This project is showing us that this stuff is challenging for everyone!
Direct drives are cool, but I always enjoyed chain drives more. Pulling doubles was always easier and foot dynamics were effortless. Love the videos, Adam.
favorite Orlando series. covering everything every double-bass drummer has run into (everyone except those few naturals that picked it up without trouble)
A number of years ago I was at a master class with Steve Smith and he told me to practice Unisons with my feet. The theory behind this is that the muscle contractions in the left foot/leg will start to mimic the muscle contractions of the right foot/leg. It’s an even more mundane thing to practice than practicing straight 16th notes but…it works! I would start by playing unison 8ths at about 110 bpm for 5 minutes then bump the tempo up by 2 bpm every 5 minutes or so and keep doing that until your left foot can’t go any faster. Recently I’ve also started playing triplets instead of 16ths because your left foot has to land on a down beat instead of always hitting on an off beat and I’ll practice it both right foot lead and left foot lead.
As I said to another commenter with the same suggestion, there is definitely some validity to the "limb unison" approach. It's a weird hack that I forget about. I've heard Chris Coleman suggest this with hands, and it absolutely works. (Forcing your left hand to mimic your right as they play identical patterns.) Sounds dumb, but totally effective in certain applications. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts my friend!
Thank you buddy is refreshing to know that a pro like you accepts that needs to learn doble pedal, nothing wrong with that actually motivates all of us to practice and learn more about our drumming. Thank you
Thank you for such a transparent video as well man. This really shows how even really fantastic drummers have growing pains in their further evolution. 🖤⚡️🖤
@@AdamTuminaro Just so you know, there is already beater weights on the shaft of the demon drive. Also experiment with heavier shoes. Gene Hoglan used boots to help him with power, speed and accuracy.
Loving these! As someone who has struggled with the concept of Double kick for almost 2 years now. Its good to see that even the pros have gone through the same issues as us mere mortals
I love this video Adam!! There is something strangely satisfying watching a 'much better drummer' than myself attempt to work this out. I love your approach, and the way you analyse which exercises are yielding the best results. Thank you for showing us the flaws in your playing and your process of how to smooth them out and and ultimately get better. It's so refreshing to be once again reminded of the fact that there are no magic tricks in order to improve, just pure hard work and dedication.
I'm loving your videos on this topic. I have not bought a double bass pedal just yet, and I think you are helping me set my mind up in a good place for when I do. Keep it coming!!!
The mimicry exercise is really good indeed! I do that for both feet and hands.. The conclusion is always the same, my left side is what holds me back! Great to see such a great drummer sharing his struggles learning new things, keep up the good work!!
Hi Adam, thank you for sharing these videos. I’ve just come back playing from a 5 year medical hiatus where I never thought I could play again, thankfully I can. In that time I’ve got myself in a function band where I need to learn double bass songs and never explored double pedal before so these vlogs couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s so different from playing a single pedal and I’m up for the challenge!! Can’t wait for the next one. 🙏🙏🙏
Great series on Double Bass Adam. You got me on the edge of my seat, and looking forward to the upcomming episodes. I can identity so many similarities I've either been through, or struggeling with still. Great video!
The thing that helped me a lot with getting a smooth double bass sound is to play with the right foot leading the beat and the left follows it. I've seen others doing it the other way around too, but this is just something I keep in mind when playing double bass.
Thanks for this great vid-series. At long last, here's an instructor who shares useful information as well as problems and anxieties while not presenting himself as a half-god. Being a mortal myself, that is exactly what I was looking for and I managed to learn a lot. And the great vid-quality (both technically and didactyly seen) is a special bonus.
What great timing! I got my first double kick pedal last week. Been struggling with a lot of the same things you’ve noted. Helps the confidence to see a professional run into the same challenges. These videos are definitely helping me identify (or confirm) my issues! Thank you!
Definitely still better than me, but its validating to see even someone at the professional level struggle with this in these specific ways because so much of this feels like exactly the issues I've always had. This is really informative and encouraging.
@@AdamTuminaro It's definetely a relief to see I was not the only one struggling with this. All you usually see online is guys playing with machine-gun speed and making it look like it's a no-brainer. More to say, I'm in the middle of my double bass journey myself, and your series are way more motivating, than the guys I mentioned above. So please keep on, it's curing my PTSD way better than you might think!
I just recently revisited trying to learn double bass. Played in punk bands for years so my right foot doubles are solid. Always had the beater weight on the single (right) and when I added the weights on both beaters, I experienced the same thing. Lost all feel and felt like I was pushing cinder blocks. Thanks for the videos! Very relatable.
I love that, thanks for sharing your findings and journey! That' s way more realistic and influencing than other drummers who just record the best shot after trying thousand times and try to hide their weakness
What a great series man! Playing double bass is like playing a different instrument... It's very, very challenging and also completely change the way of thinking and composing the music. What I've found to be very useful is one particular exercise-doubles with the hands-singles on the feets (same note value!)played simultaneously. This helps to balance the legs, because after working on the weak leg(mandatory) we have to bring them together. This helps. At the same time we are working on the hands also (even paradiddles are opcion). Doing this the legs naturally "follow" the hands. Starting slowly to faster tempos(increasing and decreasing speed) also working on constant tempo using metronome. Sorry for my bad English just wanted to ad my 2 cents and to share little experience.
There is certainly some validity to the "limb unison" approach. It works wonders on the hands; forcing your left hand to mimic your right as they play identical patterns. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts, and the kind words as well!
Super nice episode Adam! Loving this series. It’s nice to see how you plan, where you struggle, rank exercises - I recognise myself in all of that! I also dig the subdivision exercises. For rudiments on your feet, I have done some of that. I’ll save my comments for the next video.
Appreciate you saying all that Jonas! Super helpful feedback. And I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on foot rudiments in episode 3. More to come! ;)
Something I’ve been playing with lately that just kinda feels cool is inverted double strokes starting with the Single in the right foot using eighth notes. Quarters on the hat. Snare on 2 and 4. Then doing all the same but with snare on 3. That throws the snare hits on the second 8th note of the right foot. So going to half time at some point to get used to the whole coordination thing. But that subdivision pyramid is the way to go man. 16th note triplets with snare on 3 is a good one to do often. To me it just became a “feel thing”. Once I can just feel it, I can go faster! Lol. Fast fast fast!!! Thank you for this content. You’re such a killer drummer. So to see that even Adam struggles with some things is reassuring. Although I’m sure you’ll be flying in no time.
Hey Adam! Love this new series of videos you’re putting out! One thing you can try to make sure you can do doubles with your right foot again, is to adjust the beater height and basically make it higher, it makes a significant difference to the overall control you have over the pedals.
I am really loving and appreciating these videos, especially since I’m currently working really hard to improve my double bass as well. I’ve incorporated some of these exercises too, especially the subdivision exercise as I feel it does help me see the most progress specifically in seeing my weak foot gain more control. It’s nice not to feel alone in the struggle 😂 I’m also from the Orlando area too, would be awesome to run into you sometime! Thanks for the inspiring video!!
I think the rebound of the head is a symphtom of loose spring tention. A lot of people (old me included) think that looser is faster but it just makes the pedal unresponsive.
So i have been following the drum technique academy for a while. I have learned the ankle technique for speeds over 175-ish. I think the change in my "stomping technique" has been the best thing for my double kick playing. Now I am no David Diepold but I can wish :)
Honestly, the most important thing that increase my double bass progression was my drum throne, it became far beter as soon my drum throne was super steady. For the chain drive feeling on direct drive, i set up the top of the direct drive cam at 90 degree when the beater is hiting the drum head, it give the feeling of control like chain drive.
Love these videos, Adam. I was fortunate enough to go from some $70 single chain drive double pedals many years ago to some DW 9000s on a deep discount. As you're discovering, a lot of the direct drive things are made for speed more than power and bounce back. I've tried some different direct drive pedals and found I felt the same way that you did: they're SO precise, but they're lacking feel. Something about chain drive just hits for me. That being said, I definitely love and respect the players who get these pedals for this purpose. The build quality is incredible.
Great series! One aspect I had no idea affected my db playing was having a free rotating drum seat. A metal guy I did a gig with years ago said your core muscles will be constantly trying to balance your torso while your legs are moving. Bought an ahead seat to replace my rocnsoc hydraulic and the difference was staggering. It's so much easier to control my playing, especially at high bpms. My back feels way better also from the tension reduction.
Interesting point! I definitely do have a free-rotating throne, but I could imagine a fixed one being problematic; especially when switching from hi hat pedal to the kick pedal. I got a Roc N Soc for my 16th birthday, and used it for 15+ years before the hydraulics died. Spent thousands of hours on that thing. Still hoping to get it fixed one day! Killer thrones from a solid company.
Great idea doing this series! One thing I want to add to your point about gear, is that a double pedal is the only piece of gear (in my opinion) that actually DOES effect your ability to play things. You won't realize this, since you are starting off with a very good pedal, but the cheaper double pedals can limit how fast you can play. For the majority of people, it won't matter, but when you get really fast, the lower end pedals will only allow you to achieve 90-95% of what you are capable of on a better pedal.
That is totally fair! I have had former students complain about kick problems, only to find out they had a busted pedal with horrible settings. As you said, it’s one of the few pieces of gear that can actually cause playing problems. In my case, I just feel like I’m trying to fine tune a Ferrari. Lol. She drives fine, but she’s very picky.
This is so amazing, Adam! It's super interesting to me, as I've been an extreme metal drummer for most of my playing journey and only just recently (couple of years ago) I subscribed to your platform, as I was interested in learning more about linear drumming - so it's kinda fun to watch you doing something that resembles a bit like the opposite path (even tho I know your goal is probably not to learn blast beats and things like that 😅). Just quickly looking at that pedal setup out of the box, with the spring tension so high and the beater angle so close to the bass drum head, I'd say it was probably because they had in mind people playing a more extreme kind of music, as those settings help a lot when going over 200+ bpm (altho by contrast, you have to give up on control because of it)! Can't wait for the next videos!
my trainings routine as a metal drummer is 8th notes both feet 2min 8th notes right foot 2min 8th nothes left foot 2min triplets both feet 2 min and 16th notes both feet 2 min. For you I recommend starting this at a slower tempo like 100 and after 1 round you get 10 bpm higher until 150-160. This helps me with stamina on each foot and keeping my timing. I love seeing you trying a double pedal and I wish you great practicing seassions with it.
I agree that rudiments on the feet will not yield the same results and with the hands. The feet and hands play different roles/rolls. That said I found that paradiddles and hertas provide major benefits for double bass speed and stability. Being able to lead with the left or right foot in double bass patterns opens many doors to creativity. Btw killer wood grain on your pearls.
All fair points! And thank you for the kind words. My full argument / explanation is in the next episode; I’d be very curious to hear your thoughts in it!
Kollias helped design those pedals with Pearl and I believe they were made like that to suit metal bass drum ankle technique players who are after crazy speed
Great video Adam! One thing you did here that I really enjoyed and thought was unique, was when you showcased the settings of your older pedal and spoke briefly on what you liked about them. Those things sadly don't get talked alot on here. For example, how your beater is set way further back just like mines and why. Almost all information you find says set them to 45 degrees or something similar to that which I have never liked in terms of feel.
Appreciate the feedback my man! Very nice to know that kind of information is useful. I worry that the intricate pedal details are too boring for UA-cam, but I should have know that there's no shortage of gear nerds in drum world. Lol. Glad you're here my friend! Hopefully many more pedal settings / solutions coming in future episodes.
Really like this series! How you lay the videos out in a progression, rather than a summation, of your experience is really interesting and it's very relatable. At 8:59 you mentioned the pedals getting extremely heavy after changing some settings, I have an idea about what's affecting you. Direct drive pedals have more complicated leverage physics that cause their perceived 'weight' to change depending on how far through the stroke you are. Simply put, when the beaters are further back the pedal will feel heavier. You mentioned the beater angle of your old pedal in the previous clip, but it wasn't clear to me if that change had been brought forward or not--if so it's likely that the larger angle accentuated the 'non-linear' stroke that direct drives have and made them feel ridiculously heavy. This property applies in the other direction as well, feeling extremely light and responsive with shorter/faster strokes, hence their popularity in metal
Appreciate the kind words on the format! Definitely something I put some thought into before starting the series. And the points you've made are totally valid. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to either raise the beaters, or bring their sitting position back towards the shin to achieve a heavier feel. My instinct for added weight was to... just add weight. Lol, but it definitely did not solve the problem in the way I had hoped. Plenty more pedal adjustments coming in EP3!
So i am by far not a professional drummer, i did some gig work post high school and military career, but nothing i would equate to your resume (which is quite impressive i may add) that said what helped me learn double bass in my youth was what you were talking about towards the end about repeating patterns on the left foot that you do normally on the right. So i would play songs like 'Ocean Avenue' by yellow card simply with my left foot, oor id alternate during the verses (verse 1 right foot, verse 2 left) or playing like Blink 182 "Damnit' Purely on my left foot. It was an insane workout, one that i can no longer do with injuries away from drumming but it did help.
For sure plan on trying this. I realized while editing this video that that would have made a lot of sense to try. Directly impacts the beater's leverage / swing, and takes just a few seconds to try. Will update in future episodes!
Aric Improta’s playthrough of “Arrival” has super tasty single pedal doubles as well as insane double kick work near the end. I’d be curious to see how he sets up his pedals to achieve both, but id bet it’s the 8 million hours of practice a week that really does it
Concerning the topic "Kick Rebound", especially in the Context of faster tempos/ Extreme Metal: The important thing is just getting the beater as fast as possible back into a position where it makes sense to do another hit. The factor of B-Drum Head Tension has a little impact on that, but the most important thing for a fast, responsive pedal is obviously Spring Tension. Playing faster stuff using ankle technique or swivel won't work with a loose spring tension (at least not as good) because you would interrupt the beater swing in its motion, you obv wouldn't get a full stroke out of it, and it feels bad as well. Broken down, it's basically physics 101, to be honest xD
That all makes perfect sense. I do need to remind myself that this is an "extreme metal" pedal, designed to do things that I absolutely cannot play at this point. In some ways, I know I'm trying to make a Ferrari act like a Toyota. We'll see what I can come up with this week, but the insights are always helpful! Glad you're here man. =)
@@AdamTuminaro it doesn't really have to do much with the pedal actually, there's this guy, James Payne, who played over ten years with Iron Cobra 600s until he switched to DynaSyncs (Tamas first Direct Drive Pedal) in 2020. And this dude totally rips, he played up to 270 on those Iron Cobras, so, again, it's less the pedal itself that matters.
As I mentioned in last vid when you first got the Demons, going from a chain drive to a direct drive is a big difference. You pretty much have to relearn bassdrum play. Now from my observations on this vid I noticed your right foot you play heel up and your left foot most heel down. That will cause muscle fatigue in the legs due to differences in technique. Mimick what you do on right, it being your dominant, to your left. And use more ankle and less leg. Also experiment on the foot board different spots.... for example further up the board is where your power for normal beats but as you go further down the board the faster the response will be for double bass. And that one sweet spot towards the bottom where the arch of you foot is directly over the hinge makes it possible for the heel/toe technique, which makes some awesome doubles and triplets accents. As for practicing or play along as I call it the drummer of Disturbed does a lot of alternating bass drum playing that's actually simple and for a good work out play along with Lamb of Gob for same technique but more intense...... good luck and happy drumming 🥁 🤘😎🤘
Disturbed is actually a GREAT suggestion to get some simple exercises. Heard a song of theirs on Rock Radio the other day, and there was definitely some very simple double bass parts I thought I could play. 14 year old me will also be very pleased. Down With The Sickness changed my life when it came out. Haha. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Maybe try both the swivel technique and the heel toe technique and see which one allows you to play longer and faster with less effort. The band Disturbed uses a lot of double bass, but not at high speeds, their drummer plays patterns that would be much harder to play with a single pedal.
I'm currently on the same journey as I'm resting up my right arm from post-surgery due to nerve impingement, focusing on double bass. Getting over that hi-hat technique and the occasional extra strokes that come in is suuuuuch a pain after 20 years of hi-hat technique haha.
As someone who plays double bass for 20 years and only recently i got good at it, all i have to say is use the same teqnique for everything, slow fast, double, single and that would be ankle teqnique. Even George Kollias went to this after a lifetime of swivel. For even faster learn heel toe which is actually a faster process than learning single strokes. Also have energy economy in mind. And lastly prefer to get used to continuous strokes at slower tempos than small bursts at higher ones 😅
Awesome video, really enjoying this series. Just picked up a secind hand DW9000 double pedal yesterday and damn this is challenging 😂 looking forward to learning from this series
I am nowhere remotely close to you, but I do have a suggestion. Before trying all kinds of double pedal stuff, try all the stuff you normally do with you right foot (grooves, beats, fills, doubles etc,..) only using your left foot on bass drum. Do this playing hats, x hats, cymbals and drums. Play all bass drum parts only left footed. After a couple days of this your left foot and ankle will feel more like your right one, making double bass playing start to feel more even. I've never done this longer than 15 minutes but noticed a difference. I'm too stupid, old and lazy to listen to my own advice, but a talent like you will kill it........try it.
Love this series.. more drummers should do this as well - getting out of their comfort zone... a dB drummer try single foot and jazz style maybe (as an example) ---- and on the rudiments, it's probably best to keep it simple and maybe just doubles or a paradiddle on the feet so you get comfortable between singles and doubles... and hertas MAYBE... haha
I noticed you pushing the beater to your drumhead after ever hit. With direct drive pedals, especially this pedal with its extreme springs, you need so much energy to push the beater to the head compares to chain driven pedals. Try leaving a little space between the beater heads and the drumhead, it may become a little easier 😊
Unfortunately my "undo 20 years of burying the beater" button is broken. Lol. But you're absolutely correct. I'm not sure that's a habit I can realistically break anytime soon, but I'll certainly keep it in mind. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
Damn. Thought I was helpful with the rudiments on the feet idea 🙂 But your idea is similar - in that, what you do with one foot, practicing at doing it again with the other. Once again, looking forward to what comes next!
Tell me your favorite double bass drummers! I’ve always had Eloy Casagrande high on my list. His blend of power AND finesse is an insanely rare combo. He’s like a pit-bull who learned ballet, and i absolutely love it. 🐶💃🏼 Give me some legends to check out this week! 👇🏼
Try positioning the weights at varying heights on the beater, it will adjust the resistance you feel in the swing - hopefully reducing your lactic acid build up 😅
Evans EQ3 in conjunction with an Aquarian Super Kick II. Danmar Power Disc impact and hard beater with finger tight tuning and you will have your best bass tone for progressive rock or metal 🤘
Try putting your heel down and making the strokes with your heel (for awhile, not permanently). It'll make your left and right sound more even and have the same power. Your left foot isn't use to the e / uhs because you've kept time with it for so long on 1 / And etc but the heel down part on your left might feel more natural because of it. Normally you put a lot of weight on your left leg to maintain balance but when both your feet are up in the air it's awkward if you're not use to it. Sitting further back on your throne might help, too.
The issue with your swivel foot scuff doubles is in the positioning of the beater. You need to tweak the pedal a bit and make the pedal work for you. Once you get it tweaked in it will become an extension of your body
That "extension of my body" feeling is the one I'm chasing obviously. But it's so hard to articulate *exactly* what creates that feeling in any given pedal. Going much further down the pedal wormhole than I anticipated, but we'll get there! Many more settings (and hopefully solutions) coming in future episodes. Thanks for watching Brandon!
It’s crazy to watch Adam sound anything less than the polished tasteful player that he is. Takes a lot of balls to document this and put out there in UA-cam. I applaud you sir.
I have been playing a lot of congas with pedals lately. I will say, acclimating my doubles has SUPER stabilized what I am feeling when I come back to a kick drum. Here's my theory- When you were talking about the rebound, I am kinda with you, but there's a little more to it in my mind. There's the speed of response from the standpoint of audio feedback. And a high pitched, twangy cowbell was telling me IMMEDIATELY how lumpy my doubles could get. I think when the kick drum is in the middle of all of your other time playing stuff with your hands, our feetback and attenuation to the dynamic of the pedal is really dull by comparison. We kinda just sense it more than actively hear it on top of everything. After a couple of years of doubles and clave, my bass drum articulation is as good as it's been in my entire playing life. Samba patterns are a whole new vibe, and I can really feel my body responding to playing that kind of pattern at different tempos. Just some food for thought- happy playing, y'all
Something that could be worth trying instead of the beater weight would be increasing the beater angle and/or increasing the spring tension. That should do a similar thing to the weight as it will return the beater faster as there will be more tension, but it won't increase the weight of the beater so the pedals will still feel light.
@@AdamTuminaro yup! You made sure they were the same, but it wasn't clear if they were increased (both springs and angle). Either way, looking forward to the next episode!
I'll admit that I haven't practiced double bass, but intuitively I feel like practicing rudiments with your feet would be useful for developing dexterity and muscle memory. There probably aren't many practical applications, but maybe rudiments are useful as an isolated exercise. Not sure. I could be way off. Interested in hearing your arguments in the next one
The old saying goes "a bad workman blames his tools"... But the reality is, even though that is true, its also true that a GOOD workman knows when his tools are to blame.
Very last thing bro.... think about this as well your left foots muscles groupings are also trained for hi-hat work solely so theres a curve there as well. It helped me to not feel so frustrated as to why my left foot wont work as easily as my right foot does. I also suggested the rudiment thing before you stated it in the video 😂😂😂😂 in truth in only practice paradiddles with my feet ❤ 🖤⚡️🖤
dude double bass is tough! and getting good at it requires a lot of patience and boring click track 16th notes practice haha. and trying to get blast beats down is even moooore boring, but once youre able to do it instictively and clean its soooo rewarding!
Recently switch from chain drive to direct drive (Tama IC to Dyna Sync) and experiment the same as you describe! Its harder to acheive clean double strokes on the direct drive… but I feel I have more control with it on other paterns… but would get exauhsted quickly on the dynasync… still gonna play with setting and will probably try trick beaters… thx for this video! Cheers
Just wondering, did you try the moving the weights lower on the beater? I've also played around with the weight position & spring tension relation to fine tune it more. Don't know if that will get the balance you're looking for for the single kick stuff, but it's an area to explore. One thing that I did that changed the feel was lowering the beaters by 3/4" from where I usually would run them, just like a shorter stick feels a little more "snappy" than a really long stick, the same theory can be applied to the beaters. Love this series - keep up the great work!
Not a bad suggestion! I'll give it a shot this week; it would very likely give me some control over the heavy feeling of the weights. Appreciate the kind words!
I certainly didn’t put down anyone. I made a jab at a small group of fans who like to cite Lang, while giving unsolicited advice that I highly doubt they’ve personally explored. Thomas Lang is an incredible player; better than me in almost every measurable category. I’ve heard he’s incredibly kind as well. However, I don’t aspire to any playing goals that would align with his methods. No different than a high level Afro-Cuban jazz drummer. They might be incredibly skilled, but they aren’t playing anything I’d like to replicate. And for that reason, I’m entitled to critique their practice methods, and bring into question the relevance of their ideals for my personal playing.
Here's a question for a beginner drummer. My Tama kit came with their cheapest kick pedal. I was thinking about upgrading to something better. Am I just wasting money or should I get a quality pedal that I'll be using for many many years?
The only “rudiment” that is possibly beneficial would be doubles, and I ain’t got the patience for that lol. Those are the heel toe guys. James Cassells from Asking Alexandria does it flawlessly, with insane speed.
you also have to experiment with the placement of your feet on the boards. remember that: the faster you go the lower on the boards you need to be. it will also give back some rebound feeling as your foot isn't resting on the board. therefore, the pedal can move freely and you just have to focus on the input. give a look at David Diepold technique. he barely moves his feet. he just taps the bottom of the boards and they do their job. he has the single foot speed of a demon. imagine with 2. he does really nice videos that you can exploit to learn more. cheers
This a great series. I'm glad you're showing people that you can have one the best double bass pedals on the market and it still doesn't make you great! Instantly anyway! As for the rudiment on the feet thing? I can see a benefit with it for helping with your independence. such as playing a groove over paradiddles on your feet. In a context of actual playing, no. Soloing? Sure! But as someone mentioned about Thomas Lang.... He's just insane! But even when he plays rudiments on the bass drum and he says to play dynamically, I don't really hear much of a difference? It's a bass drum, just kick the crap out of it!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Cool videos! How are you finding the new pedals when playing without shoes? I’ve had double kick pedals for a long time, but am only more recently trying to use them properly. Due to noise, I usually play on mesh pad edrums (kick is also a mesh pad) and I have the Pearl Eliminator double pedal. I’ve always played without shoes with a lot of “heel down”. I’ve been thinking about trying a direct drive pedal, but most don’t look comfortable unless you wear shoes, or play exclusively “heel up”. I’m curious to hear what you think of these pedals in terms of footwear requirements and heel up/down changes you’ve had to make.
So I exclusively play heel up. Heel down feels awful for me; no power, and weird on my ankle because I sit very high; typically leaning into the pedals, like a tripod between feet and throne. If the balls of my feet aren't pushing down, I feel unstable. But truthfully, my left foot is so "dumb" on a kick pedal that I don't think footwear matters. My right foot can handle almost any type of shoe without issue, though my preference is usually barefoot. I'll have to pay attention in future practice sessions, but my initial impression is that it's just too early to matter. Thanks for sharing your thoughts my friend!
Pretty sure those pedals were supposed to come with lighter springs to change out. Gene Hoglan likes to use leg weights to train for endurance. Just a thought.
“I have other things to work on, but now this shit takes up an hour of practice 😂” “My single pedal stuff now feels weird” “Pedal feels weird” Yup, yup, yup. I’m working on the Dave Elitch style full leg singles to start off at slower speeds, just to dial in that starting motion. Then as I go faster I’m trying to find that muscular switch, that biting point. Also I’ve gone back to my regular Iron Cobras and abandoned my expensive Tama longboards. I think there’s something to be said for the feel of a sort of traditional pedal. The main thing is: don’t do it every day, and lose it FAST. Godspeed.
LOL. Appreciate it brother! Part of me does wish I had opted for a high end chain pedal, but I'm here for the Direct Drive challenge. We'll get sorted out soon enough!
Adam, thank you, thank you, thank you for putting yourself out there for all of us. Your first two double bass videos are fantastic. I am 73 years old and you, my friend, inspire me to keep forging ahead.
Sounding better! You've probably felt and noticed the tension in that left leg as well... Getting each leg and foot to be able to play the 16th notes individually and continuously at the same tempo before alternating them will really help with the timing and flams on the feet. Again, I'm excited to see this series. Thanks Adam!
Edit: For the past 6 months or so I had played with beater weights in the same position. I've since removed them and it was like lifting a heavy blanket off of my feet. Needless to say they're really good for "weight training".
Great suggestion! My left foot/leg feels brutalized after every session. Literally shaky, sore, and unstable for the rest of the day. Lol. It most definitely needs its own attention, as opposed to getting thrown in the deep end with my right foot. Glad you're here Cam!
@@AdamTuminaro this is the way! \M/
Adam - this is one of the most interesting projects happening in the “drum sphere” of the internet nowadays. Thank you for sharing this journey. It will make for a lot of content, and wisdom in your clinics, etc. We don’t often get to see highly developed pros go through the struggles of developing what is essentially a new skill - and acclimating to mechanically different pedals at the same time. Seeing the “re-baselining” exercises you are going through shows how tough this is - and how necessary all this stuff is for developing a whole new skill space. It kind of reminds me of when Neil Peart went back to scratch & took lessons from Freddie Gruber & Peter Erskine when he decided to develop serious big band chops. That took a lot of work- and served him for 25 years. Keep it up!! This project is showing us that this stuff is challenging for everyone!
Direct drives are cool, but I always enjoyed chain drives more. Pulling doubles was always easier and foot dynamics were effortless. Love the videos, Adam.
favorite Orlando series. covering everything every double-bass drummer has run into (everyone except those few naturals that picked it up without trouble)
Appreciate that!
A number of years ago I was at a master class with Steve Smith and he told me to practice Unisons with my feet. The theory behind this is that the muscle contractions in the left foot/leg will start to mimic the muscle contractions of the right foot/leg. It’s an even more mundane thing to practice than practicing straight 16th notes but…it works! I would start by playing unison 8ths at about 110 bpm for 5 minutes then bump the tempo up by 2 bpm every 5 minutes or so and keep doing that until your left foot can’t go any faster. Recently I’ve also started playing triplets instead of 16ths because your left foot has to land on a down beat instead of always hitting on an off beat and I’ll practice it both right foot lead and left foot lead.
As I said to another commenter with the same suggestion, there is definitely some validity to the "limb unison" approach. It's a weird hack that I forget about. I've heard Chris Coleman suggest this with hands, and it absolutely works. (Forcing your left hand to mimic your right as they play identical patterns.) Sounds dumb, but totally effective in certain applications. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts my friend!
Thank you buddy is refreshing to know that a pro like you accepts that needs to learn doble pedal, nothing wrong with that actually motivates all of us to practice and learn more about our drumming. Thank you
Dude I love this series. I can’t wait for the next parts!
Thank you for such a transparent video as well man. This really shows how even really fantastic drummers have growing pains in their further evolution. 🖤⚡️🖤
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the kind words. 🙏🏼💜
@@AdamTuminaro Just so you know, there is already beater weights on the shaft of the demon drive. Also experiment with heavier shoes. Gene Hoglan used boots to help him with power, speed and accuracy.
Loving these! As someone who has struggled with the concept of Double kick for almost 2 years now. Its good to see that even the pros have gone through the same issues as us mere mortals
this series inspires me endlessly. Thanks for doing this.
I love this video Adam!! There is something strangely satisfying watching a 'much better drummer' than myself attempt to work this out. I love your approach, and the way you analyse which exercises are yielding the best results. Thank you for showing us the flaws in your playing and your process of how to smooth them out and and ultimately get better. It's so refreshing to be once again reminded of the fact that there are no magic tricks in order to improve, just pure hard work and dedication.
thanks for the honest display of you practice routine and your progress. i'm really looking forward to the next videos 🙂
You're always amazing. Can't wait for more of your progress.
I'm loving your videos on this topic. I have not bought a double bass pedal just yet, and I think you are helping me set my mind up in a good place for when I do. Keep it coming!!!
Glad to hear it my friend!
The mimicry exercise is really good indeed! I do that for both feet and hands.. The conclusion is always the same, my left side is what holds me back!
Great to see such a great drummer sharing his struggles learning new things, keep up the good work!!
Your kit looks great with the natural wood finish. Sounds huge too!
Hi Adam, thank you for sharing these videos. I’ve just come back playing from a 5 year medical hiatus where I never thought I could play again, thankfully I can. In that time I’ve got myself in a function band where I need to learn double bass songs and never explored double pedal before so these vlogs couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s so different from playing a single pedal and I’m up for the challenge!! Can’t wait for the next one. 🙏🙏🙏
Great series on Double Bass Adam.
You got me on the edge of my seat, and looking forward to the upcomming episodes. I can identity so many similarities I've either been through, or struggeling with still. Great video!
The thing that helped me a lot with getting a smooth double bass sound is to play with the right foot leading the beat and the left follows it.
I've seen others doing it the other way around too, but this is just something I keep in mind when playing double bass.
Thanks for this great vid-series. At long last, here's an instructor who shares useful information as well as problems and anxieties while not presenting himself as a half-god. Being a mortal myself, that is exactly what I was looking for and I managed to learn a lot. And the great vid-quality (both technically and didactyly seen) is a special bonus.
What great timing! I got my first double kick pedal last week. Been struggling with a lot of the same things you’ve noted. Helps the confidence to see a professional run into the same challenges. These videos are definitely helping me identify (or confirm) my issues! Thank you!
So glad to hear that! 💜🙏🏼
Definitely still better than me, but its validating to see even someone at the professional level struggle with this in these specific ways because so much of this feels like exactly the issues I've always had. This is really informative and encouraging.
Appreciate you saying that my friend!
Thank you once again. And the way you talk about these things, is really entertaining. Thank you
Appreciate you!
Thanks so much for these series! All my pain while learning double bass comes back to life immediately and feels relevant, finally!
I'm not sure if I should thank you for the kind words, or apologize for causing some PTSD. LOL. Glad you're here my friend!
@@AdamTuminaro It's definetely a relief to see I was not the only one struggling with this. All you usually see online is guys playing with machine-gun speed and making it look like it's a no-brainer.
More to say, I'm in the middle of my double bass journey myself, and your series are way more motivating, than the guys I mentioned above.
So please keep on, it's curing my PTSD way better than you might think!
Really enjoying this series its a great insight
I just recently revisited trying to learn double bass. Played in punk bands for years so my right foot doubles are solid. Always had the beater weight on the single (right) and when I added the weights on both beaters, I experienced the same thing. Lost all feel and felt like I was pushing cinder blocks. Thanks for the videos! Very relatable.
I love that, thanks for sharing your findings and journey! That' s way more realistic and influencing than other drummers who just record the best shot after trying thousand times and try to hide their weakness
What a great series man! Playing double bass is like playing a different instrument... It's very, very challenging and also completely change the way of thinking and composing the music. What I've found to be very useful is one particular exercise-doubles with the hands-singles on the feets (same note value!)played simultaneously. This helps to balance the legs, because after working on the weak leg(mandatory) we have to bring them together. This helps. At the same time we are working on the hands also (even paradiddles are opcion). Doing this the legs naturally "follow" the hands. Starting slowly to faster tempos(increasing and decreasing speed) also working on constant tempo using metronome. Sorry for my bad English just wanted to ad my 2 cents and to share little experience.
There is certainly some validity to the "limb unison" approach. It works wonders on the hands; forcing your left hand to mimic your right as they play identical patterns. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts, and the kind words as well!
Great job Adam!
Herta is fantastic for the double pedal.
Was literally thinking when is the next video coming. ORAAYT!
Super nice episode Adam! Loving this series. It’s nice to see how you plan, where you struggle, rank exercises - I recognise myself in all of that! I also dig the subdivision exercises. For rudiments on your feet, I have done some of that. I’ll save my comments for the next video.
Appreciate you saying all that Jonas! Super helpful feedback. And I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on foot rudiments in episode 3. More to come! ;)
Something I’ve been playing with lately that just kinda feels cool is inverted double strokes starting with the Single in the right foot using eighth notes. Quarters on the hat. Snare on 2 and 4. Then doing all the same but with snare on 3. That throws the snare hits on the second 8th note of the right foot. So going to half time at some point to get used to the whole coordination thing. But that subdivision pyramid is the way to go man. 16th note triplets with snare on 3 is a good one to do often. To me it just became a “feel thing”. Once I can just feel it, I can go faster! Lol. Fast fast fast!!! Thank you for this content. You’re such a killer drummer. So to see that even Adam struggles with some things is reassuring. Although I’m sure you’ll be flying in no time.
Nice videos Adam! I was having the same problem! You're getting better! 👌🔥
Hey Adam! Love this new series of videos you’re putting out! One thing you can try to make sure you can do doubles with your right foot again, is to adjust the beater height and basically make it higher, it makes a significant difference to the overall control you have over the pedals.
Excellent Adam 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
I am really loving and appreciating these videos, especially since I’m currently working really hard to improve my double bass as well. I’ve incorporated some of these exercises too, especially the subdivision exercise as I feel it does help me see the most progress specifically in seeing my weak foot gain more control. It’s nice not to feel alone in the struggle 😂 I’m also from the Orlando area too, would be awesome to run into you sometime! Thanks for the inspiring video!!
I think the rebound of the head is a symphtom of loose spring tention. A lot of people (old me included) think that looser is faster but it just makes the pedal unresponsive.
Man you got better quickly.
For me watching ,
it took you 15m to get pretty good at it .
Don't stop !
So i have been following the drum technique academy for a while. I have learned the ankle technique for speeds over 175-ish. I think the change in my "stomping technique" has been the best thing for my double kick playing. Now I am no David Diepold but I can wish :)
Honestly, the most important thing that increase my double bass progression was my drum throne, it became far beter as soon my drum throne was super steady. For the chain drive feeling on direct drive, i set up the top of the direct drive cam at 90 degree when the beater is hiting the drum head, it give the feeling of control like chain drive.
Love these videos, Adam. I was fortunate enough to go from some $70 single chain drive double pedals many years ago to some DW 9000s on a deep discount. As you're discovering, a lot of the direct drive things are made for speed more than power and bounce back. I've tried some different direct drive pedals and found I felt the same way that you did: they're SO precise, but they're lacking feel. Something about chain drive just hits for me. That being said, I definitely love and respect the players who get these pedals for this purpose. The build quality is incredible.
I also do the mimicry exercise as well as laugh when I mess it up "stupid" 😂😂😂😂
I feel your pain (but also your determination)
Great series! One aspect I had no idea affected my db playing was having a free rotating drum seat. A metal guy I did a gig with years ago said your core muscles will be constantly trying to balance your torso while your legs are moving. Bought an ahead seat to replace my rocnsoc hydraulic and the difference was staggering. It's so much easier to control my playing, especially at high bpms. My back feels way better also from the tension reduction.
Interesting point! I definitely do have a free-rotating throne, but I could imagine a fixed one being problematic; especially when switching from hi hat pedal to the kick pedal.
I got a Roc N Soc for my 16th birthday, and used it for 15+ years before the hydraulics died. Spent thousands of hours on that thing. Still hoping to get it fixed one day! Killer thrones from a solid company.
pedal alignment, with regards to the drive shaft, impacts the left pedal swing/feel. So i always liked keeping em parallel for this specifically.
Great idea doing this series! One thing I want to add to your point about gear, is that a double pedal is the only piece of gear (in my opinion) that actually DOES effect your ability to play things. You won't realize this, since you are starting off with a very good pedal, but the cheaper double pedals can limit how fast you can play. For the majority of people, it won't matter, but when you get really fast, the lower end pedals will only allow you to achieve 90-95% of what you are capable of on a better pedal.
That is totally fair! I have had former students complain about kick problems, only to find out they had a busted pedal with horrible settings. As you said, it’s one of the few pieces of gear that can actually cause playing problems. In my case, I just feel like I’m trying to fine tune a Ferrari. Lol. She drives fine, but she’s very picky.
Very helpful. Thank you.
This is a fun series.
This is so amazing, Adam! It's super interesting to me, as I've been an extreme metal drummer for most of my playing journey and only just recently (couple of years ago) I subscribed to your platform, as I was interested in learning more about linear drumming - so it's kinda fun to watch you doing something that resembles a bit like the opposite path (even tho I know your goal is probably not to learn blast beats and things like that 😅). Just quickly looking at that pedal setup out of the box, with the spring tension so high and the beater angle so close to the bass drum head, I'd say it was probably because they had in mind people playing a more extreme kind of music, as those settings help a lot when going over 200+ bpm (altho by contrast, you have to give up on control because of it)! Can't wait for the next videos!
my trainings routine as a metal drummer is 8th notes both feet 2min 8th notes right foot 2min 8th nothes left foot 2min triplets both feet 2 min and 16th notes both feet 2 min. For you I recommend starting this at a slower tempo like 100 and after 1 round you get 10 bpm higher until 150-160. This helps me with stamina on each foot and keeping my timing. I love seeing you trying a double pedal and I wish you great practicing seassions with it.
I agree that rudiments on the feet will not yield the same results and with the hands. The feet and hands play different roles/rolls. That said I found that paradiddles and hertas provide major benefits for double bass speed and stability. Being able to lead with the left or right foot in double bass patterns opens many doors to creativity. Btw killer wood grain on your pearls.
All fair points! And thank you for the kind words. My full argument / explanation is in the next episode; I’d be very curious to hear your thoughts in it!
@@AdamTuminaro looking forward to it.
The same deeds but with favourite drumless tracks. About heavy beater 100% true.
Also, one exercise that’s helping me with my speed is go between both feet with the up and down beat with 3’s helped my diddles a lot on my left foot.
Kollias helped design those pedals with Pearl and I believe they were made like that to suit metal bass drum ankle technique players who are after crazy speed
Great video Adam! One thing you did here that I really enjoyed and thought was unique, was when you showcased the settings of your older pedal and spoke briefly on what you liked about them.
Those things sadly don't get talked alot on here. For example, how your beater is set way further back just like mines and why. Almost all information you find says set them to 45 degrees or something similar to that which I have never liked in terms of feel.
Appreciate the feedback my man! Very nice to know that kind of information is useful. I worry that the intricate pedal details are too boring for UA-cam, but I should have know that there's no shortage of gear nerds in drum world. Lol. Glad you're here my friend! Hopefully many more pedal settings / solutions coming in future episodes.
Alast thing.... rudiments on the feet.... and then unison them. 🖤⚡️🖤
Really like this series! How you lay the videos out in a progression, rather than a summation, of your experience is really interesting and it's very relatable.
At 8:59 you mentioned the pedals getting extremely heavy after changing some settings, I have an idea about what's affecting you. Direct drive pedals have more complicated leverage physics that cause their perceived 'weight' to change depending on how far through the stroke you are. Simply put, when the beaters are further back the pedal will feel heavier. You mentioned the beater angle of your old pedal in the previous clip, but it wasn't clear to me if that change had been brought forward or not--if so it's likely that the larger angle accentuated the 'non-linear' stroke that direct drives have and made them feel ridiculously heavy. This property applies in the other direction as well, feeling extremely light and responsive with shorter/faster strokes, hence their popularity in metal
Appreciate the kind words on the format! Definitely something I put some thought into before starting the series.
And the points you've made are totally valid. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to either raise the beaters, or bring their sitting position back towards the shin to achieve a heavier feel. My instinct for added weight was to... just add weight. Lol, but it definitely did not solve the problem in the way I had hoped.
Plenty more pedal adjustments coming in EP3!
So i am by far not a professional drummer, i did some gig work post high school and military career, but nothing i would equate to your resume (which is quite impressive i may add) that said what helped me learn double bass in my youth was what you were talking about towards the end about repeating patterns on the left foot that you do normally on the right. So i would play songs like 'Ocean Avenue' by yellow card simply with my left foot, oor id alternate during the verses (verse 1 right foot, verse 2 left) or playing like Blink 182 "Damnit' Purely on my left foot. It was an insane workout, one that i can no longer do with injuries away from drumming but it did help.
try putting the beaters all the way up. It might hit above your bass drum patch though
For sure plan on trying this. I realized while editing this video that that would have made a lot of sense to try. Directly impacts the beater's leverage / swing, and takes just a few seconds to try. Will update in future episodes!
Aric Improta’s playthrough of “Arrival” has super tasty single pedal doubles as well as insane double kick work near the end. I’d be curious to see how he sets up his pedals to achieve both, but id bet it’s the 8 million hours of practice a week that really does it
The beater choice plays a role too.
Concerning the topic "Kick Rebound", especially in the Context of faster tempos/ Extreme Metal:
The important thing is just getting the beater as fast as possible back into a position where it makes sense to do another hit.
The factor of B-Drum Head Tension has a little impact on that, but the most important thing for a fast, responsive pedal is obviously Spring Tension.
Playing faster stuff using ankle technique or swivel won't work with a loose spring tension (at least not as good) because you would interrupt the beater swing in its motion, you obv wouldn't get a full stroke out of it, and it feels bad as well.
Broken down, it's basically physics 101, to be honest xD
That all makes perfect sense. I do need to remind myself that this is an "extreme metal" pedal, designed to do things that I absolutely cannot play at this point. In some ways, I know I'm trying to make a Ferrari act like a Toyota. We'll see what I can come up with this week, but the insights are always helpful! Glad you're here man. =)
@@AdamTuminaro it doesn't really have to do much with the pedal actually, there's this guy, James Payne, who played over ten years with Iron Cobra 600s until he switched to DynaSyncs (Tamas first Direct Drive Pedal) in 2020. And this dude totally rips, he played up to 270 on those Iron Cobras, so, again, it's less the pedal itself that matters.
As I mentioned in last vid when you first got the Demons, going from a chain drive to a direct drive is a big difference. You pretty much have to relearn bassdrum play. Now from my observations on this vid I noticed your right foot you play heel up and your left foot most heel down. That will cause muscle fatigue in the legs due to differences in technique. Mimick what you do on right, it being your dominant, to your left. And use more ankle and less leg. Also experiment on the foot board different spots.... for example further up the board is where your power for normal beats but as you go further down the board the faster the response will be for double bass. And that one sweet spot towards the bottom where the arch of you foot is directly over the hinge makes it possible for the heel/toe technique, which makes some awesome doubles and triplets accents. As for practicing or play along as I call it the drummer of Disturbed does a lot of alternating bass drum playing that's actually simple and for a good work out play along with Lamb of Gob for same technique but more intense...... good luck and happy drumming 🥁 🤘😎🤘
Disturbed is actually a GREAT suggestion to get some simple exercises. Heard a song of theirs on Rock Radio the other day, and there was definitely some very simple double bass parts I thought I could play. 14 year old me will also be very pleased. Down With The Sickness changed my life when it came out. Haha. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
@@AdamTuminaro always glad to help out a drummer who's wanting to push the boundaries and take it to the next level. Good luck 😉👍🥁
Maybe try both the swivel technique and the heel toe technique and see which one allows you to play longer and faster with less effort. The band Disturbed uses a lot of double bass, but not at high speeds, their drummer plays patterns that would be much harder to play with a single pedal.
I'm currently on the same journey as I'm resting up my right arm from post-surgery due to nerve impingement, focusing on double bass. Getting over that hi-hat technique and the occasional extra strokes that come in is suuuuuch a pain after 20 years of hi-hat technique haha.
Yeaappp. Going to war with decades old LF hi hat techniques is unbelievably hard. Glad you're here my friend!
As someone who plays double bass for 20 years and only recently i got good at it, all i have to say is use the same teqnique for everything, slow fast, double, single and that would be ankle teqnique. Even George Kollias went to this after a lifetime of swivel. For even faster learn heel toe which is actually a faster process than learning single strokes. Also have energy economy in mind. And lastly prefer to get used to continuous strokes at slower tempos than small bursts at higher ones 😅
Awesome video, really enjoying this series. Just picked up a secind hand DW9000 double pedal yesterday and damn this is challenging 😂 looking forward to learning from this series
Good timing! Lol. Glad you're here and the kind words are much appreciated!
I am nowhere remotely close to you, but I do have a suggestion. Before trying all kinds of double pedal stuff, try all the stuff you normally do with you right foot (grooves, beats, fills, doubles etc,..) only using your left foot on bass drum. Do this playing hats, x hats, cymbals and drums. Play all bass drum parts only left footed. After a couple days of this your left foot and ankle will feel more like your right one, making double bass playing start to feel more even. I've never done this longer than 15 minutes but noticed a difference. I'm too stupid, old and lazy to listen to my own advice, but a talent like you will kill it........try it.
love u dude, thx so mucho
"Chill out dad, Keep that blood pressure in check" lmao
Damn gatekeepers. Drummers are wierd.
Really awesome to see your development. ❤🤘🤘
Lolol glad to see you here Aaron!
Love this series.. more drummers should do this as well - getting out of their comfort zone... a dB drummer try single foot and jazz style maybe (as an example) ---- and on the rudiments, it's probably best to keep it simple and maybe just doubles or a paradiddle on the feet so you get comfortable between singles and doubles... and hertas MAYBE... haha
I noticed you pushing the beater to your drumhead after ever hit. With direct drive pedals, especially this pedal with its extreme springs, you need so much energy to push the beater to the head compares to chain driven pedals. Try leaving a little space between the beater heads and the drumhead, it may become a little easier 😊
Unfortunately my "undo 20 years of burying the beater" button is broken. Lol. But you're absolutely correct. I'm not sure that's a habit I can realistically break anytime soon, but I'll certainly keep it in mind. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
Damn. Thought I was helpful with the rudiments on the feet idea 🙂 But your idea is similar - in that, what you do with one foot, practicing at doing it again with the other.
Once again, looking forward to what comes next!
Tell me your favorite double bass drummers! I’ve always had Eloy Casagrande high on my list. His blend of power AND finesse is an insanely rare combo. He’s like a pit-bull who learned ballet, and i absolutely love it. 🐶💃🏼
Give me some legends to check out this week! 👇🏼
Try positioning the weights at varying heights on the beater, it will adjust the resistance you feel in the swing - hopefully reducing your lactic acid build up 😅
@@LDtreebeard Love that drummer, he shreds.
@@AdamTuminaro haha. The first time I ever comment on any UA-cam video was bound to be doomed.
Adam Gray - Texas in July, to answer your question - the fella is tasteful and his double pedal licks are musical
@@LDtreebeard lol, appreciate it my man!
Here’s something to think about feel wise… 1 is a chain driven, the other is direct drive which gives a much different feel/response.
Evans EQ3 in conjunction with an Aquarian Super Kick II. Danmar Power Disc impact and hard beater with finger tight tuning and you will have your best bass tone for progressive rock or metal 🤘
favourite foot warm up one bar 8th notes with the right foot one bar 8th notes with the left two bars 16ths with both
Video 6 will be the release of the Orlando Drummer signature double kick pedal. lol. That’s how good this dude is.
Try putting your heel down and making the strokes with your heel (for awhile, not permanently). It'll make your left and right sound more even and have the same power. Your left foot isn't use to the e / uhs because you've kept time with it for so long on 1 / And etc but the heel down part on your left might feel more natural because of it. Normally you put a lot of weight on your left leg to maintain balance but when both your feet are up in the air it's awkward if you're not use to it. Sitting further back on your throne might help, too.
The issue with your swivel foot scuff doubles is in the positioning of the beater. You need to tweak the pedal a bit and make the pedal work for you. Once you get it tweaked in it will become an extension of your body
That "extension of my body" feeling is the one I'm chasing obviously. But it's so hard to articulate *exactly* what creates that feeling in any given pedal. Going much further down the pedal wormhole than I anticipated, but we'll get there! Many more settings (and hopefully solutions) coming in future episodes. Thanks for watching Brandon!
It’s crazy to watch Adam sound anything less than the polished tasteful player that he is. Takes a lot of balls to document this and put out there in UA-cam. I applaud you sir.
I have been playing a lot of congas with pedals lately. I will say, acclimating my doubles has SUPER stabilized what I am feeling when I come back to a kick drum. Here's my theory-
When you were talking about the rebound, I am kinda with you, but there's a little more to it in my mind. There's the speed of response from the standpoint of audio feedback. And a high pitched, twangy cowbell was telling me IMMEDIATELY how lumpy my doubles could get. I think when the kick drum is in the middle of all of your other time playing stuff with your hands, our feetback and attenuation to the dynamic of the pedal is really dull by comparison. We kinda just sense it more than actively hear it on top of everything.
After a couple of years of doubles and clave, my bass drum articulation is as good as it's been in my entire playing life. Samba patterns are a whole new vibe, and I can really feel my body responding to playing that kind of pattern at different tempos.
Just some food for thought- happy playing, y'all
Something that could be worth trying instead of the beater weight would be increasing the beater angle and/or increasing the spring tension. That should do a similar thing to the weight as it will return the beater faster as there will be more tension, but it won't increase the weight of the beater so the pedals will still feel light.
All addressed in this video. Springs at 6:50 and beater angle at 7:15. Many more experiments in the works. =)
@@AdamTuminaro yup! You made sure they were the same, but it wasn't clear if they were increased (both springs and angle). Either way, looking forward to the next episode!
would try to put the beater further out to get the desired throwback instead of the weights right away
I'll admit that I haven't practiced double bass, but intuitively I feel like practicing rudiments with your feet would be useful for developing dexterity and muscle memory. There probably aren't many practical applications, but maybe rudiments are useful as an isolated exercise. Not sure. I could be way off. Interested in hearing your arguments in the next one
The old saying goes "a bad workman blames his tools"... But the reality is, even though that is true, its also true that a GOOD workman knows when his tools are to blame.
Very last thing bro.... think about this as well your left foots muscles groupings are also trained for hi-hat work solely so theres a curve there as well. It helped me to not feel so frustrated as to why my left foot wont work as easily as my right foot does.
I also suggested the rudiment thing before you stated it in the video 😂😂😂😂 in truth in only practice paradiddles with my feet ❤
🖤⚡️🖤
dude double bass is tough! and getting good at it requires a lot of patience and boring click track 16th notes practice haha. and trying to get blast beats down is even moooore boring, but once youre able to do it instictively and clean its soooo rewarding!
Recently switch from chain drive to direct drive (Tama IC to Dyna Sync) and experiment the same as you describe! Its harder to acheive clean double strokes on the direct drive… but I feel I have more control with it on other paterns… but would get exauhsted quickly on the dynasync… still gonna play with setting and will probably try trick beaters… thx for this video! Cheers
The struggle is real. Sending some *patient* vibes your way from Florida!
Thx man! Same from New Brunswick Canada!
Just wondering, did you try the moving the weights lower on the beater? I've also played around with the weight position & spring tension relation to fine tune it more. Don't know if that will get the balance you're looking for for the single kick stuff, but it's an area to explore. One thing that I did that changed the feel was lowering the beaters by 3/4" from where I usually would run them, just like a shorter stick feels a little more "snappy" than a really long stick, the same theory can be applied to the beaters. Love this series - keep up the great work!
Not a bad suggestion! I'll give it a shot this week; it would very likely give me some control over the heavy feeling of the weights. Appreciate the kind words!
This video is like a landmark to me .. cuz i also use a redline eliminator (red cam) and i also use single pedal. I also wanna learn double bass too ❤
Weird flex to put Lang down. Dude's over there writing the book 4 limb independence and making the most interesting music I've heard in a long time!
I certainly didn’t put down anyone. I made a jab at a small group of fans who like to cite Lang, while giving unsolicited advice that I highly doubt they’ve personally explored.
Thomas Lang is an incredible player; better than me in almost every measurable category. I’ve heard he’s incredibly kind as well.
However, I don’t aspire to any playing goals that would align with his methods.
No different than a high level Afro-Cuban jazz drummer. They might be incredibly skilled, but they aren’t playing anything I’d like to replicate.
And for that reason, I’m entitled to critique their practice methods, and bring into question the relevance of their ideals for my personal playing.
Here's a question for a beginner drummer. My Tama kit came with their cheapest kick pedal. I was thinking about upgrading to something better. Am I just wasting money or should I get a quality pedal that I'll be using for many many years?
The only “rudiment” that is possibly beneficial would be doubles, and I ain’t got the patience for that lol. Those are the heel toe guys. James Cassells from Asking Alexandria does it flawlessly, with insane speed.
you also have to experiment with the placement of your feet on the boards. remember that: the faster you go the lower on the boards you need to be. it will also give back some rebound feeling as your foot isn't resting on the board. therefore, the pedal can move freely and you just have to focus on the input. give a look at David Diepold technique. he barely moves his feet. he just taps the bottom of the boards and they do their job. he has the single foot speed of a demon. imagine with 2. he does really nice videos that you can exploit to learn more. cheers
This a great series. I'm glad you're showing people that you can have one the best double bass pedals on the market and it still doesn't make you great! Instantly anyway! As for the rudiment on the feet thing? I can see a benefit with it for helping with your independence. such as playing a groove over paradiddles on your feet. In a context of actual playing, no. Soloing? Sure! But as someone mentioned about Thomas Lang.... He's just insane! But even when he plays rudiments on the bass drum and he says to play dynamically, I don't really hear much of a difference? It's a bass drum, just kick the crap out of it!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Cool videos! How are you finding the new pedals when playing without shoes?
I’ve had double kick pedals for a long time, but am only more recently trying to use them properly. Due to noise, I usually play on mesh pad edrums (kick is also a mesh pad) and I have the Pearl Eliminator double pedal. I’ve always played without shoes with a lot of “heel down”.
I’ve been thinking about trying a direct drive pedal, but most don’t look comfortable unless you wear shoes, or play exclusively “heel up”. I’m curious to hear what you think of these pedals in terms of footwear requirements and heel up/down changes you’ve had to make.
So I exclusively play heel up. Heel down feels awful for me; no power, and weird on my ankle because I sit very high; typically leaning into the pedals, like a tripod between feet and throne. If the balls of my feet aren't pushing down, I feel unstable. But truthfully, my left foot is so "dumb" on a kick pedal that I don't think footwear matters. My right foot can handle almost any type of shoe without issue, though my preference is usually barefoot. I'll have to pay attention in future practice sessions, but my initial impression is that it's just too early to matter. Thanks for sharing your thoughts my friend!
Pretty sure those pedals were supposed to come with lighter springs to change out.
Gene Hoglan likes to use leg weights to train for endurance. Just a thought.
“I have other things to work on, but now this shit takes up an hour of practice 😂”
“My single pedal stuff now feels weird”
“Pedal feels weird”
Yup, yup, yup.
I’m working on the Dave Elitch style full leg singles to start off at slower speeds, just to dial in that starting motion. Then as I go faster I’m trying to find that muscular switch, that biting point.
Also I’ve gone back to my regular Iron Cobras and abandoned my expensive Tama longboards. I think there’s something to be said for the feel of a sort of traditional pedal.
The main thing is: don’t do it every day, and lose it FAST.
Godspeed.
LOL. Appreciate it brother! Part of me does wish I had opted for a high end chain pedal, but I'm here for the Direct Drive challenge. We'll get sorted out soon enough!