@Stephen Clark, I've been watching and learning from your content for a couple years now and I can say, of the hundreds of drum content creators out there, your channel is definitely WAY up there in terms of putting content out there that is so useful for the drumming community. That being said, can I offer some constructive feedback? I'm pretty sure that I'm not alone in feeling like your videos would be EVEN better if they were condensed significantly (without losing the core ideas behind the videos). So for instance, this video could easily be a 3-5 min digestible video, but like many of your videos, they are closer to 20 min and I find myself constantly scrubbing the video for the core instruction I'm looking for. Once again, totally appreciative of the content you put out there and will continue to support the channel regardless, but thought I'd throw that out there for your consideration. God bless you and Merry Christmas!
@@CleanRoll Adjust the length of the beater, or get a lighter beater (shorter arm, quicker, less power and the other way around), tighten the spring (again tighter can be quicker but less hard hits) so its not too loose and adjust the angle to ~45°.
You covered a lot of this in the ghost note video, which helped me a lot. I didn't have enough spring tention, and now can also play faster. On the other hand I get tired faster which is just needing more play time.
Other parameters in the play of course the bass drum head tuning and the angle to which the beater hits the head which can be adjusted by playing with the the bass drum legs lenght.
@@kimseniorb if you have a good pedal, with rounded rubber contact points on the clamp, or something like the sonor docking station there is plenty of adjustment here that will not stress the rim.
@@kimseniorb Wooden hoops (rims) have enough flex to allow a bit of angle increase...metal "scooped" rims often need a spacer (bar coasters work well in a pinch), so the spacer can also compensate for the angle mismatch (rolled up coaster, or broken drumstick....I've done both) and neither of these "fixes" have damaged my hoop. If the hoop can be seen to flex, out of shape, back off the leg height a bit. The real issue is beater to head contact area vs impact force per area unit of beater contact.
As a guitar guy that has drums in his studio, and has had a couple of drummers mention that the bass pedal was loose feeling (?) or worn (newish?), this is what I needed to check things out. Thanks Stephen.
I realized that I could adjust tha tension on tha spring on tha bass drum pedal a couple of weeks ago and it made it A Lot easier for me to play tha bass drum, and it also improved my playing technique. What I learned is that that thing needs to be set to one’s own individual foot strength or it will exhaust one and make it much harder to play and feeling good while playing. Btw, yu bring up really good topics abt playing a drum set in yur lessons.. I’ve only played a drum set “consistently” for a little bit over a year now and Ive ran into all of tha problems yu talked abt lately regarding setting up tha kit and ergonomics. Btw, I’ve also set adjusted tha lean angle of my hihat foot pedal so that it matches tha angle 📐 on tha bass drum pedal.. that also helped me a lot with ergonomics and my hihat foot pedal technique. Tha most important thing for me is ergonomics, if tha kit doesn’t feel comfortable ergonomically then I don’t even wanna look at tha kit no matter how cheap or expensive it is.
I realized that I could adjust tha tension on tha spring on tha bass drum pedal a couple of weeks ago and it made it A Lot easier for me to play tha bass drum, and it also improved my playing technique. What I learned is that that thing needs to be set to one’s own individual foot strength or it will exhaust one and make it much harder to play and feeling good while playing. Btw, yu bring up really good topics abt playing a drum set in yur lessons.. I’ve only played a drum set “consistently” for a little bit over a year now and Ive ran into all of tha problems yu talked abt lately regarding setting up tha kit and ergonomics. Btw, I’ve also set adjusted tha lean angle of my hihat foot pedal so that it matches tha angle 📐 on tha bass drum pedal.. that also helped me a lot with ergonomics and my hihat foot pedal technique.
Stephen, one thing I've never heard comments about from anyone is the chain-length sliding adjustment that changes the height and angle of the foot pedal itself without affecting the beater angle. I initially had mine on the factory settings and when I shortened the length it sped up my pedal and made doubles easier. It makes an enormous difference! (It also made the spring tension feel tighter.) What are your thoughts about the angle and height of the pedal itself?
When I got my current pedal, I set the spring tension at the lowest and only increased it when I noticed the floorboard couldn't keep up with my foot movement. I only increase the tension to the point where there's constant contact between foot and board again and keep practicing until I get faster and need to increase it a tad again. I can do 8th notes at 200 bpm with low-mid tension without any issue. All this to say don't rush it and crank the tension up the whole way right away,
I looked up the harmonic oscillation of mass on a spring (which I think is applicable here, although with the beater on a rotating cam, the effective mass would be different). f = (1 / 2 pi) / sqrt( k / m )) where f is frequency of oscillation, k is the spring constant of the given spring, and m is the mass on the end of the spring. So it would be expected a heavier beater would give faster oscillation. I've been trying to figure out why I keep switching between a standard type pedal (iron cobra 600) and my speed king and why they behave so differently. Another factor not in that formula is the damping on the spring motion. A speed king is more damped (doesn't oscillate as long) probably because of the grease in the posts. I think there's a trade-off with damping. A pedal that oscillates intensely at a given frequency would be easier to play at tempos in phase with the oscillation, but some tempos you would be fighting that oscillation. A more damped spring would have less of that effect and might be easier to play at a wider set of tempos. Just my working theory at the moment.
smart guy, cool guy, we need 1m subs. what would you recommend for an ekit kick pad where you have a very limited batter radius as far as adjusting beater height?
I'm curious; I noticed you had tape on the chain of your demonstration pedal. I often feel like the chain is lagging behind the footboard; like the footboard is gliding upward faster than the chain. Is that on there to add rigidity to the chain or some pinch protection for shoeless playing? I removed a couple of links but it still feels a little inconsistent when playing faster. Tama SpeedCobra 310
I think its to stop the chan cutting through the toe of his slippers. The chain has to pull your foot pedal up , you must be causing some kinda slap.bounce with he technique you are using to unsettle the chain. This is why some people prefer a direct drive (basically a solid chain)
@ignaciovalenzuela4892 I did both of those things and it is a bit better indeed. None the less, quick kicks as part of triplets are tough to do no matter what pedal I have used
I had to redo the tension on the cross rod holding the kick mallet. After time adjusting..it had tightened up the screw holding the spring pin..try that.
Not sure if Jo Jo has a video or not, but I learned the 'no spring' on kick pedal from Mike Packer. "Bass Drum Technique lesson 1 The Toe Stroke" ua-cam.com/video/dPQqqf_-BSg/v-deo.html He has a 3 part videos on kick drums.
center isnt particularly the most desirable, Sound can be different in the center from off center and you might prefer either. I just set up my pedal to the setting I like and if that does not hit in the center I'm fine with that.
@Stephen Clark, I've been watching and learning from your content for a couple years now and I can say, of the hundreds of drum content creators out there, your channel is definitely WAY up there in terms of putting content out there that is so useful for the drumming community. That being said, can I offer some constructive feedback? I'm pretty sure that I'm not alone in feeling like your videos would be EVEN better if they were condensed significantly (without losing the core ideas behind the videos). So for instance, this video could easily be a 3-5 min digestible video, but like many of your videos, they are closer to 20 min and I find myself constantly scrubbing the video for the core instruction I'm looking for. Once again, totally appreciative of the content you put out there and will continue to support the channel regardless, but thought I'd throw that out there for your consideration. God bless you and Merry Christmas!
does he ever tell what the adjustments are? I'm guessing it's move the beater back?
@@CleanRoll Adjust the length of the beater, or get a lighter beater (shorter arm, quicker, less power and the other way around), tighten the spring (again tighter can be quicker but less hard hits) so its not too loose and adjust the angle to ~45°.
You covered a lot of this in the ghost note video, which helped me a lot. I didn't have enough spring tention, and now can also play faster. On the other hand I get tired faster which is just needing more play time.
Other parameters in the play of course the bass drum head tuning and the angle to which the beater hits the head which can be adjusted by playing with the the bass drum legs lenght.
this would destroy the rim
@@kimseniorb if you have a good pedal, with rounded rubber contact points on the clamp, or something like the sonor docking station there is plenty of adjustment here that will not stress the rim.
@@kimseniorb Wooden hoops (rims) have enough flex to allow a bit of angle increase...metal "scooped" rims often need a spacer (bar coasters work well in a pinch), so the spacer can also compensate for the angle mismatch (rolled up coaster, or broken drumstick....I've done both) and neither of these "fixes" have damaged my hoop. If the hoop can be seen to flex, out of shape, back off the leg height a bit. The real issue is beater to head contact area vs impact force per area unit of beater contact.
Your video was first to pop up.
Thank You. Helped with landing those triplets.
As a guitar guy that has drums in his studio, and has had a couple of drummers mention that the bass pedal was loose feeling (?) or worn (newish?), this is what I needed to check things out. Thanks Stephen.
Those couple of drummer need to watch this video too, as they just blamed your pedal instead of adjusting it to their liking.
Top notch content!
I realized that I could adjust tha tension on tha spring on tha bass drum pedal a couple of weeks ago and it made it A Lot easier for me to play tha bass drum, and it also improved my playing technique. What I learned is that that thing needs to be set to one’s own individual foot strength or it will exhaust one and make it much harder to play and feeling good while playing. Btw, yu bring up really good topics abt playing a drum set in yur lessons.. I’ve only played a drum set “consistently” for a little bit over a year now and Ive ran into all of tha problems yu talked abt lately regarding setting up tha kit and ergonomics. Btw, I’ve also set adjusted tha lean angle of my hihat foot pedal so that it matches tha angle 📐 on tha bass drum pedal.. that also helped me a lot with ergonomics and my hihat foot pedal technique. Tha most important thing for me is ergonomics, if tha kit doesn’t feel comfortable ergonomically then I don’t even wanna look at tha kit no matter how cheap or expensive it is.
I realized that I could adjust tha tension on tha spring on tha bass drum pedal a couple of weeks ago and it made it A Lot easier for me to play tha bass drum, and it also improved my playing technique. What I learned is that that thing needs to be set to one’s own individual foot strength or it will exhaust one and make it much harder to play and feeling good while playing. Btw, yu bring up really good topics abt playing a drum set in yur lessons.. I’ve only played a drum set “consistently” for a little bit over a year now and Ive ran into all of tha problems yu talked abt lately regarding setting up tha kit and ergonomics. Btw, I’ve also set adjusted tha lean angle of my hihat foot pedal so that it matches tha angle 📐 on tha bass drum pedal.. that also helped me a lot with ergonomics and my hihat foot pedal technique.
thanks stephen very good lesson
Thank you for this lesson. I'm facing that problem
I been using a Ludwig speed king lately I like that it’s as fast as you play it
Stephen, one thing I've never heard comments about from anyone is the chain-length sliding adjustment that changes the height and angle of the foot pedal itself without affecting the beater angle. I initially had mine on the factory settings and when I shortened the length it sped up my pedal and made doubles easier. It makes an enormous difference! (It also made the spring tension feel tighter.) What are your thoughts about the angle and height of the pedal itself?
When I got my current pedal, I set the spring tension at the lowest and only increased it when I noticed the floorboard couldn't keep up with my foot movement. I only increase the tension to the point where there's constant contact between foot and board again and keep practicing until I get faster and need to increase it a tad again. I can do 8th notes at 200 bpm with low-mid tension without any issue. All this to say don't rush it and crank the tension up the whole way right away,
I've seen Dennis Chambers talk about practicing with no spring
I looked up the harmonic oscillation of mass on a spring (which I think is applicable here, although with the beater on a rotating cam, the effective mass would be different). f = (1 / 2 pi) / sqrt( k / m )) where f is frequency of oscillation, k is the spring constant of the given spring, and m is the mass on the end of the spring. So it would be expected a heavier beater would give faster oscillation. I've been trying to figure out why I keep switching between a standard type pedal (iron cobra 600) and my speed king and why they behave so differently. Another factor not in that formula is the damping on the spring motion. A speed king is more damped (doesn't oscillate as long) probably because of the grease in the posts. I think there's a trade-off with damping. A pedal that oscillates intensely at a given frequency would be easier to play at tempos in phase with the oscillation, but some tempos you would be fighting that oscillation. A more damped spring would have less of that effect and might be easier to play at a wider set of tempos. Just my working theory at the moment.
What is that lighter beater you showed in the video?
Is speed affected by how tight the bass drum skin is? What's the best place to oil the pedal? Thanks!
smart guy, cool guy, we need 1m subs. what would you recommend for an ekit kick pad where you have a very limited batter radius as far as adjusting beater height?
I'm curious;
I noticed you had tape on the chain of your demonstration pedal. I often feel like the chain is lagging behind the footboard; like the footboard is gliding upward faster than the chain. Is that on there to add rigidity to the chain or some pinch protection for shoeless playing?
I removed a couple of links but it still feels a little inconsistent when playing faster. Tama SpeedCobra 310
I think its to stop the chan cutting through the toe of his slippers. The chain has to pull your foot pedal up , you must be causing some kinda slap.bounce with he technique you are using to unsettle the chain. This is why some people prefer a direct drive (basically a solid chain)
i know pat torpy showed that taking off the spring thing.
My 1975 Rogers pedal is turtle slow. Now I have a good excuse for my average playing 😖
After 4 beats my pedal stops. How do I fix that. It's as if it is wound too tight. I suppose I have to loosen the spring, correct?
yeah try loosening the spring and also watch the angle of the beater
@ignaciovalenzuela4892 I did both of those things and it is a bit better indeed. None the less, quick kicks as part of triplets are tough to do no matter what pedal I have used
Same here @@markravitz1684
@@markravitz1684 sounds like its all word out in the bearing area, or is it so cheap it has no bearings?
I had to redo the tension on the cross rod holding the kick mallet. After time adjusting..it had tightened up the screw holding the spring pin..try that.
🤘
🤘🤘🤘🤘
Not sure if Jo Jo has a video or not, but I learned the 'no spring' on kick pedal from Mike Packer. "Bass Drum Technique lesson 1 The Toe Stroke" ua-cam.com/video/dPQqqf_-BSg/v-deo.html
He has a 3 part videos on kick drums.
NO, NO NO..........
REBOUND, NOT spring tension gives speed.
Stop giving incorrect info....
dropping the beater does that effect the strike as center is most desirable correct?
That's the drawback of that particular solution. Every solution has a drawback, as he said in the video.
center isnt particularly the most desirable, Sound can be different in the center from off center and you might prefer either. I just set up my pedal to the setting I like and if that does not hit in the center I'm fine with that.
@@krusher74 And if you play with a double pedal, like me, either both or one of the beaters is going to be off center anyway.