Let's Talk Problems | EP1 | Pro Drummer Learns Double Bass
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- Опубліковано 29 лис 2024
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Love this video concept! Even as teachers we still have things to learn. I think it's great that we let our students know we have to battle playing problems also, and show them how we need to deal with them.
Absolutely!! Thanks Kirk 🙏🏼💜
I wanted to point out the same. I know I can perform better than him on double bass pedal, but does it make me a better drummer? I don't think so. :) Carry on Adam!
Learning double bass is a hell of an uphill battle. I've always suggested going back and forth from 8th notes to 16th notes at low tempo's to start to my students, so for example 2 bars of your right leg doing 8th notes, then 2 bars on left, then combine them for 16ths for 2 too 4 bars depending on your comfort level.
I think that's what I did when I started learning because even though the two foot coordination wasn't too bad, I didn't have much power in my left foot at first so it didn't sound even.
Same...
I taught my self drums. It was easier to play fast double bass at first. When I mastered that, It took a while to play slow double bass. But eventually I got it.
@@stephenkiszenia79 I felt the same way. Similar to riding a bike where you have to pedal at a minimum speed to stay up and the fast rhythm just flows easier between the feet. I found the tempo/pattern of Hard to See by Five Finger Death Punch to be a nice middle speed to start.
Learning double bass frustrated the heck out of me. I honestly thought I just didn't have the coordination.
I promised myself I would practice for at least 5 minutes a day. If after 5 minutes I was really frustrated, I stopped.
What happened was 98% of the time, I wanted to continue. Within a few weeks I was blown away about how far I progressed.
My thought was who doesn't have a least 5 minutes a day, and could honour that commitment. Again, 98% of the time it turned into a longer satisfying experience, and I saw great improvement in a short period of time.
Good luck drummer brothers and sisters! 😊
Adam, thank you so much to be humble enough to show us that even professionals run into problems. I have been playing with a double base pedal, but most of what I do with the double, I can do with a single. I guess that doesn’t make me a true double bass player, but I’m not giving up.
Thank you again for this wonderful post. I am excited to see step 2.
Not an idiot at all, dude. The only advice I know of is to play through your rudiments with your feet.
This is going to be a great adventure. I’m looking forward to what comes next.
Back in the late 90s I had some drum lessons in London ...
Regarding double kick, my teacher told me to start practicing the classic rudiments that I play with my hands with my feet ... basically going back to the roots ...
Btw ... the teachers name was/is Thomas Lang
I'll be watching this entire series. This is great. Love your honesty.
Totally recognise “hanging on for dear life” and lacking control with double bass. I think no matter how long it takes you, showing what your journey is will be so helpful for many drummers, a lot of us have been, or still are, frustrated with our feet, things seem to take forever. Seeing that we are not alone might start a very awesome conversation. For song choice, something with 16th, triplets, continuous and broken up pattern, things like that to show the control you’re building.
Seat height is extremely important for double bass drumming. I feel like I messed with seat height more than anything else when trying to get comfortable on the double kicks.
So brave but so awesome showing the raw first take of you with the pedal! seeing you laugh and enjoy yourself was cool too. Excited to watch and experience the improvements you make 😁 happy practicing! 🥁
Thanks Toby. 🙏🏼 So glad you dig the concept. More to come brother!
First of all!!! Tremendous respect for you about revealing your struggle!! We ALL have them but either stir away or don’t confront them!! So MUCH appreciation for that. I would like to some some straight forward stuff as well as some patterns a crossed the feet..IE ; 8ths to 16ths notes or 32nds etc…wish you the best bro!!!
Man, this is exactly how my double bass drumming has looked for the last 20 years, and I've never been able to fix it. Tried endless practice, ankle weights. Looking forward to following your journey and maybe fix some issues of my own. Looking forward to the pedal adjustment content also!
Practice metronomes and play to albums and yes, it will suck first and your legs will burn, but the memory will kick in. Fuel by Metallica is a good starter track. I started in 2012 with zero experience and can now play 260bpm without dying.
Use calves Not shin muscles. Otherwise you will never get results. Look at drum technique Academy. This Guy Here is doing IT wrong. He uses weak shin muscles
This video is like looking into a mirror. Last year I was in a very similar situation. Not touched my double pedal in 20 years and received a request to play live with backing tracks with many parts having double kick patterns. Had to re-learn a lot in 6 weeks.
Never mind the double bass… that snare! 😍😍❤❤❤
I really love what you are doing Adam. You are so sincere, clear ons goal orientated in your approach. This is so cool to watch.
This is nice since you are exposing yourself and you a great drummer. We all need to be humble to improve ourselves, thanks for sharing
This might sound weird, but one thing that help build facility on my left foot was listen/playing along while driving (tapping along with my fingers on the wheel, but you obviously wouldn't want to be tapping away with your foot on the gas pedal, so I started play the bass notes with my left foot. After subconsciously doing this for months (I drive a lot of work) I took it to the kit and started messing around with it and found that I could play most of the things I'd normally do with my right foot on my left (most - lol) but it really smoothed out my double bass especially at slower tempos. Fast forward a bunch of years and the benefit of doing this left-foot-kick-wkile-driving thing paid off. My band was playing a decent sized show in NYC and a couple minutes into the opening song, the spring on the right pedal breaks. Kinda an "oh shit" moment, and without hardly realizing it, I switched to the left foot and got through the song. With no replacement spring or pedal available, I just went for it and did the rest of the set that way. The band was stoner/doom metal, so there wasn't any really fast double kick in those songs, so it worked. A couple of people were standing on the side of the stage watching me play and picked up on it and we had a fun conversation about it afterwards. But all that "free" practice time while driving really paid off.
Lol, glad the car practice time paid off! Steering wheel drumming has been a go-to method of mine since high school (because it genuinely works lol) but I never focused on the left foot. Glad you dig the series my friend!
Really love your honesty, especially around 10:00. Double bass is a hell of a thing to learn and needs to be maintained all the time or you will lose control & speed in no time ! When your muscles stop doing what they are told stop or practice something else. Stopping when it becomes a mess is very very IMPORTANT in DB training.
Just want to say that as a "double bass/metal drummer" for many years I've always admired your style of drumming for quite a while, (about 5yrs I'd say). You've inspired me to step outside my "comfortable box" and try something different. And let me say, I appreciate the results. Thank you so much for the challenge and inspiration. 🙏🤘
What a compliment! Thank you for the kind words brother. 🙏🏼
@@AdamTuminaro absolutely! And thank you as well!
Your self awareness is a huge part of self-improvement. Happy to see you improve your skillset and growth.
Crazy story about letlive. I've been following you since you dropped those covers years ago and had no idea you almost got booked for the gig. I'm glad things worked out. This industry puts people down different paths sometimes I guess.
Thanx for this! After I retired from the Army, I took a break and joined a local prog metal band(actually got the gig via Craig's List!😁) They needed a drummer, I needed a band. My double bass was nowhere near ready for the genre so they allowed me to incorporate my style of playing which actually made a positively noticeable change in their music! I felt bad because I just couldnt play the doublebass parts so after I left the band(relocation) I vowed to practice til I could play db effortlessly. No kit at the moment but I keep my legs & feet doublebassing everyday. A new kit is in the works! Cant wait to put what Ive been practicing to work!!!
One thing I found very helpful when first learning double bass is just to switch legs on the regular single-pedal stuff I played and use my left foot to play it for a while (like a few months). It wasn't too difficult for me and helped me develop the muscles and control of the left foot. Later, playing double bass kind of just came way easier. I even played a few gigs left footed whenever I switched to ride or open hats.
Thanks now I see the main problem, my left foot is a complete bitch. Lol Hi hat playing seemingly did nothing for it in my case least.
yeah, hi hat doesn't have the rebound and the weight of a bass pedal, it feels really different. I had the same problem.
@@larrytate1657
This is spectacular, such a fantastic idea! Being able to see the story and your process as you go through it is a great example of how this is actually supposed to go! Looking forward to checking the rest of the videos out!
Aaron Gillespie is one of the crispiest drumers ever, he has a very solid sound. He's sure one of my all time favorites. Even though he only used double pedal in underoath's beginnins, he made metalcore sound insane with single pedal. One of my favorite double pedal drummers is Matt Greiner from August Burns Red, another amazing drummer
What a cool video! I love seeing a creator post authentic content instead of a polished clip!
On goals:
1: speed goal. Speed isn’t everything but anything you play on double pedal is doable on single .. if you slow it down enough. Have like a song that you want to be able to blast(beat)
2: patterns/indepence. ‘Djent’ has cool patterns or ofcourse the old staple ‘bleed’
What I’d like to see besides pedal settings is how the bassdrum and muffling of the drum affect ‘performance’.
I have a 20” deep kick and it feels slow! Once I stuffed a blanket in it to reduce volume while practicing and it felt so much faster. It’s the air bouncing between the heads that slaps back I guess.
Appreciate that! Episode 2 covers a bit more of the pedal settings, muffling, and other subtle adjustments. Definitely makes more of a difference than I anticipated. Stoked you like the series!!
This is so relatable! I had an almost identical upbringing and reserved myself to being a rock/pocket drummer. Still wanting to learn double bass and this is inspiring.
That being said, Underoath still rocks 🤘
I love this. I've been playing drums for 33+ years and double bass for 30 of those years and I love watching you, a great drummer, learning how to play double kick and watching your process/progress. Great stuff!
I started really getting into playing with a double pedal in high school, however I was exclusive to heel-toe, and learning more technical pieces with that was really rough and it took so much for me to start working on slide technique when playing and going back and forth, because honestly, it was like learning double kick all over again. It has been probably about 7 years since I have even touched a set as I donated mine to a high school, I was a tech for, due to military service. I foresee this is a series I will need to come back to once I have the ability to start again. Thanks for this content!
The best lesson I ever received on double bass was from Dave DiCenso. He instead the most important thing is to have balance; balance in posture, able to play both feet independently of each other and at any time.
Edit - What I mean by at any time... Each foot can trigger the pedal without effecting the other side. Once you start treating the feet as similar as your hands, improvements come quick.
Thanks Adam. I admire your honesty and the willingness to share your journey. How a drummer typically does this is just do all the grunt work behind the scenes. Then just show up and show off. Like they were born knowing all this. No blood, no sweat, no tears. For a long time I doubted I had _any_ talent in drumming because it never occurred to me that this is what really happens…
Keep sharing it, you surely got at least one (but I believe definitely many more) very keen viewer!
😊
If you're having any issues with hi-hat placement with the double pedal, you can always put the hi-hats on the inside of the slave pedal. It'll keep your hi-hats closer to the position they were in when you play single pedal.
That's how Elliot Hoffman of Carbomb and Matt Davis of Oh, Sleeper do it. I switched to that setup probably 10+ years ago and never went back. If you use a longboard hi hat stand, it also helps with that setup since the stand has to be slightly farther back.
The downside would be that your double pedals have to be slightly farther apart. Also, you will have to be able to adjust your playing if you're ever on someone elses kit.
One of my Drum Teachers recommended that I learn to Tap Dance to help with foot technique for either Single or Double Bass. He was a former Tap Dancer when he was a Kid, later to go to Drumming as a Young Adult. His foot control and speed was incredible!
That’s a common suggestion for combat sports and tennis athletes as well. Foot dexterity from dance translates well to a lot of things apparently!
the bands Dance Gavin Dance and After the Burial made love playing double bass. 10 years of practice well worth it
I have been playing double bass drum for about 25 years; best advice I can offer is keep it simple take it slowly, you have to train your body and brain for another section of limb independence and not get a pedal with a million ways to adjust or you will just confuse yourself. Sit at the appropriate height so you don’t knacker your back in later life, and always remain open in attitude 🤘🤘
Just one tiny piece of advice; consider putting the left bass pedal on the outside of the hihat pedal, that way you can still use your fav setup but it's still easy access. Wide legspread when playing bassdrums may also help when you have to do a gig on 2 physical bass drums.
On the tempochanges, I think it's best to find songs that have lots of tempo changes. One great example is a black metal band called "as blood runs black", the song "as fears become phobias" has tempo changes within the bars.
I highly recommend to do whatever warming up you where doing, but with the left foot doing the kicks that the right foot normally does, that plus 16 notes with metronom from 80 bpm to 140 or so (or whatever your limit feels to be) you can also alternate 16 notes with 8 notes for the fast tempos before you can consistently play on them, good luck on your journey :)
Metronom is your best friend.
i am 100% with you on the fact that a cover should not be the goal but i am also certain it helps a lot with the journey taking away the "what to play" and lettin you focus on the "how to play it", also big fan would love to see you hop on a classic metal song just for fun.
This is exciting! I’ve had a similar level of interest with the double bass pedal as you shared, so seeing you begin to strengthen your gaps is really inspiring! Great content! Keep it up!!
My thoughts are, I'm happy just simply to watch what you come up with! It's such a subjective position when it comes to double bass stuff. I do know that the pedal adjustments, were and still are, a common thing! If you go down the rabbit hole of different techniques like heel/toe, ankle technique, and swivel to name a few, sometimes the pedal needs adjusted accordingly for each approach along with your bass head tensioning for a preferred response.
From creating a pulsating rudiment groove or adding tasty quick triplets and quads to the end of a fill like Thomas Lang, to the Matt Garstka wizardry, to insane heel/toe speed of Lorna Shore, this will be an awesome journey for you.
Welcome my friend!!
Appreciate you! I’m not quite ready to take on new pedal techniques, but the challenge of getting my left foot to behave anything like my right is insanely difficult. Definitely some discussion of pedal / head tension in episode 2 as well, which had more of an impact than I expected. Thanks for watching my friend! 🤘🏼
thanks for this series, Adam!!!
can't wait to see your progress ! 3 years I started drumming and double pedal from the get go, my drumming evolved a lot, but I'm still so sloppy on double bass...
I’m about 15 years in on the double kick pedal and just starting to figure out how to get them going over 180bpm consistently for long periods of time. It’s so frustrating but SO rewarding and has helped my playing TREMENDOUSLY. I’m so much more centered and balanced because of it. Good luck on your journey! Loved this video and all of your others 🤘🏻
Learn heel toe and/swivel foot. The left, right, left, right crap is a bad way to try to go fast, and it just leads to both feet eventually syncing up. Learn from the death metal drummers like George Kolias, John Longstreth, Lord Marco, even if you hate death metal, they learned to be economical in order to be ridiculous fast. And, you don't need triggers to be able to go over 200 up to around 240, after that you need them for volume.
Eugene Ryabchenko recommends picking a BPM and working singles for at least ten minutes per BPM you choose. At about 3 minutes of single strokes, the legs start burning pretty hard. You will struggle the first few times to even make it to the full ten minutes. But, over time, it just starts happening. Paradiddles and paradiddle-diddles on the feet will build your feet control, as well.
I'm no double bass god. I'm barely able to hold my own with most of Nick DePirro's stuff. But, I have been practicing along with his material for almost 3 years. Every since I came across his stuff on Twitch. It's been a goal for me to be able to play the stuff he programmed as we all watched him write that stuff online.
I appreciate goal-oriented playing. I appreciate that someone who's at the level you are takes a step outside of their comfort zone to incorporate another skillset. And, man, that's rough treatment being left standing at the altar the day before the plane left. Sorry for the pain that must have caused. I look forward to hearing what you come up with for Nick. I'm perpetually on the brink of finally laying down stuff I've been working on for a long time for him.
I’m sure you know of him, but Thomas Lang can give HUGE insights into numerous double bass techniques and exercises.
He’s a “jack of all trades” master of most too.
Really enjoyed this btw
Good luck.
Thanks for the kind words!
He’s discussed multiple times throughout this series. 😉
Thanks for sharing your double bass story with us. It never occurred to me that such a seemingly "small" thing could reveal so much about both you and your drumming story. And I really appreciate your willingness to be so open and vulnerable in sharing that with us. // Call me greedy, but, what I'd like to see once you're feeling solid is TWO original songs: one in a (traditional double bass) metal genre, and one in a non-metal genre that's not typically associated with double base, just to really challenge yourself creatively.
I appreciate the kind words! Love the idea of a more traditional metal song, and something more outside the box as well. Glad you dig the series, and much more to come!
Double bass work eluded me as well, as growing up studying everything through the lens of Weckl, and ultimately getting deep into Gospel via Rodgers and Coleman, of course I knew about it and had a double pedal, but never exemplified my playing in this way -- and my left foot stamina and independence suffered as a result. It has only been since discovering Matt Garstka that I understand the next several levels I must strive to achieve. True limb independence is only possible if you are a proficient double kick player.
Something I’ve found helpful: play Quadrant 4 or Space Boogie with just one foot, preferably the weaker one. You won’t get it up to tempo initially, but I think you’ll find it will help you develop power and articulation with the weaker foot, which will help overall. You may find it easier to play if you lead with your weaker hand on the ride as well. Thomas Lang’s suggestion about playing rudiments with the feet is good too.
Man double bass drumming can be so frustrating. I've been trying for years to play like some of my heroes and it's exactly how you said. You can trick yourself into thinking you got it one day and then the next your feet act like they've never touched a double pedal. There's some songs I love to play along to and have every part nailed except the double bass parts. Every time I hit a fast 16th note run it seems like a roll of the dice if I'll get it or not. I have discovered that playing flams with my feet (Swiss triplets) both left and right lead has helped tremendously. It's really gotten my "weak" foot up to par with my lead.
Lol, props for being the only person (in this comments section) to admit that we ALL trick ourselves into thinking we're more accomplished than we are. Double bass has proven to be a real menace in that way; more so than hands by a long shot. These damn feet are lying to us. Lol. Glad you're here my friend!
I’ve always found the 1/4 note to 8th note triplets to 8th notes to 16th notes triplets to 16th notes and back down again, alternating with left foot start to be a good exercise. Start with a low tempo
Just remember to have fun with it!! Play your grooves and throw your left room in every now and then. Seriously.. if you're having trouble then just play naturally and insert the double bass rhythmically where it feels good to you. Sometimes practice just means trying weird stuff 😆 drums for life!!!
Low key, this is some of the best advice in the comments section. I’ve given the same advice to students in other contexts.
If you’ve played Travis Barker style single strokes for your entire life, you don’t have to “master” rudiments to implement them. Learn what you want, sneak them in where you’d like, and see what feels right for you. You don’t have to abandon your natural talents to try something new.
Appreciate you!
Honestly i, after playing for 20 some of years, am going back to learn the rudiments properly. It's kinda refreshing that I'm watching someone that i look up to in the rudiment dept tackle something that I'm at least decent at! Good luck to you sir! The struggle is real!!!
I learned out of Rocky Neil's double bass cook book. Mel bay released it if you're interested.... And can find it!
Man!!! The snare sound Wow👌👌👌👌
Yo man! Don’t beat yourself up, I’m revisiting double bass myself after a decade, and after a week, the smoothness of the left foot all comes back a lot better than the first visit!
Amazing!
Adam is a revolutionary on the kit. He more about taste and attack and tones. So to see this is cool.
Some extraordinary kind words from you Dave. Appreciate you!
Adam let’s go bro. U are the future. No double kick needed. Timekeepers, the podcast, all of it
And dude, that snare.. I could never dream of affording one, but Adam bro. U may be the most tasteful and technically gifted drummer of all time. I need you back bro.
Love your lessons Adam, so here it goes ,from someone who's been playing double bass for half maybe more than half of my drumming life, I feel like one of the whole reason's how come they invented the double bass was so that there is no final chapter in drumming and that the sky's the limit for anyone learning the double bass and that keeping an open mind on this subject and considering the fact that there's always something new to learn on any instrument you should never limit yourself on this instrument in my opinion, good luck on your new journey with this and I hope you keep with.❤🤘🤘
Well said! Thanks for the kind words my friend. 💜🙏🏼
Adam, I appreciate your humbleness in this video. Not many of us can do that, on UA-cam. I've been around a while and I recently got back into drumming. My double pedaling masters date back to a little bit of Neil Peart and a lot of Mike Portnoy and Vinnie Paul way back from the early eighties. I'm self taught, and I can relate to your situation. Just a suggestion and not that I matter: find videos from other teachers that teach double pedaling, which may be a humbling experience, as well. Although I could copy some Vinnie and Portnoy during my garage band days, I had to start from the beginning. It has paid off enormously. Great video. Looking forward to your journey.
Huge fan of your playing Adam. Loved the vulnerability of this video as I still feel it in many aspects of my own playing. I Don’t post much but been playing dbl bass for about 12 years. I feel fairly proficient. Huge things that’s helped me on my journey is going through subdivisions at various tempos. Up and down. And single pedal things left foot only for muscle/technique development. Small endurance runs a 1 tempo also hugely helped with muscle development. You got this man!!! It’s so much fun once ya nail stuff down!!! Cheers 🤘🏼🔥
A sweetwater ad popped up right before your first hit onnthe kick since 2013 haha. And your first run through wasnt even that bad dude!
Going from a chain drive to a direct drive is night and day different. I was 12 when I first start playing drums and 15 when I got into double bass..... this was in early 80's era. Used many different pedals till the TAMA ironcobras came out, loved them. Had the springs cranks all the way, the beaters about 3in from bass head and the sweet spot was about close to mid board and after about 2 months of vigorous practicing I was playing Slayer with no issues. The trick for me was to learn how to use my left the same as my right. I would use my left foot for normal beats and add my right for accents. After 2 months of doing that both legs were equal at playing and made a world of difference playing double bass. The other is learning which spots on the pedal itself, for instance if you want full power stomp then ball of foot towards top, for speed towards the bottom..... thats when heel/toe takes affect and makes for interesting playing..... discovered by accident before I knew what it really was a technique lol. The new demons are sick, George Kollias drummer of Nile, helped create these. This will be my next set of pedals. Keep practicing and before you know it you'll be playing metal of all kinds 🤘😎🤘
Bill played an uptempo double bass shuffle with Mahavishnu in 1973; check out Trilogy on the Between Nothingness and Eternity album. There may be earlier instances, but I haven’t gone through all the Mahavishnu boots out there yet. Quadrant 4 is not the first appearance of it.
man... i loved this video... totally resonates... i´m going through a weird phase in my drumming.. i´ve been playing double bass for 18 years and i´ve always used heel down on the right foot and heel up on the left. that was never a problem until i decided to buy a shiny new iron cobra 900 series... i´ve tried every adjustment and i just can´t play with it... my left foot ends up playing heel down and i lose control over every hit.. just a mess... it´s like my brain lost all calibration and i just play like a beginer... i gave up on the cobra and came back to my old pearl basic single chain pedal and after 1 month i´m starting to recover from that horrible feeling.. all the best for you on this reunion with metal drumming 🤣🤣, hope to see your progress on this..
Tbh, having the exact same technique on both feet is ideal, but not 100% necessary.
I recommend you to watch Eloy Casagrande play. He plays with 2 different techniques - one foot is just ankle motion and the other one is swiveling - and he sounds spot on with a natural bass drum sound. No triggers.
I'm 52, been playing for 40+ years. Got my first double pedal along with my Rolands 8-9 years ago.
I still suck at it. If I'd have had one when I was 13 I'd be a monster...1:42.
Nothing comes easy at my age. 😀
I'm always excited to see people challenge themselves by leaving their comfort zone.
I understand and respect why you don't like covers, so original music centered around double bass is what I would prefer to see (hear?) from you. Maybe even revisiting an older track or 2 and adding double bass.
Adam i just subscibed to your channel and as a fellow tall dark & handsome guy with long hair, who has struggled with (and given up because of) the same exact problems when learning double bass, i’m hereby hoppping aboard and i’m going to start buckling down and putting in practice time every day to keep up with you. let’s gooooo
Really enjoyed this episode and looking forward to the rest. I'm heading down this rabbit hole as well. To make it more challenging, I'm returning to drumming after almost 30 years. Struggling to get past where the mind knows what it wants but the muscle memory says "not today". Back in the day, I was a double bass drummer (influences of Cobham, Aldridge, Peart, Phillips and Paice (yes, Ian used Double on Fireball). Looking forward to your progress and lessons learned.
Love the channel I've been a fan for years!! I love to see you making some new content and with double bass too! This should be an awesome journey for you!
I just bought the pedal myself for this exact same reason. Not necessarily for Metal but more for fixing a problem... My left foot. I’m playing in a band that doesn’t require it but I want better independence to be able to play and gain more control beside just high hat work. Looking forward to this and learning along with you
How does the pedal feel to you so far? The spring must be rly strong because Pearls regular springs are stronger than most other manufacturers already. If I got it I might switch to the regular spring. But always give it a shot stock.
Great video, Adam! For a drummer of your caliber, openly sharing a part of their skill that they feel isn't so strong is honest and relatable to drummers like me, who watch your video and aspire to a higher level. Like you, I had a double pedal, but the type of music I played didn't require much double bass playing; I've always wanted to learn that skill set, just in case. I took a bigger leap and bought a second bass drum, and I've been working on it, but it's been a long process. As always, I will watch these episodes with great interest and hope to learn from you and your experience. Regards
Nailed some real issues...older drummer that wants the ability to play double bass in small areas of my music but not necessarily metal...great start for me
New to the channel. I gotta say, having being an intermediate DB player, this was really well done, insightful and humble video. Really nice stuff sir \m/
you do history very well! hope you do more
Hey bro! There were two things I did when I was learning to play double bass, The first was specifically for getting my left foot up to par with my right, Id play songs I knew using my left foot on bass and my right on hi-hat. Start simple, try playing "Enter Sandman" using your left foot. Second was working on my balance when using both feet. Id set my metronome to a moderate tempo and play 4 bars of quarters 4 bars of eighths 4 bars of 16ths and then back to eighths then quarters. Did this till my quads burned. Give it a try, see what you think.
Same boat- I actually use a double pedal but it literally comes out for 2 covers we do. I’ve just avoided practicing it for years in favor of more gospel chop single pedal exercises…. Not a huge metal fan but I can only imagine having great double pedal skills would open up some crazy phrases, grooves, and fills.
I own these pedals too and they are great, the most responsive and smooth pedals I own. This is due to the fact that pearl worked with George Kollias to create these, and they did a great job. The biggest tip I can give to improve doublebass in all areas is to adapt what your dominate side does innately to your weaker side.
Technique is also very important, singles or doubles. Heel-toe, swivel or ankle. Experiment with your options. As far as practice is concerned its different for everyone. For me, the way I approached doublebass a year ago is completely different to how i approach it today. It will evolve with you. There is an interview with Flo Mounier, and he says ( I'm paraphrasing) how you need to practice at your own pace and develop your technique so that its not "all nerves"
Also a cool feature about these is that you can convert them into single pedals which I did. I prefer two singles personally. Its entirely possible to rip 280 on a double pedal given you have quality gear and the chops to do so.
I am in the exact same boat and I'm very curious to see where you end up. At this point in my life, the time vs reward ratios just don't align for me b/c I don't have that much of a need for double bass w the type of music I play. I've spent the majority of my drumming life (30 years) working on independence without the need for real double bass. That being said, I do use a double bass for a few songs that require a bare bones basic 16th note pattern and of course for the occasional trash can ending (fun). I think Carter Beauford is the perfect example of how you should/could incorporate tasteful double bass chops into songs that don't metal. You know what I'm talking about. DMB is just moving along, grooving and improvising, and then Carter kicks it into 5th gear at the end of a big solo section. Those insanely precise double bass patterns just build and elevate everything. But it's not just the double bass alone. Carter's interdependence is still there too. His hand patters are seemingly unaffected when he hits this other gear. He has a legs brain and a hands brain and they are communicating perfectly. I would love to have the ability and confidence to pull that out of my bag a few times a night. See, I'm lying to myself. I should be practicing this too. :)
Will be interesting to see how you fix those problems with double bass, can be very helpful for the people who feels stuck on getting good, i recommend you to use a mirror to watch your feets while you are playing, practice your legs separately, work on 2 techniques full leg motion for slow tempos and ankle motion for high tempos, and something that helped me a lot was practice without springs, you will learn to make the beater bounce and the feet always touching the pedal
Fantastic idea for video series!
So love this series idea because it shows and proves that you even as a teacher, we're still students. As for the question you asked at the end of the video. My first thought when I saw double bass and heard you say metal was why does it have to be metal? There's ideas like Fusion you might want to look into, maybe hip-hop, there's a ton of pop artists that use double bass parts, so I would say maybe not isolate yourself to just metal or just blast Beats and whatever you feel comfortable playing even if it is metal that's what you should attack. For instance with me I tried to use my double bass pedal more in a linear fashion during fills or solos. So just another perspective I guess to think about
Alright, this is wild. I have been really focusing on my double for the last 8 months and everything you have said is exactly the hurdles I have been trying to over come. Kind reassuring to know im not the only one having these exact issues. Some BPMs I can name fairly well however most just go into a weird sputter. Great video Adam
I believe in a short time, you’ll begin to have your left and right foot become more consistent and evenly powered when you’re playing 16th notes, for example..I feel like with double bass it’s more of a symmetrical approach to rhythms as apposed to kind of asymmetry with your left foot on hi hat. You’ll be playing multi-pedal orchestrations in no time!
It's nice to see you're not super human and struggle with new concepts like the rest of us 😉. Loved the video, looking forward to more in this series. Unsolicited advice from a viewer that plays double bass: typically at slower tempos you'll want to use more leg/hip flexor movement, and at faster tempos you'll want to predominantly use ankle movement. (Similarly to how you would use more wrist on a faster fill)
Que bien verte otra vez Adam!
Yo llevo un tiempo usando más los tobillos en el doble pedal,ahorras mucha energía y se toca más relajado.
Gracias por tus videos😉
This is great man! Love this. \M/
OK I have an exercise for you… 60 BPM on a practice pad. Start with eight notes, medium tap singles once that settles in add your left foot playing with your right hand then add right foot playing with your left hand. I recommend heel down for your feet. ( I also recommend buying some Capezio tap shoes $99)
In 10 to 20 minutes my brain stops keeping track of this coordination and I can raise the tempo. The left-right hand foot thing really f*cks with your brain but once you get it it’s a nice gentle exercise to get your brain working, and your muscles warmed up.
Excellent video. I have no interest whatsoever in learning double bass (tried it years ago and it just wasn’t me) but “let’s talk problems” caught my interest. Me personally, I decided to switch to traditional grip pretty early on since my left hand felt so spastically different from the right that it just made sense to hold that stick a different way since it didn’t feel the same as my dominant hand anyway. So I don’t know, maybe switch to traditional grip on your left kick?
I loved this video! Everything about it. Especially hit the spot your openness about that band which acted like ***holes with you. Had a similar experience some time ago, lost motivation for drumming for like 4months. Sad that musicians act like this.
Also, this would be most awaited series in this channel! For me it would be most interesting to get some exercises for djent/metalcore/deathcore drumming practice - a modern drumming style which got really popular in recent decades.
Great idea to push yourself. I think it’d be really cool to see you do something along the lines of fusion instead of metal. Do something entirely different than the typical metal/dbl pedal combo.
It’d be a unique challenge to create something so sonically different but dbl bass driven. Good luck, and looking forward to hearing it!
This was really well put together. I'm looking forward to see you dominate the pedals!
Hey Adam just wanted to say I’d love to sit down with you and go over some of the routines and ideas that have helped me maintain being able to play double kick and in return maybe you could show me some tricks on licks I’ve been trying to work on but can’t seem to figure out 😅
Thank you for creating this content. I'm very much like you in that I've been a full-time touring and part-time drummer my whole life, and for whatever reason, I've never had to play double kick. I have this new Pearl Deamon XR, so I'm interested in following your progress to either live vicariously through you or, hopefully, to get over my aversions and really go for it. I can pull some things out live, but it's intermittent, and I truly need more confidence. I'm not trying to be a metal midget (lol), but I wonder if it's my Type 2? I've done the intro to Painkiller, but I would be scared to have that on my band's core list. Should I switch to Bassoon?
I'd love to see if double bass filters into your non-metal/rock playing, i.e. if you're inspired to add some licks into songs from other genres. I'm also interested to see if this process makes you want to change your kick sound (beater & head choice, tuning) or even resort to using kick triggers.
Both great points and topics to address in future episodes! Glad you're here my friend, and I appreciate the suggestions. =)
Nice Adam a new journey! Play the Note Rate Pyramide with ur feeds. good exercise :)
Would love to see you make a video working through Matt Garstka’s Ultimate Double Bass Lesson
Interesting fact is that John Bonham actually wanted to use double bass after seeing Carmine Appice play double bass(Appice also introduced Ludwig to Bonham) but Jimmy Didn’t allow Bonham to use it in Led Zeppelin
I NEED to hear a new version of Scarlett
Pedals look slick man, keep on going and you will get the feel after a few sessions
Very Entertaining video , thank you sir 👏🏼
Ugh. Man. Double bass is such a struggle. I’m looking forward to seeing any methods you may find to really get the left foot as strong as the right. And leading with the left foot just sucks! Alternating between doubles and singles between the feet makes some cool patterns (just like the hands obviously) but the diddles on the left are puny and weak!! 😂