WEAK feet!

Barometer

Barometer

New member
My feet are WEAK, especially touch control on the right (bass). I use a single bass with single pedal and play rock/jazz/jam type music. Can anyone offer any pointers for drills or point me to some good websites or books? Thanks mucho! :)
 
calmlikeabom said:
try drumming with ankle weights
Click to expand...

That's asking to get hurt.

Tighten your pedal's spring as tight as it will go, and learn to play heel down.

I'm double kicking at what the WFD (World's Fastest Drummer) calls 1,200 Bpm. It's 1,200 strikes per minute, but I disagree calling it actual "beats per minute". I have my pedals as tight as they will go, and and I fly on them.
I'm using Axis A Longboard pedals...and that was done using athe heel-toe technique.



Tim
 
While adjusting your pedal is one way to assist your abilities, it is probably a good idea to do some bass pedal "exercises", such as drum rudiments. Start with smaller increments of time. As you progress, increase the time increment. This will allow your muscles to develop. Try various rudiments (singles, doubles, paradiddles, and so on, but use your feet (bass drum/hi hat). Begin SLOWLY for muscle memory and appropriate muscle building, and best to use a metronome. Work on this heel down and heel up for dynamic differences. As you will find out, heel up (gross motor movement) will tend to be more powerful and slower....and heel down (a finer motor movement) will tend to be faster and softer. The hope is to control both approaches well, and eventually integrate the two.

Gary Chester's New Breed is an all around great book to apply to each limb of your body, bass drum included.

Hope this helps a bit. :D

bingbing
 
Thanks for the advice guys,

I think bingbing is talking more along the lines of what I am looking for. I play both heel up and down so I'm used to that, it's just a matter of control and timing. I have the right beats in my head, but sometimes my feet have minds of their own :rolleyes:

I guess I'll start drilling.....
 
This lesson was passed on to me. I used it with great results and I now have all my students do this. There is a book called stick control by George Stone. Besides being great book for building chops with your hands you can use most of the book for your feet. This works best for double bass of course. BTW the book can also be used for developing chops on the set. Find a good teacher who can help with your feet. You'll know soon enough if what you are being taught is working. If not find another teacher. It may take awhile to find someone right for you.
 
Hello again Barometer,

Yes, hearing what you are looking for, I would highly recommend New Breed, and you can use Ted Reed's "Syncopation" as a melody line supplement. The book gives you an ostinato to play with 2 or 3 of your limbs, and a "melody line" to play with one limb. Most people start with the bass drum as the "melody line". A great book for independent, interdependence and conditioning. The ostinatos tend to be more Rock oriented. For Jazz stuff, Ed Soph's "Essential Techniques" is a good book.

As Zbert mentioned, Stick Control by Stone would be a good book for conditioning as well, kind of an extension of the rudiment thing I suggested. Eventually, you could even go to Joe Morello's "Master Studies". In all honesty, I need to go through these books for all my limbs. I preach better than I practice :D.

By no means to do you need all of these books immediately, I know what it's like to be on a budget. Actually, working through all of them would probably not be best.

Ah, and a last thing while I'm on my soapbox. The one thing I've learned about drumming that has truly helped my playing is by using the fifth limb, MY EARS! Whatever exercise or lick or groove you're playing, the more you listen and understand your strengths and weaknesses with it, the more it progresses and becomes a part of your playing style.

Regards,
bing
 
Thanks again for the great feedback,

This definitely helps. I know for sure what I am going for while I'm playing. It's kind of like there's a break in the signal between my brain and my feet. I think going through some of these books and practicing limb independence and basic rudiments on my weakest links is where to start.

Keep it flowin' :)
 
I used to ask the same question about playing double bass. The answers I got were ones like "playing basketball will help" or "ride your bike uphill" and "run up and down stairs". After thinking about all those options/solutions, I though "playing basketball is only gonna make me a better basketball player!!" Right? My feeling is that if you want a stronger foot, stick to working on your foot with a bass drum. The key element that all players talk about in their video or seminars is practice! Think about what you want to accomplish and concentrate heavily on that only. Don't get side tracked by trying tom fills or snare rudiments while you're working on your feet. Set aside some time for just that and then after you practice with just your foot, let yourself explore and go wild.

Just my experience!! :)
 
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I used to live in Boulder Creek (Santa Cruz Mts) and worked near Fremont. Nice in the mountains but I hated the valley. Nice to meet you and thanks again for the advice :)
 
when you guys say heel down, do you mean playing with your ankles? i've tried, and if you want to get solid, consistent results from your feet, this is the perfect example of what not to do. I find that it is the right combination of leg and ankle movement that works best. playing with nothing but your leg and not moving your ankle (heel up, toe playing) will get you tired and in-consistent - when you play at a moderate rate you'll hit the kick with less force and when you try to go fast you'll be hitting it alot harder, hence you'll get inconsistent bass kicks. if you play with nothing but your ankles (heel down), you'll wear yourself out before long and you'll always be hitting at half the power.
i find that you've got to find a happy medium between the two. i have heard countless drummers tell me that playing heel down is the way to do it and i have no idea what their talking about. it wears your ankles out and never seems to hit hard enough.
i've always had the problem of my right leg hitting harder than my left when doing double bass, and my playing technique isn;t the problem, it's practice. you gotta practice at hitting both feet with the same force, for a long long time. and heel down has never worked for me. it's just as rediculous as playing lars ulrich style, with your toms straight up and down in front of you like your playing on a wall.
 
dcptnsdcvd said:
when you guys say heel down, do you mean playing with your ankles? i've tried, and if you want to get solid, consistent results from your feet, this is the perfect example of what not to do. I find that it is the right combination of leg and ankle movement that works best. playing with nothing but your leg and not moving your ankle (heel up, toe playing) will get you tired and in-consistent - when you play at a moderate rate you'll hit the kick with less force and when you try to go fast you'll be hitting it alot harder, hence you'll get inconsistent bass kicks. if you play with nothing but your ankles (heel down), you'll wear yourself out before long and you'll always be hitting at half the power.
i find that you've got to find a happy medium between the two. i have heard countless drummers tell me that playing heel down is the way to do it and i have no idea what their talking about. it wears your ankles out and never seems to hit hard enough.
i've always had the problem of my right leg hitting harder than my left when doing double bass, and my playing technique isn;t the problem, it's practice. you gotta practice at hitting both feet with the same force, for a long long time. and heel down has never worked for me. it's just as rediculous as playing lars ulrich style, with your toms straight up and down in front of you like your playing on a wall.
Click to expand...

You are right dcptn.... it is about a :D happy :D medium in the long term, as I noted in my original post. Practicing both heel up and heel down (first separately, and then creating "alternating" exercises) because each has it's strengths and weaknesses. Read my first response here, where I elaborated somewhat. I disagree that playing heel down has the inability to create consistent results. It's just a matter of the context which you are attempting consistency at. I doubt I would ever play a mid/fast tempo bossa nova with heel up. It would sound weighted and sluggish. I don't play double bass, but I would assume in certain situations it would be a bad idea to play heel down, if for nothing else, volumes sake. The point is to play musically and efficiently, whatever your drum set up and whatever your musical style. Practicing musically, and practicing efficiently, will help that to happen.

And yes, I agree with your Lars Ulrich comment. I prefer Jack DeJohnette's set up...like a piano.

bingbing
 
Thanks again everyone. This stuff is great, I can use any feedback possible that anyone has to say about drumming with your feet. It seems to be more glossed over than hand techiques, maybe that's just my experience. Keep 'em coming :D
 
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