Kick! Double, or single?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sirslurpee
  • Start date Start date

Double or single?

  • Double pedal

    Votes: 37 52.9%

  • Single pedal

    Votes: 33 47.1%
  • Total voters
    70
dkerwood said:
Oh, and since we're posting videos...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blVPlKoUtf0&mode=related&search=

Granted, this will not work for blast beats, but how many drummers switch to a double bass pedal just to accomplish this rather than learn to do it on the single pedal?
Click to expand...
You must hang out with a lot of hack musicians. Who can't do that?

The problem comes when you need to do 3, 4 or more. Eventually, one (or more) of the hits will be weaker than the others. The other pedal helps you even out the dynamics because you don't rely on the tiny muscles in your ankle to make the 3rd and 4th hit.

I have seen guys that can do one-footed 16th note runs all day long. Unfortunatley without triggers, there is no way to get any power doing that. You end up with a lot of rumble and not enough attack to back it up. It's not enough just to strike the drum, you have to strike the drum with enough force to make it speak the way it needs to within the context of the song.
 
Farview said:
Are you a drummer?
Click to expand...

Apparently not. Although I play drums and several other instruments, by your definition I am a hack musician.

I can't do 12-note vocal runs, either. Am I not a singer?
 
Supercreep said:
Apparently not. Although I play drums and several other instruments, by your definition I am a hack musician.
Click to expand...
How do you do a zztop-type shuffle? You might not use the bounce in that context, but you probably could if you tried. It really is rudementary stuff.
 
Farview said:
You must hang out with a lot of hack musicians. Who can't do that?

The problem comes when you need to do 3, 4 or more. Eventually, one (or more) of the hits will be weaker than the others. The other pedal helps you even out the dynamics because you don't rely on the tiny muscles in your ankle to make the 3rd and 4th hit.

I have seen guys that can do one-footed 16th note runs all day long. Unfortunatley without triggers, there is no way to get any power doing that. You end up with a lot of rumble and not enough attack to back it up. It's not enough just to strike the drum, you have to strike the drum with enough force to make it speak the way it needs to within the context of the song.
Click to expand...
Again, I have no problem with double bass as long as you use it to broaden your musical scope.

It's the guys who use it as a crutch that bug me. Then you have to battle with their muscle memory - "No, the hi hat goes ON the beat, not on the sixteenth not BEFORE it!"

And if by "hack" musicians you mean students and young musicians, then yes, I do hang out with them. It's sort of the nature of my day job. And I spend way too much of my day trying to help kids unlearn what they've "learned" with their double kick at home. When they see that they can accomplish with just one foot, many of them take off the slave pedal to make the hi hat more convenient.

Too many kids these days see a double bass pedal as an "upgrade" of a single pedal. It's a totally different animal. When my kids are working on mallet music, why would I tell them that 4 mallets are "better" than 2? 4 mallet music is much more complicated and difficult, but there is nothing about the mallets themselves which make the equipment superior to only 2.

That having been said, I've seen some kids do some inventive things with equipment. One kid actually removed the right foot pedalboard from his double kick and snaked a hi hat slave pedal around to his right foot. He wanted to develop a little more quickness in his left foot and help both feet become more autonomous. Worked well for him.

As musicians, we should be constantly trying to broaden our horizons, rather than letting them stagnate.
 
I use double heavily most of the time. But single works for me too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top