Double Bass Drumming Speed, Endurance & Control

Hello everybody,

I'm just finishing writing a book focusing on speed and control on double bass. These are the different sections on the book, I want to make sure the book is complete, so if any drummer out there has an idea of a chapter that I could add please let me know. It doesn't matter if you're have double bass or not. The idea is to help any drummer with double bass problems, to become as fast as these drummers: Vinnie Paul, Simon Phillips, Virgil Donati, Lars Ulrich, Raymond Herrera, Greg Bissonette, just to name a few... You might be thinking that it is impossible to reach the standards of these drummers, but believe me, it is true!

General Drumming Tips

Basic Double Bass Drumming Info

-Twin Bass Drum Pedal Or Two Bass Drums?

-Feet Position

-Heel Up Or Down?

-Seat Height

-Spring Tension

-Beaters

How To Practice -Self-Control

-Look

-Feel

Stretching & Exercising Your Legs

The Process And Methods To Achieve Fast Legs -Introduction

-Method #1

-Method #2

-Method #3

-Method #4

-Method #5

-Method #6

-Method #7

-Accuracy Vs. Speed

-Bouncing Technique

Alternative Ways to Speed

-The Importance Of Ambidexterity

-Setting Up Goals

Double Bass Exercises -Patterns Focusing On Coordination

-Patterns Focusing On Speed

-Double Bass Rock and Metal Grooves

-Double Bass Fills

be sure to let us know when your book is out.

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes, you are right about the cams, I will take it into consideration. I won't add information about multiple-pedal techniques, because I'm not experienced with them and because most drummers rarely have them. I know it would be really intresting, but my aim is to make drummers have a greater accuracy, control, speed and power over their bass drum pedals. Why? Because many drummers have good hands and horrible feet, because of lack of practice or maybe because they are practising the wrong double bass exercises. For example, I bought a few months ago a drum video from 'DRUM TIPS' which focuses on double bass drums, featuring Simon Phillips, Joe Franco, Terry Bozzio, Rod Morgestein, etc... Great drummers, but the double bass exercises they show are really simple, very basic. Yes, they are good exercises for beginners, but these exercises don't help on endurance, speed and control. My book will require practice and dedication, but if you work hard, in a few months your feet will be terribly fast and accurate. Maybe some of you heard about the 'Ballistic Motion' by Joe Stronsick. He sells his motion in cassetts, videos online. I bought it a few weeks ago, and yes, I achieved the fast speed he was talking about, but in the long-run my legs got really tired and it didn't sound as loud as I wanted. When I played drums alone I was super-fast and happy with the result, but playing within my rock band my bass drum couldn't be even heard. So I got really frustrated and developed my own techniques, doing normal 'loud' single strokes and achieving speed and control. Joe's technique requires playing double strokes... His method is great if you play soft music, jazz, reggae, blues.... But if you are into metal or even death metal, forget it, it won't work. Well, anyways, what I want to say is that there is a lot of double bass rubbish out there. Anyone intrested must give it a thought before buying, unless you are a beginner and you want to 'begin' with something. Thanks again Ryan, and if any other drummer who has an idea please let me know.

peace

what about fills? double bass fills that are portnoy-esque sound pretty frickin amazing...for example 2 16ths on the snare and then 2 16ths on the bass.....then just speed that process up and get it the the speed of a single strok roll.....so yeah....fills would be cool.

hi guys thought for those into metal and technical double bass and drum work might be interested in this. derek roddy who played for malevolent creation, nile, hate eternal and some other death feats is putting together a drum lesson video soon. many drummers have asked him to do one so he is going to work on it. if you haven't heard much of him well you're missing out. he is an awesome technical death metal drummer. lightning speed, agility, endurance, and brutal technicalities he has. worth checking out. email derek at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and inquire bout the video he'll be selling soon. Mark

Example - PlanetX - Dog Boots - Virgil Donati

Also take a peek at Virgil Donati's power drumming video....
http://www.mikeyhawthorne.co.uk <<<<< Under Construction just now the full site will be up in the middle of june..... and then i invite you all to 'critize' my drumming.

'Manuel Dominguez Sarmiento' < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it > wrote in message

Yeah, those are the kind of fills I will talk about on my book. Those fills involving hand and feet are really good for beginners to start getting used with double bass drums. The speed I'm talking about is 18th notes at 250 bpm, doing single strokes not double strokes... I believe that is fast enough for double bass, or isn't it?

I really think the best way to feel Ok on your double bass playing is to work your foot technique from the beginning following a snare method !!!!! Always keep on mind that your feet are like your hand and even much better I'd say !!! Just concentrate... Work Hard !

@+ 6669

Yeah... Making Paradilles, Ratamacues, Flamacues, Pataflaflas, Swiss Army Triplets really help the feet's coordination. But it is not as easy as that, I believe that feet/legs require also other practice methods than hands patterns, which of course I call them 'methods' in my double bass book in other to achieve pure control over the double bass. Many drummers asked me if my book was somehow related to Joe Stronsick's 'whip' motion, and it really has nothing to do with it. Joe focuses on playing fast doubles with the feet, I focus on single strokes with the feet. Yep, you're right, serious dedication is the key to success.