I’ve tried a few different exercises for double bass, and I guess they’ve all helped
a little. My biggest problem is consistency. At this point in my life I should be a lot better
at it, but up until last year I haven’t put much effort into it.
I started at 70 bpm, and I play 4 different tempos at that speed, starting out L L L L then
R R R R, R L R L, RLRLRLRL, and on. When I feel like I could play the fastest beat all day long, I
move up 5 bpm’s.
I’ve only been at this exercise for a week or so. It seems to be helping so far. I do similar exercises with my hands.
If you can’t play it slow, you’ll never be able to play it fast.
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6 Comments
What kind of constancy problems are you having? When I started learning double bass yrs ago I used my hands to guide my feet. Right hand with right foot, left hand left foot ect. Start off with quarters and work your way up through eights, triplets then sixteenths. if you have consistent timing in your hands, It will be easy to match up your feet. After you feel good with that start working on limb independence.
Upper limb* independence. Finally someone that wants to talk all things percussion in austin.
I’m inconsistent and am trying to build up my endurance. I usually play a different beat with my hands while I’m practicing double bass. I work out of the 4 way coordination book too. Sometimes I can feel what my hands are doing in interfering with what my feet are doing, so I’ll take your suggestion and see what happens. I’ve gotten a lot better but I still have some work to do.
Endurance goes hand in hand with technique. Heels up or heels down? Drummers tend to tense up around thighs and mid torso area when playing heels up. I prefer heels up. Try adjusting your seat higher if you feel like your tensing. The higher your seat, the more you have gravity helping your down stroke (down beat i should say) as well as making it easier to lift your leg as opposed to lifting from a 90 degree angle when sitting lower? Long Board or Short Board pedal? How is your spring tension on your pedal? Also try moving the beater up or down. Spring tension, beater placement, and the ever important WD40 will make all the difference.
A great starting off point for limb independence for me was playing a 4 measure phrase from single quarters>eigths>sixteenths>doubles (rrll)>Para-diddles (rlrr lrll). Start off horribly slow this will allow you to concentrate on the technique and muscle memory of playing over the 16ths
I usually play heels down, it feels more relaxed to me. I think my seat is good, my pedals are fairly tight and I get nice bounce off the head, I got things positioned pretty well, I’m very comfortable and relaxed. I am playing dw 5000′s, and I would love some Trick Big Foot longboards, but, you know. The reason I’m interested in Tricks is because I like how the springs are adjusted, they look well built and they don’t have allen screws everywhere. I don’t expect those pedals to make me better or faster. I’ve been using dw’s for about 13 years, along with Pearls which are much better than dw’s.
I’m trying all of the suggestions that I get. Thanks to everyone for the advice.
I think I’ll improve more as I get used to my left foot being on a drum instead of a mushy slave pedal. Two bass drums (for me) is so much better, and looks better.
The double bass is coming along. My left foot is starting to feel as good as my right.
It feels almost as good without warming up. I’m done with double pedals unless I go audition or practice with someone.