Double Kick Workout

I get asked a lot about double bass drum playing. What are the secrets?

Well, if you're struggling with your double kick chops it might be worth taking a step back and checking you've got the basics down. Read the article "The answer to all your drumming problems: is it right under your nose?" for an insight into why you might be missing something.

Anyway, before you start trying to play Virgil Donati bass drum ostinatos or 200bpm rolls try the following exercises. They'll help you identify any weaknesses and lack of control in your feet (do them with your left foot and your right) and should help you gain control and endurance with your feet. They're heel down exercises and a lot of attention should be paid to the 'relax' part. You want to be working only the necessary muscles. Find a tempo at which you can comfortably do the exercises. Work at them every day for a week and you should see some real improvement.

Enjoy...

Basic foot control
Sit down on a chair (not behind the kit). Sit upright so your legs are pretty much horizontal and your knees are bent at about 90 degrees.

Relax.

Rest your left hand on your left thigh and make sure your thigh muscles are relaxed. Tensing your thigh muscle would straighten your leg (ever find your foot gradually sliding up the pedal when playing heel down?) The only way your leg wouldn't straighten when you tense your thigh muscle is if you were also tensing your hamstring (under your leg - the muscle required to bend it). You don't want to straighten your leg, and you don't want to be tensing muscles just for the sake of it, so through all these exercises keep an eye on that thigh muscle and check that it remains relaxed.

We're going to work on some heel down technique. Practising this way will help your heel up playing and give you more options when it comes to playing the bass drum.

So, with your heel resting on the floor pull your toes up as far as they'll go. Feel the tension in your shin muscle - that's the only muscle required to make this motion.

Now, from this position fire your foot down so it briefly hits the floor and makes a satisfying sound and immediately pull it back up to where you started. The only muscles required to to this are your calf muscle (to straighten your foot) and your shin muscle (to pull it back up). Your thigh should remain completely relaxed. If you have to rest your hand on your thigh to check it doesn't tense up then to that.

Practise this a few times. Make sure your foot goes straight down and straight back up. You don't want it moving sideways or wobbling about.

EX 1:Endurance
Once you're happy with that movement set your metronome to 60bpm and play 16th notes (4 per click) for a minute. You should really feel your shin muscle working.

If 60bpm is too fast to do this with control then try it a bit slower. Gradually work up to 2 minutes or 3 minutes. You can do a minute with each foot then start again to give you a rest.

Once you can do this comfortably at 60bpm then you can gradually work your way up to faster speeds. PLEASE NOTE - it's important to try it at 60bpm. Sometimes this exercise can feel easier at faster speeds because you kind of twitch. If you can do it at a fast speed try working down on the metronome. i.e. if you can do it at 90bpm try it at 85bpm.

EX 2:Control
Once you're comfortable playing 16ths 60bpm try playing the following exercises (from stick control - a great book) with your hands - 16th notes at 60bpm. Put your left foot in between what you play with your hands. That means you'll be playing 32nd notes at 60bpm. Your foot will never fall on a click - it will be all the off beat 32nds.

--Hand Patterns--16th notes at 60bpm. Each line lasts for 2 beats of the metronome. Play each line for a minute then move to the next.

R L R L R L R L
L R L R L R L R
R R L L L L R R
L L R R L L R R
R L R R L R L L
R L L R L R R L
R R L R L L R L
R L R L L R L R
R R R L R R R L
L L L R L L L R
R L L L R L L L
L R R R L R R R
R R R R L L L L

With the left foot (F) you'll get this

RFLFRFLFRFLFRFL
LFRFLFRFLFRFLFR
RFRFLFLFLFLFRFR
LFLFRFRFL etc.etc

--
This should give you control and endurance with your left foot.

EX 3:More control
It's one thing to set your foot going and keep it going. It's another to have to start and stop all the time.

In this exercise work through the same stickings as above. Play 2 beats of 32nds with the hands (i.e. twice the speed you originally played), then play 2 beats of the second half of the above exercise (i.e. half the speed with the hands filling in the gaps with the left foot)

The first 3 lines would look like this...

RLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRFLFRFLFRFLFRFLF
LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLFRFLFRFLFRFLFRF
RRLLRRLLRRLLRRLLRFRFLFLFRFRFLFLF