The Evil Metronome-Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween. Beware the evil metronome of death! Actually it can breathe a lot of life into your drumming. I finally picked up that bugger and set it to 60 bpm's. I would love nothing more than to just double bass roll at 1400bpm's all day but it has to be music at some point. It was like my skin was melting off of my bones, I just wanted to hit the drum a whole bunch of times. Did it for an hour for about 3 days. Just that little window of practice made a huge impact on my left foot for double bass. Its evil, it can be scary, but it works!

I got this for the holidays a couple of years back for around $100. This is for if you don't want to blast your ears out with beeps and ticks.

http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/mrt3/index.php

Too much China with my Double Bass

Metal music and china cymbals. I just realized, that the less is more concept may come up more than a couple of times on this blog. I think it is funny that drummers in metal can have some screaming double bass, 16th note triplet action and fast blasts, and then throw in the garbage can of cymbals over the top. When is it okay, when it becomes your style and you make it sound good. Matt Greiner from August Burns Red is a perfect example of that. It sounds really good with their style but for some it may be a bit much. Personally I think if you can pull something different off, good for you for being different, that is one of the hardest things to do these days!

Twitter Double Bass David

Look out tweeting world here I come, I have decided to slightly change the concept of this page. I think the world needs a blog that gets inside of the head of double bassists, or one that allows us Double Bass drummers to have like minded conversations. Gung ho!

Double Triple Quadruple Pedals for Drumming

Innovation in drums, not really. Apparently double bass pedals have been around since the turn of the century, (last time) , but had taken much time to gain acceptance in the music world. Double bass pedals are all you really need. If you need a triple it is because you are looking for a different sound, anything done on a triple can be pulled off on a single. Even a double bass pattern can be split between a single bass and floor tom. Surprisingly you go to you tube and there are actually quite a few amputee drummers, never stopped them! There is no quick way to get good at drums except to simply practice. John Bonham said he didn't need a double bass pedal because he said he was faster without it. Death metal hadn't been invented yet so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Also because he has killer chops, gigantic drumsticks, and had a very explosive sound for the time. Quadruple bass, starting to get a bit ridiculous. But, for the sake of music, any new sound is a sound waiting for a home. To each his own, just make the music sound good and nobody cares what you play, how you play it, or why you are playing it. Rock on!

Band With The One Red Shoe

Something that I have noticed is how some bands have the wrong shoe on, one simple change can change your audience and lose your fan base. The good thing is if you are on the receiving end. For example Bury Your Dead, awesome hardcore double bass drumming. They probably have lost a lot of their fan base recently but I think the world needs more melody in metal anyway. They had a good sound with the previous singer and they have recently brought in a melodic singer with screaming capabilities. This allows the double bass drumming to be a little bit more creative and out of the typical breakdown style they had before. I just recently grabbed a new guitarist for my band and feel that we may have put on the red shoe, you may be just able to make one small change and it will make the difference. The same goes for double bass, maybe a little bit less here, and a little bit more there can go a long way.

Double bass, in your face!

One thing that has always intrigued me as a musician is the concept of the "less is more." Pop music will always win on the genre with the most less is more, it is more revolved around what the general populous likes at the time, which is very primal, "animal like to beat drum, beat drum". The human brain just likes to stomp a foot or clap hands, so how come we push past that? The human desire is to also push limits and boundries of ourselves and the world we live in. Metal Music is a great example, metal music is well constructed (at least the pros do!), and almost as complicated as classical music. So why do we like to have double bass in your face? I think it is because we like to push the envelope and it is also an aquired taste. The funny thing that I have noticed is the fact that mainstream music has picked up double bass in the last couple of years. So where is less is more going now? It is getting away from itself in my oppinion. But I am a fan of more complicated with a simple feel that is easier to follow, hence the reason why Eastern music is an aquired taste for us. Different scales, larger ranges, and twangier sounds. Looks like we are the ones in the stone age of aquired taste. What do you think?