Okay I am, back to talk about double bass drumming.

So it seems that the internet can keep the dream alive even when you cannot. I hadn't posted anything on here in a long time and it is still generating traffic. Thank you internet and everyone who continues to read my old information. New stuff to come, thank you for watching, stay tuned!

Drumming

I like to Drum, I will need to continue the blog again now that I have a job. Welcome to a musicians world, $$$ = I can play my drums! Wahoo. This is one of the most unintelligible posts I have ever had. But it is a reality for this double bass drummer.

Feet-a-diddle VS. Para diddle

So what the heck is the difference between a feet-a-diddle and a para diddle, well seeming how RLRR and LRLL are still directions it is technically still a para diddle. Why do these help with your feet though? I understand independence, the more things you can do with your feet the more your beets you can play naturally. One thing that I found, is I get a different sound when I do a RLRR pattern instead of going RLRL with my feet, doing a double pattern with your lead foot may be more consistent then ending on your weaker foot. So in an instrument such as double bass and drums, where anything goes if it is sound that can be recorded on time, why the heck not. Also if you do double taps, you don't always have to do a clean para diddle, but just end a double tap, so RL RR with the RR being a double tap. The double tap can be done with a heel toe method or just a double tap. Don't know what the exact name for it is but I call it when a punk drummer is trying to sound fast on single bass. Lotta double tapping going on. So try it out, don't just continue to think that playing everything RLRLRL is going to get you through the world. I learned the hard way, I bought a drum book that had some double bass in it, I spent about 1 minute looking through it and it reminded me to try stuff with different feet patterns. The only way you will ever find out what it does, is by actually doing it. So don't be lazy, grab the metronome and practice your diddles, but also different alternating sticking and footing patterns for double bass.

Best kind of practice?

What is the best kind of practice? There are so many different ways that you can practice the drums, and all apply to double bass drumming. Then again you can spend the next 50 years on something and still never completely master everything. It seems to me that practicing the basics are always essential, but then again, Ill take luck over skill any day. It is not uncommon for certain people to have better body and muscle structure than others which cause an unfair advantage in different areas. (unfair because I am neither short nor tall, average can be annoying at times:)) Anything can be learned by muscle memory but as in much of life, certain things come more naturally to other people. Nothing has ever come natural for me with drums,so crossing whatever works with basics, how can you go wrong? Double bass is basically opening up your feet to play like your hands do, so you can accomplish several beats and combinations you never would have been able to. Practicing off the set is good, but real life practice is the best? Cannot really say, what works for you? I often believe that some people are just more gifted, Neil Peart from Rush was self taught, Buddy Rich said he never practiced, he just played, so it seems that words are the biggest constraint. Do what works and call it what you want, as long as you are having fun and achieve what you are trying to than it doesn't matter. Double bass must be practiced to sound good and tight, I am still very sloppy with certain patterns and have spent a significant amount of time trying to perfect. If the basics were done right I shouldn't have that problem, so practice can make you worse, so don't practice the wrong things over and over again. Ha ha! Coming from experience, make sure your pedals operate the same, if not you can be slowly building up the wrong muscles to fail you.

Greatest Drum Cartoon Ever!

I don't usually just have other people's content on my blog, but for the sake of a laugh, this one has double bass and everything. I found it while drumming through Google.

http://www.cartoonsforum.com/ Check them out, its not mine.

The worlds newest bass drum technique! Right here...

I am so AMAZED and TIRED of seeing the heel toe method to be considered a new technique, it is one of the lesser known, but it is not anything new. Pretty positive one of the few drummers that actually uses it in mainstream is Lamb of God's drummer Chris Adler. For those of you who don't know, or who didn't shell out too much money to find out for themselves, the heel toe technique is finally starting to surface as a quick way to get better. Practice the right way will make you perfect.SO, you put your toe on the bass drum pedal, and drop your heal...that is where you get the first hit, then you bring your heel back up and keep your toe into the pedal, that is where you get your second hit. SO, heel down and back up, the longer the foot board, the easier it will be. This one must be practiced a lot to be clean sounding. There are several systems out there if you Google them, that will train you how to do it. You really just need to learn all the basic rudiments again to be able to utilize it. It also really really helps, which not too many of the lessons will tell you, to put a little piece of wood like about a third of an inch tall under the back leg of your drum stool. This makes the function feel much more fluid, and it also shifts your hips forward a little bit. It is not a new technique, it is an old one that has been used for several years but a few guys got smart and started selling the technique. It is an old, but practical way to add style, comfort and different dynamics to your drumming. For a good demonstration Joe Stronsick has some videos that take it outside of just playing really fast. This is not a plug, I did buy the system, but the videos on his site simply show what directions you could go with it. Ballistic Drumming Technique.

E-Interview-Ryan Haugh Drummer from "Burn the Ruin"

This E-Interview is a bit longer than my normal ones, but Mr. Haugh had a bit more to say. Check them out on Myspace, Burn the Ruin from Santa Rosa, bringing some faith into the Hardcore scene. There is plenty of death and metal core in Sonoma County but not many Christian metal bands. Ryan Haugh, the drummer and one of the creators of the band Burn The Ruin, was nice enough to take a few moments out of self promotion, practice, recording, and whats that called, the life of a up and coming musician. You can also follow them on Facebook Profile:Burn The Ruin and Twitter@BURNTHERUIN

DP-How long have you been playing drums, how long for double bass.

RH-I've been playing drums for 7 years give or take some breaks in the early stages haha. Started double bass between 5 and 6 years on and off.


DP-What do you do for endurance in double bass? what would you say is a typical practice regiment for your drumming consists of?

RH- Well when I have time or what I've done in the past at least is I have those sand weights you use for leg lifts and just strap em' on and do single note patterns for a couple minutes and then rest, then go at it again. Biking on a regular basis has helped my legs from giving out too quick too oddly enough. I say always practice with a metronome and definitely working on your consistency is the first thing you need. Then start experimenting with different patterns and rudiments , still using a metronome if you want to be more technical and mailable to various styles of metal or.."double-bassing" ha ha. Sadly I don't have the luxury of my kit always being at my pad cause I live with roommates and my kit is stuck at the practice space a lot.


DP - What was one thing that advanced you in double bass faster than anything else, what clicked in a sense that opened up your style. For me it was watching other double bassists do the loose ankle twitch foot, like you are running in place but applying pressure to just your toes, keeping the foot at a 90 degree angle.

RH - Honestly timing and consistency used to be a huge issue for me. So when I worked at a coffee shop I would spend time on my breaks just working heel down and keep an alternating pattern at various speeds till the burning was unbearable if my kit wasn't ever at home. I've watched a few Thomas Lang(sonor) and Chris Alder(mapex) drum videos and learned the swivel foot technique where you keep your toes pinned but you shift your heels with every beat to get a good momentum and timing up keep. Getting triplet rolls mixed into basic 16Th note patterns was something I always liked doing and with that I would place my right foot with my toe near the back then move up second beat of the triplet to get that nice roll out... if that makes any sense. Notation isn't my strongest area I'm more of a feel guy. You'll hear me play it in "Subject: Humanity's End on a breakdown near the end.

DP - As a local band, what do you think is holding you back from hitting mainstream, if you want to go that direction, if you don't you are just going to be playing bars.

RH - Probably the style of music we play, Metal core, Hardcore, Death metal whatever just doesn't hit MTV or the Popular tabloids obviously but we're okay with that as I'm sure most bands in our genre feel the same way. Everyone is this band loves to play for people, we love being on stage giving people something to enjoy and bring their friends to. Some of us also have a passion to use music as our ministry to lead other's towards Christ through interacting on stage and on personal levels with the fans, yeah i dropped the Jesus Freak bomb ha ha WHAT?..anyway. It's all in the music you play and how much promotion/cash money you have if you really wanna get mainstream. We play bar venues , churches, popular venues in the north , east , and south bay areas so we have a pretty wide range of fans and publicity thanks to our promoter and all the bands and small promotion companies we're good friends with. We're so thankful for the following we have right now and we're sure it'll grow. Definitely okay if we don't hit MTV or the charts, it's all good.

DP - I'm listening to the song Humanity's End on and there is a really cool melodic part, your drumming is not overplayed, how do you keep from overplaying?

RH - Thanks! Basically shut up and let your guitarist tell you what to play is how you keep from overplaying ha ha totally kidding. Because we're not solely a technical "math metal" or "shred metal" band, you know, we incorporate a lot of melody and kinda catchy rock jams to our metal it's really rough to have the drum full speed ahead with double time on every limb ha ha. It would all just sound like crap and the song itself would lose it feel and dynamic. Sometimes less is more if you want Guitar parts to be glorified if you want to achieve something that is catchy and will be something people can remember.

DP- What is the biggest show you have played?

RH - Um... Ha ha. It's a tie between the Carnifex(victory records), With Blood Comes Cleansing(victory) , and A Different Breed of Killer show we played in Modesto, Ca last year , and the My Children My Bride(solid state records), Impending Doom(facedown records), and Underneath The Gun(ferret records) show we played at the Phoenix in Petaluma, Ca. Both were amazing shows.

DP-When you first started playing your shows, did you notice a difference in your playing when practicing and when on stage? I ask because my double bass sounds best when I am by myself, when people watch it makes me a bit nervous to impress, playing shows gets you amped, so I was curious to see how you handle that, or if it is even an issue?

RH - Ha ha yeah now and then it depends. If I'm really amped about the show and there's a lot of people I tend to play much better. When there's less people and they're inchin' in on you then it's kinda weird, especially with me cause I'm anal about drum sound, I hate not being completely miked so if I'm not I get kinda self-conscious about playing, have no idea why. Practice with the band I tend to be a little more rough around the edges and it's because I'm always experimenting since I'm the unlucky one who can't practice at home.....sigh ha ha.

DP- I see you have played quite a few shows, how long did you work on your material before you hit the stage?

RH - Well for a recent example we have our newest set now, which is pretty much the whole new ep, and two songs outta that ep we've played for a while. The rest of the songs we spent a good 6 months on. 4 Months to write riffs and then compose, last to months to practice through the whole ep to have ready for shows and recording. Once the song is written we'll maybe go over it for 3 weeks to a month depending on how many days outta the week we practice, then hit it up on the stage. We've always been anal with each other about how ready a song needs to be ha ha. So far a little under a month is agreeable for everyone.

Another insight into another mind of double bass drumming. Bringing up the local scene one show at a time. Don't forget to check them out, you never know who is going to be the next masters of metal.