Double Bass - Why I suck at it

[Giznoldthethird]

Check out Georges 16 week double bass workout. It helps your balance so much. Its about taking small steps.

Jojo Mayer says if you are having trouble with speed. SLOW DOWN!!! You need to find where the gunk in your gears is at. Start slow, like 60-80 bpm slow, and work your way up in tempo by 5-10 bpm at a time. Playing as relaxed as possible. When you start feeling yourself push, take it down 5-10 bpm and use that as your base line.

Taking a break is big too. Sometimes I will practice like crazy for a while and then take maybe a whole week off. You come back rejuvenated and with new ideas.

Ruts suck but you just need to focus on the things you arent good at. Try something new!

[McGowan Ayera]

I mentioned it earlier, but i will again because i dont think its emphasized enough when people talk about double bass. You are only as strong as your weakest link. I guarantee if you just started double bass, your left (or opposite) foot will be fairly uncoordinated and weak. You really need to target this! Play beats with your left foot, play songs with it, anything at all. If you cant play 8th notes with your left foot at 180bpm, then you cant play 16th notes with both feet at 180bpm (probably). So yeh, dont neglect it!

[Erik Schultek]

Originally Posted by McGowan Ayera

I mentioned it earlier, but i will again because i dont think its emphasized enough when people talk about double bass. You are only as strong as your weakest link. I guarantee if you just started double bass, your left (or opposite) foot will be fairly uncoordinated and weak. You really need to target this! Play beats with your left foot, play songs with it, anything at all. If you cant play 8th notes with your left foot at 180bpm, then you cant play 16th notes with both feet at 180bpm (probably). So yeh, dont neglect it!

ditto! exactly

[Diablo523]

Thanks for the advice man!

Originally Posted by liquidknowledg3

Just curious...what pedals are you using?

Im using Trick Pro 1v Bigfoots

[forcedtobleed]

Originally Posted by Diablo523

Okay so I used to play heel toe just about every chance i got, which was great because i could play 16s at 120 bpm, and then easily double that instantly, to 16s at 240. but because i got a double bass set, heel toe didnt sound as good and i started to realize the advantages of heel up, so now im doing that.

As of late though, i dont feel like im making ANY progress, my legs feel sluggish and i dont have any balance after tempos of 125 and 130. i can usually start fine, but i run out of stamina and lose my balance, usually on my right leg. I can play these tempos on the ground fine, and there seems to be this high tempo i can reach naturally by just moving my ankles, but i cant speed up or slow down that one too well.

could someone lend advice? i practice EVERY single day, but just cannot get out of this rut! my hands are improving greatly, my legs just seem to have down syndrome...

thanks for making this thread man i am in the same exact boat as you. it sucks but i feel like i am starting to get out of it, i just really slowed down the bpm. also what i noticed was that i was using way to much leg and not enough ankle in my double bass stoke which was making me lose balance and stamina. try to examine what your technique is like when you are playing.

[Alex Lancia]

Originally Posted by Diablo523

Thanks for the advice man!


Im using Trick Pro 1v Bigfoots

Maybe try going back to some basic chain drives for the time being? It might help with conditioning since your moving away from heel-toe and just now learning heel up.

Make sure your paying attention to how your moving. It sounds like your stuck with rigid, full leg motion when you need to be using ankle motion to smooth out your double bass. You should feel almost no tension in your legs and your ankles should be loose while playing 16ths...all the motion/energy is in your heel...

Also check your pedal settings, especially with tricks you have a lot of adjustment and if its not set up right it could be part of the problem.

[AlphaBlast]

Trust me your double bass will come in time,just try to relax and figure out what motions are the best for your legs, you'll get through some pain definitelly before you get to the sleek part, so don't think you're on the wrong way, if it's not working only means you need to practice more,but don't push it too much cos you need to feel comfortable in every point so you could move on and know for sure you're doing it right

I had so much trouble with it in the past, don't even want to remember it, it gives me nightmares haha...but I guess there's no shortcut XD..

[Diablo523]

Originally Posted by Alex Lancia

Make sure your paying attention to how your moving. It sounds like your stuck with rigid, full leg motion when you need to be using ankle motion to smooth out your double bass. You should feel almost no tension in your legs and your ankles should be loose while playing 16ths...all the motion/energy is in your heel...

I started doing that actually, after I've received so much advice from everyone on here. But im understanding what that means now, like as I start to go above 120 and get past 130, I push a bit with my ankles and it makes it way more fluid and comfortable for me. Also, I might mess around with some adjustments to see if I cant find a better one.

[Girtelio]

Month ago I sucked at 150 16th notes, today I suck at 155 16th notes... I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, just have to keep on practicing. Thats it. Iam not pushing for 220bpm taping, I want clean tight double bass, so Ill take it steady.
Ex drummer of my band went to L.A to study drums. (I still cant believe that something like that could happen) So, before that school he was doing like ~200. We didnt need more, we are not brutal death. And we thought that he did it pretty well. Guys at LA school didnt think like that. They re-tuned he's pedals and he have to do 16th notes exercises at 50bpm. B/c all this "speed it up" thing basically fucked up he's technique. I have a big poster in front of my drum set: "dont hurry", suggest to make such for yourselves

Its interesting how legs are changing motion or finding something to help achieve what i am willing to do. Sometimes it helps, sometimes I have to fight for clean motion, sometimes I'am messing up my balance b/c of overdoing leg exercises... Its takes A LOT of time...

One things for sure - there is no shortcut. Sad but true.

[Phil]

constantly trying to achieve what you're aiming for will get you there sooner than you think! I used to suck @ double bass too for some time and i started drumming as a whole 3 years ago and double bass only 2-2.5 years and i always wanted to play nice double bass so i just tried to get better and voilà , it's fine today!
i would recommend you not to force on some special technique so hard than rather just play and try out yourself! Trust me , you will notice the progress really fast if you keep going constantly and don't cancel if you think it's not as tight or fast as you want
Also , if you really have fun while playing , you will learn easier and faster ; it's not a competition , it's your passion so just chill and you will get better =) If you get into much mental pressure , you hinder yourself. Try to keep cool and don't look on other drummers too much , as you might get envious and depressive! Relax and mostly FUN and passion while playing will grant you the biggest success! Heads up dude