Single & Double Bass Drum Applications

FreeDrumLessons.com Live Single & Double Bass Drum Applications Lesson #20 Sheet Music Included Featuring Tim Waterson With Jared Falk & Dave Atkinson Overview & Transcriptions b Hugo Janado

FreeDrumLessons.com Live Single & Double Bass Drum Applications In this live drum lesson, Tim Waterson joins us to teach single and double bass drum applications. Tim takes ou through some basic single and double bass beats that will spice up our drumming and give ou a dnamic edge. Single Bass Development Before learning how to pla double bass, ou first should get as good as ou can at single bass drumming. A wa of taking our single bass plaing to a whole new level is b tring to pla slow to medium double bass patterns with onl one foot. Tim started developing this concept b working on the double bass triplet patterns ou see before ou. While practicing these beats, Tim noticed that he performed full long full strokes with his foot, which was still a lot of work. So, as speed increases ou will have to increase the level of control of the beater, and as such, our 1

Lesson #20 Single & Double Bass Drum Applications technique will have to change with it. These grooves are a great wa of not onl practicing our single foot single strokes, but of practicing the swivel, which was teached on the previous lesson. As ou develop our single foot speed and control, ou can start thinking about dropping some extra notes with our left foot, to achieve some cool double bass drum patterns and rolls, just like the ones ou saw on the previous page. The first two beats are the first two measures of the last patterns shown and are plaed with our right foot. The remaining beats are some ideas ou can use to start adding some notes with our left foot. How to Avoid Misusing the Double Pedal The idea behind this isn t to tell ou to not use the double bass, since there is nothing wrong in using it as ou see fit. This section is more about showing different approaches to common double bass drum plaing, but with onl one bass drum pedal. This wa, we hope to make ou start thinking a little outside of the box. Hand-To-Feet Combinations One of the most common patterns to pla between hands and foot for single bass drum plaers is the triplet hand-to-foot combination: R L F. Although being showed with the hands plaing on the snare, feel free to experiment and move our hands around the kit, just like Tim did in the live lesson. Some double bass plaers do the exact same thing but add an extra bass note with the second pedal, to pla a 16 th note hand-to-feet combination: R L F F. Tr moving our hands around the kit with this one also. You can perform this pattern with a double pedal but ou don t reall have to. Great legends like Budd Rich, John Bonham, Ian Paice and Carl Palmer, just to name a few, could pla this exact same pattern b using onl one pedal. This enabled them to keep time with the hihat while doing so. The great problem of plaing this pattern with a double pedal is leaving the hi-hat unused, which sometimes ma hinder the band s time sense. The next pattern takes the two hand-to-feet combinations we have seen so far, and adds the hi-hat pedal to them, while the right foot takes care of all the bass drum strokes. This sequence starts with the triplet hand-to-foot combination and is followed b the 16 th note hand-to-foot combination. As speed increases ou can use the heel-toe for double 2

FreeDrumLessons.com Live stroking with onl one foot. This technique is teached on two live lessons: #2 and #19. You can also use this idea of plaing a double stroke with one foot while keeping time on the hi-hat, as a wa to spice up our double pedal fills, interchanging between that and the double bass hand-to-feet combination. Keeping Time With the Hi-Hat Pedal Although being a great double bass plaer, Tim tries to do everthing with onl one pedal, especiall when plaing at slow tempos for double bass drumming. This enables him to keep time with the hi-hat pedal, which makes plaing with him a whole lot easier for an band. The next grooves will help ou to feel the difference it makes to add the hihat pedal to our plaing, in comparison with onl using the double bass pedal with our feet, whether in keeping time or in grooving it up with the foot-splash. Adding the hi-hat pedal makes everthing sound more musical. These grooves are also great for practicing the swivel, once ou get to higher tempos. You start b plaing quarter notes on the snare, 8 th notes on the ride, and 16 th notes with the bass drum pedal. On the second measure, instead of plaing all four quarter notes on the snare, ou pla the first three and then add two extra hits, one on the A of 3 and one on the AND of 4. Next, ou keep plaing the same patterns with the right hand on the ride and the bass drum pedal; the snare drum is on the A of 1, the AND of 2, the A of 3 and the AND of 4. In this measure ou start using the hi-hat foot, b pressing the pedal down on 2, 3 and 4 and b plaing the foot splash on the ANDs of 2, 3 and 4. The last measure of this pattern is an extension of the third. After ou can pla these grooves as the are, tr plaing them with a double pedal, as this will enable ou to have a clearer notion of how much of a difference the hi-hat makes to the beats. 3

Lesson #20 Single & Double Bass Drum Applications Implementing Double Bass Into Your Plaing Keeping Time With the Hi-Hat and Bass Drum Pedals Single bass drummers can use the hi-hat pedal as a wa of keeping the pulse of song going strong. A lot of the old school double bass plaers, like Carmine Appice, would keep time with their left foot on a bass drum pedal, instead of using the hi-hat. Since the were used to doing that on the hi-hat pedal, the just naturall switched to the left bass drum pedal to do exactl the same. The would then add extra hits with the right foot to create some double bass grooves. Since the hi-hat is free, and ou are still keeping time with the left foot, but on a bass drum pedal, ou could put our foot in between the two pedals and pla them at the same time. This wa, ou keep a pulse for the band to follow and at the same time pla double bass patterns. These last three grooves show the transitions between keeping time using onl the hi-hat foot pedal, keeping time with the left bass drum pedal and plaing the two pedals at the same time. Tr transitioning from one groove to the other; this will give ou a better feel for how these tpes of ideas can work. You can also use this concept in conjunction with the heel-toe technique to come up with some cool grooves like this next one. 4

FreeDrumLessons.com Live Multi-Pedal Orchestration Another great and different wa of approaching double bass drumming comes in the form of multi-pedal orchestration. Now, instead of plaing the left bass drum and hi-hat pedal at the same time, we will use different combinations between them to achieve some interesting ideas. In the first two measures ou keep time b plaing 8 th notes between the left bass drum and hi-hat pedals. On the next two measures we shake things up b keeping time, b plaing one note on bass drum followed b two on the hihat pedal. In the last pattern ou pla a single paradiddle between the left foot pedals. Double Bass Beats Using the Heel-Toe Technique For those who want to pla double bass rolls, Tim introduced some ideas that enable ou to spice up a roll using the heel-toe technique. Here ou have some of the patterns he plaed during the live lessons. 5

Lesson #20 Single & Double Bass Drum Applications Tips on Speed and Control Speed The higher ou crank the spring tension on our pedals the harder our legs will have to work for each stroke, and as such, the quicker the will achieve a greater level of conditioning that will enable greater speed. Remember to alwas pla relaxed even when having the springs at a higher level of tension. Rudiments Plaing rudiments with the feet will definitel increase the level of control ou have over our bass drum pedals. For instance, Tim uses a lot of rudiments in his bass drum plaing. You can listen to him plaing the seven stroke roll on some of the solos. So if ou want to practice rudiments with the feet, b all means go for it. Heel-Down Plaing For acquiring speed with heel-down plaing ou have to learn how to control the beater. As for plaing fast doubles while in this position, ou can use our toes to do so. Practicing Without Pedals Tim uses the HansenFutz pedals to practice when he s at home. The have a compression spring that ou push down when pressing down on the pedal. The spring will in turn push our foot back up, enabling ou to reall work out our leg, whether performing the up or the down strokes. When ou practice ou foot technique on the floor, the up stroke is the onl movement that is 6

FreeDrumLessons.com Live making our leg work, since the down stroke is a result of gravit. So with this pedal, ou have a reall complete training for our legs. 7

FreeDrumLessons.com Live Broadcast Single & Double Bass Applications b Tim Waterson 1) Double Bass Pattern for a Single Pedal (0:09:18s) 3 3 3 3 3 3 2) Double Bass Pattern for a Single Pedal, Dropping Notes With the Second Pedal (0:11:23s) 3 3 3 3 FreeDrumLessons.com - Copright 2007-2010 Railroad Media, Inc. - All Rights Reserved - Licensed For Personal Use Onl 1

3) Triplet Hand-to-Foot Combination - Move the Hands Around the Drums (0:13:07s) R L R L R L R L 4) 16th Note Hand-to-Feet Combination - Move the Hands Around the Drums (0:13:28s) R L R L R L R L 5) Single Bass Pedal Hand-to-Feet Combination - Move the Hands Around the Drums (0:14:12s) R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L 6) Double Bass Pattern for a Single Pedal With Hi-Hat Foot Splashing (0:17:46s) o o o o o o o 7) Keeping Time With the Left Foot Hi-Hat Pedal (0:28:03s) ( ) ( ) FreeDrumLessons.com - Copright 2007-2010 Railroad Media, Inc. - All Rights Reserved - Licensed For Personal Use Onl 2

8) Keeping Time With the Left Foot Bass Drum Pedal (0:28:07s) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 9) Keeping Time With the Left Foot Bass Drum and Hi-Hat Pedals (0:28:11s) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 10) Multi-Pedal Orchestration (0:29:11s) 11) Keeping Time With the Left Foot Bass Drum and Hi-Hat Pedals (0:30:22s) 3 3 FreeDrumLessons.com - Copright 2007-2010 Railroad Media, Inc. - All Rights Reserved - Licensed For Personal Use Onl 3