Single Kick foot technique- what worked best for you?

[Bounce]

Hey, everyone :-) I've been playing drums for 7,000 years (it doesn't show in my playing). I started in fifth grade band, played in marching band in high school, all-county band, all-state, some scholarships and fancy pants award stuff then went to college and majored in-

yup drumming (music major)

toured all over, then started playing other instruments, singing, writing songs, engineering, production, yada yada and abruptly pretty much stopped practicing the drums (kept playing, though, occasionally).
I'd still record drum tracks (playing) for other people and would play live with folks but didn't have interest in improving my chops further or pursuing better kit technique.
Lately, I've been playing a lot more (have gotten really into electronic drumming)
and guess what?

My foot technique just SUCKS!

I've always been hand heavy (rudiments, yada yada). My foot gets the job done but all my training was up top and I've just never had real speed in my foot (plenty of power but no REAL speed). I just started working on this heel/toe technique that I bought a video for and it seems promising but I'm wondering if any of you have had any great results with any particular method? I'd like to pull off some of those Dennis Chambers type of repetitive triplets. etc. just for kicks (hee hee) and my foot is just short of a boat anchor right now. I've just started working on it daily and I'm either seeing improvement or a bunion, I'm not sure. If I get one foot happening, I'll move on to a double pedal for the ladies ;-)

Anyone help a brother out? Who's got rocket foot around here?

I've definitely tightened up my pedal since I started this new thing and that seems promising but...

Any thoughts on pedals, spring tension, foot placement on the floorboard, stationary foot or slide forward or left technique, books, videos, secret societies (is it the Masons who have all the foot control?), rebound, organic free range socks, toe rings, pedicures, ankle bracelets?

[reid]

Slide forward does it for me.

Still working on being consistent in not leaving the beater against the head; I much prefer the extra resonance I get this way - anyone else got an opinion on this?

[joeq]

Originally Posted by reid

Slide forward does it for me.

Still working on being consistent in not leaving the beater against the head; I much prefer the extra resonance I get this way - anyone else got an opinion on this?

I just look at it as a trade off, burying the beater is trading speed for a certian kind of tone.

[firby]

I have good chops with my feet. We have about the same background. Way back when I started developing them I would concentrate first on pointing my toes up when I played. That did something for it. Then later I concentrated some on relaxing the whole foot. I play heel down with a long wooden beater. The spring is not too tight. Getting the speed is one thing and endurance is another. When I practice I play alot of ruffs and triplet patterns as well as sixteenths. Always push the physical development a little and you will be fine.

[Drumsound]

I play with my heel up, but not too far up. It's maybe an inch or so. That way I'm not putting a lot of evergy into the shin muscles lifting the foot. The foot is kind of in the reaposition from my quadrscepts holding it slightly off the pedal. For fast doubles I slid up the pedal a bit on my down stroke, but also articulate with my ankle. It kind of devides up the work, which makes the double faster if needed, plus takes less energy to do.

When I'm not trying or needing fast notes, I might let the heel come down after impact, but lift the toes slightly to keep the beater from laying into the head. I want the drumhead and the drum intself to reconate a bit.

[Curtis Franklin]

Practice heels down. I am in the same boat as yourself (rudimental/hands primary background) and as soon as i got the hang of heels down. voila!

[Bounce]

Hey, thanks for the feedback, guys! I've been working my right foot every day feeling the movement of my leg, ankle, and toes and the pedal's sweet spot using an "almost heel down to toe" approach (heel toe technique) and it's been getting better. I'm going to keep training my muscle memory and see where it goes. I intend to be a foot monster at the end of this training period :-)
Once that's comfy, I'll start the left foot.

Anyone else got any success stories or technique tips?

I'm using a Jared Falk DVD. It's a rather odd technique (heel toe) but the guy's got same pretty crazy foot control. The video's got a couple of loose groove moments but the footwork is usually pretty slick, both single and double pedal chops.

[ryguydrum@netsc]

One interesting Buddy Rich technique was to take
the spring completely out of the bass drum pedal.
This way you only have the bounce of the bass
drum head to bring the beater back towards you.

practice with a click track too. . . .its boring, but
your footwork will become solid.

also. . . I haven't tried it, but some drummer in
DRUM magazine (sorry, can't remember which
issue/drummer) said that he wore ankle weights
while he practiced. I dunno if thats good or bad,
but he said it helped him gain speed and strength.

[toolskid]

Balance is everything. I see a lot of people trying to rock slipfoot doubles while SUPER high or low on the kit, they just don't really come that easy from a very lofty or low perch. Heel-toe is a different kettle of fish as good balance is actually built into the technique wether you like it or not. A good way into that vibe is to practice the Steve Smith drop heel technique or static foot heel toe. As you might imagine toe stays in one spot and the heel drops to make the rear stroke , slight rock back to the toe to get the flow moving! Interweave this motion on each foot with the double kick to get much less physically demanding fast 16ths.

A good way to get slipfoot doubles happening is to take the psuedo-samba bass drum and hat pattern and just play all your rudiments over the top while keeping that rocking. When you start to get to fast tempos you'll be more able to control that little skip thats necessary to motor the groove. Bring that feeling back to split doubles between toms and bass drum with one hand, or four stroke ruffs combined with a double from the bass drum and you're in Dennis Chambers heaven!

I personally have my pedals very light, but I've seem people do amazing stuff on pedals I can't even push down!

[Bounce]

Hey thanks for the tips! I must say I've made real progress this week with the heel/toe technique. I switched from my DW5000 pedal to a Yamaha pedal and that actually helped a good bit feeling the motion and rebound. I know once I have full control of this technique I'll be able to use most any gear (like using 2B's for long enough, then you can even use chopsticks and do rudiments) but the Yammie feels light and springy. My speed and consistency has literally doubled in the past couple weeks! I'm working on better control and switching between heel up (my usual approach to pocket stuff) and the heel/toe for speed. I may just switch to the Steve Smith thing all the time as it is pretty relaxed :-) This heel/toe thing is really cool if there's someone out there who hasn't tried it! There are some videos on youtube of folks using this technique (some good some not so) if you search for "heel toe technique."

Take care...

[C/G]

Heel up for me, not too high and I tend to slide forward a tad on the ball of my foot. Kind of a push and slide thing going. I like heavy feeling pedals as well. I use a DW 5000 with a pair of those little supplied weights screwed to the front of the pedal where the chain attatches.

I learned my kick drum techniques from Zepplin records when I was 19. I'm a self taught hack though, so my pedal methods probably are not the most efficient in the world. I've tried heel down and the muscles in my shins burn like crazy and it simply feels very awkward to me, but see the above info regarding me being a self taught hack.

[brendondp]

Heel up on the ball of my foot, a little bit of sliding back and forth, medium-heavy spring tension, Axis pedal.

I play a 26" kick mostly, so the beater shaft is extended quite a bit which results in a slower action, but I prefer that to really light pedal action where I feel I have no reistance.

And I don't like leaving the beater on the head, though my kick has two heads with no muffling or venting.

Cheers to you,

bdp

[Jax]

Originally Posted by Bounce

Once that's comfy, I'll start the left foot.

I'd suggest developing both feet at the same time. It sounds crazy, but your untrained foot will learn from the trained foot and you'll also develop muscle memory in each foot at the same time. This is if you're planning on playing double bass, or becoming a drummer with fully independent limbs (or both).

[Jax]

Originally Posted by toolskid

... practice the Steve Smith drop heel technique or static foot heel toe. As you might imagine toe stays in one spot and the heel drops to make the rear stroke , slight rock back to the toe to get the flow moving!

This is what I'm doing. I didn't know what it was called until now! For the samba double stroke thing, also try playing all permutations of where the double can start and end in 4/4. Reason being, you'll notice that the 2nd beat of the double tends to be accented compared to the 1st. Depending on the music your playing and what you want to do, it's good to have control of the dynamics between the 1st and 2nd beats in a double, and have the ability to even them out or have the 1st louder than the 2nd as needed.

[Bounce]

Yeah, it's odd changing technique after playing for a billion years heel up only (toe only). This technique is not the same as full heel down (no shin muscle strain). The Steve Smith thing is actually really relaxed (heel comes up but the down stroke is connected from the heel for anyone that hasn't heard of this). I'm digging it a lot.
I played double bass many years ago and was able to do the usual basics with it when performing (16th triplet ruff, sixteenth jogs, 12/8 jogging, enter cliché here) but never worked it enough to do the full Dom Famularo thing. I was doing mostly funk stuff and the Sheila E. yellow double bass kit made me wanna go double kick for the funk band I was in (and heck, we had roadies and all that so what the heck?)! Good times. I've been doing doubles with my toe fine for years but never really got good fast repetitive Dennis Chambers type licks with that technique (probably not enough practice on it!). I'm getting some crazy speed and endurance with this heel toe thing. I'm getting more consistent with it and am starting to work some specific groove exercises to switch between toe and heel/toe on command. That's the new tricky part :-) I'm having fun working on it and seeing fast progress. I'm obsessed!