Speed on Bass drums is a over rated item BUT there are times you need speed the double pedal stuff today s really annoys me ... I loathe double pedals I used 2 bass drums for 40 years just in the last 3 to 4 years have I dropped one bass drum but I still play just a single pedal and i can still double it when needed , but quality of licks will beat speed anytime... a well placed triplet or quad placed at the end of a bar will sound much better than a bar of 32nds

What I have noticed is that since I quit playing live and i turned 61 last year I can not play Rock and Roll by led zep anymore at correct time i used to play it very well with all ghost notes on snare and base drum so is it age or is it lack od live gis staying in playing shape? who knows play have fun and don't compare your self to anyone else s style or playing levels

Not sure your math is right. Isn't it, Old + Helicopter Kick Notes = Bad?

You're a more diligent double-pedal learner than I. I bought a DW 5000AD3 double pedal a few years ago and used it for about 2 years. I was no Virgil Donati, but had some fun. Now I only use half of it. I think I've played too long with one pedal, to want to learn to use a double pedal (old dog syndrome, perhaps). I also don't like not having my foot on my HH. Maybe when I'm 60?

Good luck, man.

B

The last time I used fast 32nds on a gig was.....was....um.....er....

....never?

:)

you mean back when, then over and through at that gig you know the same one i know were there oh yeh blue cheer summer time blues http://youtu.be/9W8jcDS2It0 just chokin

u only need 1 pedal

I've been fooling around with a double pedal for a couple of months now. I'm not ready for the stage (or even band practice), but I can feel the improvement since I've started.

I don't foresee playing 32nds for an extended period, but I'm looking forward to incorporating some 16ths within beats to add a little funk every now and then.

I can play most of what I need with my right foot, but my right leg is probably 25 pounds heavier than it was when I was in college. I'm mainly doing it to get my left leg in better shape. If anything, it should improve my hat playing.

Singerland: I,ll be 70 in July. I play every day for the pleasure and exercise plus I do some Gigging when needed. I played double basses for a good while and then found I could make my speed king do all that I needed to do.But as I aged my foot begin to get slower so I bought DW5000 double pedals and they let me do what I needed. I now play Pearl Demon Drives and can adjust them to my feet better than other pedals. They feel better than others, at least to me anyway.

I found that when I first started playing double Basses I played what seemed like endless hours of Paradiddles with my feet. I played paradiddles only as it seemed to make my left foot fall into a groove that wasn,t as tiring as singles or doubles? Don,t know why just wasn,t and it gave a lot more independance to my left foot and I got faster. Thats how I practiced to get faster.It worked for me anyway.

The advice given about not trying to push thru the pain is good advice as you should be comfortable at all times.

One thing I would recommend to you (as we all age) is to get a very good Drumming Throne. Don,t skimp on this, it pays off as you age and saves your back(and butt) from a lot of pain.I wish I had done this when I was younger. I bought a Tama extra padded throne with an adjustable back rest. It was not cheap but lets me play comfortable.

Tom

Tom,

Good advice on the throne! I don't use a back-rest, but have had an expensive, good-quality, very comfortable throne for many years. Actually bought it new in '71 or '72. A Ludwig "pnuematic" throne with an over-sized seat. You actually set on a "cushion" of air and can "bounce" on it. IF I remember correctly, they only offered that throne for 1 or 2 years. I do know that somebody still makes one, but I don't think they were ever very popular!

And, you know I NEVER thought of drummin' as being good exercise! That actually inspires me to "exercise" even more!

Thanks,

Bill

Thanks Bill/Tom and all who have responded, I have a vintage tama seat as well, heavy padding, but since I'm 6' 4" (with 37" inseam) the highest adjustment still has me looking for another inch or two. does anyone know of any seats with extended height adjustment? I bet at the drum show I may find one. I also use the leg exercises as work outs as well. and lastly as far as pain, it seems my slave foot is mainly the one suffering, my bass foot is fine, I guess this is the result of not using the slave as much. Kudos to you Tom for continuing the love of drumming, you have inspired me to push on. My wife insists I give up the hard rock stuff though. says I'm going deaf. (I guess she forgot that after 33 years of marriage men tend to tune out wives.) LOL!!

ehhh what did you say very funny !!!!

but actually i have hearing loss do to the higher decibel range of loud rock and construction noise over the years and all of these years playing next to the base amp, i cant hear in certain ranges and its progressing part of the evolution of the aged

Back in my Nashville days, I once had a long talk w/ Larrie Londin about bass drum technique. (You'd never know it just by hearing his records but that guy had screamin, I mean, !SCREAMIN'! chops) He'd just switched to Premier 252 pedals from a couple he'd had custom-made where the footboards were control pedals from a B-52!

He was working on setting up the Premiers to feel like his old ones. On his old ones: with your foot off the board, the smackhammer was HARD against the footboard. I lifted up the smackhammer, put my foot on the board, let loose of the smackhammer, and it damn near felt like I'd put my foot in a mousetrap! Of course, he had some big ol' legs too.

Larrie said he was told by Sonny Paine about cranking up your pedal's spring tension to get more volume out of the fast stuff because the hammer's further from the head at the beginning of each stroke. Good enough for me so I started doing that.

Took a bit of work at first but it's surprising how quick you get used to it. Now, I have to change out the heavy-duty springs on my Axis and Sonor pedals about every six months or so or else I start to outrun them, and the springs are as tight as they'll go. You really DO get used to it all.

With the OP's topic in mind, one COULD crank up their springs (if they're not already), pick up...say...Colin Bailey's BD technique book (great book BTW), work out with that stuff for a chosen period of time with the springs up tight, then loosen the springs to where they were previous, and blast away. Oughtta be like butta, just like butta!

Larrie's wisdom was incredibly valuable to me because I was inspired by Louie Bellson but had only 1 BD and no money. The options were to say "Hell with it, Louie's got 2 drums to my 1 so there's no way." OR "How cool would it be to try to play some of this stuff anyway, developing what I can but just using the 1 BD?" One of the wisest things I've ever done.

To the OP: Good luck on your quest and whatever you do, have a ball.