#1 Tip for Speed Success With ANY Bass Drum Technique 

It’s like you’ve diagnosed all my problems without even seeing my kit. Thank you so much!

Step 3 is 💯. I've watched many videos about foot technique and nobody talks about the natural tempo of the pedal. Definitely going to keep this in mind when I practice. Thanks! 🙏

GREAT video! Cam and spring adjustment is very important, and practicing with your technique and beater control is crucial. I've been trying to rely on playing everything with a single pedal that it usually takes a double pedal for me to do, and that's helped me over time too. Still a work in progress for me, but this video is of great help! Thanks, and happy drumming!

Great video. Really useful tips, thank you for sharing this!!

My favorite teacher these days. So much quality information! 🙏🏻😎

Thank you so much! I was really stuck on the bass but iv already made massive process after just 10 mins of watching this video!

Well explained. thought out and demoed video young Stephen.😁👍🥁

Excellent advice on adjusting the beater back as far as it can go. It turns out that was the trouble with my old DW5000 pedals. I wasn't getting enough downward distance on the pedal and therefore not enough force on the bass head. Looking at the adjustment choices I would have never set it back that far on my own judgement. Definitely major improvement there. Thanks for that!

Right on cue. 👍 Gotta improve my foot technique. Thank you so much!

SUCH a great video!!! Been waiting forever to know the tiny details that are behind a proper kick hit. Just perfect

Even though I don't play drumset, but marching, I can still use the tips and tricks you teach, so thank you a bunch

huge help, i didn't know i could adjust the distance between the beater and the kickpad, now it stays in place and doesn't flop around every kick.. thank you!

I gave it a shot increased the angle....Oh my I LOVE IT....thanks buddy for the tip.

This makes a lot of sense thank you for this....❤️❤️

Great stuff Stephen 😊 thank you 😁🥁

Thanks so much, really helpful!

Ah man, thank you so much. My bass drum technique has been lagging behind a lot as I'm learning

Great advice, I like to think of hand/stick and foot/pedal motions as being similar, too. I even prefer wooden beaters to make the drums similar in sound. The tip about your posture and tight core I also great! I read John Lambs “The Anatomy Of Drumming”, that was the biggest thing to unlock my really stagnant loud bass drum hits. I used to put too much weight on my legs and feet so the beater had zero chance to bounce freely. Now I can play with 16 inch bass drums and it’s loud. :-) Again, great advice Stephen, in an area where many drummers are struggling.

Playing with beater length can give amazing results. I once doing it when saw Mike Portnoy settings and lifted up my beater. Large angle is nice too.

Fantastic Video. Right Foot is quite the jerk during the learning process. This is already showing results!

Oh, the flutter. I've been trying to diagnose why that kept happening to me. I thought about the big 24 I'm playing, then tuning, then spring tension, beater height, leg strength, etc. Then I realized, after watching your fantastic video, that my technique just wasn't solid. Kudos and thanks!

I’m a beginner. I appreciate your videos. I’m sure to improve if I follow you!

non-glamorous, and extremely useful, as usual...thx.

Regarding spring tension. Simon Phillips (who I admire greatly) says he has his pedal spring tension quite loose in order to not have too much tension in his leg/foot. (Or feet in his case)🥁

The 3rd action step is gold

Sounds mostly great. The way play (depending on the beat of course) is I use a flutter bass hit (hard to describe) as a lead in to beats, I also do it with my sticks to gives it more feel and unique play style sort of a shuffle feel. Kind of like vibrato or say pick harmonic usage on guitar, everyone has a different flavor.

Great insight!

I can't even tell you how much ALL drummers need to see this..yes I can, All Drummers need to see this!! 😄👊💪 EXCELLENT and THANK YOU!!

This is so good.

Well my vote is in for best drum teaching/instruction video channel on the internet.. It was a complex decision and the many other sources are awesome and deserve my gratitude but the teacher makes the difference and you (Stephen) just have that certain something that 'clicks' in drummer's minds and especially experience.. All those words basically say thank you for giving us all such incredible value freely and passionately.. 'Drum on drummer'

great teacher!

This is SUPER helpful..I'm having flutter like crazy so trying to pinpoint why with your tips..I think it's cause im not committed to burying OR bounce.

Yeees I needed this video

Great tutorial

Good stuff

Thanks, Stephen! I was wondering why my beater is too close to the bass then you showed where to adjust it 😅

Good video. I was wondering about beater angle...most guys I have watched have their beater angle like yours....but you forgot to mention also, the front of the bass drum should be up off the ground per Dave Weckl. I noticed in this video, your bass drum is not up off the ground, and your bass drum beater has to go almost a half an inch passed being straight up hitting the bass drum head.

How about kick pedal spring tension suggestions? Do you like a stiff or slack spring, or somewhere in the middle?

Stephen, did you mention the beater angle tip in a different vid? I think you did and I did it about a month ago. WAY BETTER, for the reasons you say. Mine was set too close which was causing my foot to come off the pedal sometimes. The biggest problem was, especially after I fit a solid reso head to my 18" kick (no hole), I found myself getting ghost after-hits, even though I play off the head. This was the ticket to solving that! I think back in the day I set it close because I thought it helped me learn heel-toe. And maybe it did help at the time, but no longer. Listen to Stephen!!

i prefer not to bury the beater because the away from beater technique sounds good its very open sounding.

Those Danmar red wood beaters have been hitting the tops of my feet for 20+ years.

Finally some good basdrum tips. I have been struggeling for a while to get the pedal to do what I want. So thanks. A little sidenote. Whats with the adds lately? Getting so annoyed with the adds that keeps on popping up all the time. Very annoying!

Hello Stephen, I have been playing my whole life 40 years always a rock n roll drummer and have always used double kicks. I have DW 9000 pedals and I struggled to get heal toe or the slide technique. I play heal up. When I learned I played in drum sets from people that were much taller and not being able to adjust there setup so I had to play on my toes. I have played with my pedals spring tension but still struggle to master these two techniques for which one feels and works for me. Any suggestions would be great? Thanks Rodney

Hi, great video. I have a question, by moving the beater away, did you mean to loose the spring tension or is there other screw hiding there?

Hey Stephen, What's your feeling on a Dualist type pedal? I just purchased a Cannon Percussion Twin Effect DB pedal (used) at Guitar Center. It is a Dualist Copy Cat for $99. I've been watching your great Vids for awhile (Subscriber), and started to zero in on developing more "speed" for be able to play doubles on the Bass drum. Hey, I'm 69 YO, play recreationally, at Home as a Hobby / Pleasure in retirement , having resurrected playing Drums after a 50 Year Hiatus in 2019. I settled on a PDP Concept Direct Drive Single Bass pedal, and just now decided to try this DB pedal. It's Tricky to obtain the Knack to Rock the right foot back and forth to engage the Heel and Foot pedals. I am have always been a Heel Down player, starting out that way in 1967 when I first took lessons and continued that as I resumed in 2019. I have a Physical attribute that kinda forces that: a 1 inch shorter right leg (the thigh is 1 inch short resulting from a fractured femur playing HS Football), so there is an Imbalance between the two legs. And a funny thing with me - I could always Air Play bass drum notes better and quicker bouncing my heel up and down than I could with bouncing the foot. I also ordered (with overzealousness), a Mapex Double Pedal (2 Pedals), which I have tried but have more difficulty , moving my left foot from the Hi Hat pedal to the Slave pedal... The benefit to the Cannon Dualist style pedal is offered by allowing your left foot to just play the Hi Hat. I don't Play Metal at all.... Just play to My Music which consists of Basic Rock and Roll : Melencamp, Clapton, Petty , Eagles, Etc. This was probably an action that is feeding my Obsession to play bass doubles better. Lesson to me is to Just Have Fun playing, Not take it so seriously . I'm NEVER going to be a Baker, Moon, Bonham, Copeland, etc., But would be nice to be able to play as well as Dino Danelli (Rascals). He was one of my many Drummer Idols. Probably, other than Buddy Rich, being a "showman" as a Rock/Pop Drummer. Be well all.

I started playing this week, and ive been having a lot of fun learning a few grooves and a few different fills and starting out with some rudiments.. but man, one of the hardest things for me to play was just RLK, RLK, RLK. If i could play anything else at say 80bpm, i could only RLK at 40bpm. I remembered once reading the phrase "burying the beater" as i was playing, and i just let my bass pedal bounce back a little bit off the kick drum and it felt like i instantly had more control and a tiny bit more speed on top. Having the beater angled back a bit allowed my foot to rest on the the pedal keeping tension on the chain which was the other lightbulb for me. Mine is nowhere near as angled as yours, but out of the box i could barely touch the pedal before it hit the drum, which was absolutely rubbish. Checked your video.. and what do you know!

My electric bass drum pad still produces insane rebound, and it’s impossible to find the way to stop bouncing In buried position with such amplitude of beater. I tried to experiment with spring tension, with surface tension of the pad, but the only thing that helps a bit is drastically decreasing of amplitude of beater :( Maybe there are some stickers for the drum that could countercompensate the rebound? The most interesting thing, is that it is double bass pedal and the left pedal with the same adjustments don’t do the flutter at all o_O

Great stuff! Thanks. Do you have any recommendations on spring tension? How loose or tight should it be?

Nice 👌🏽; dumb question, how fast in singles can you go with heel down?

Oh my ... Finally someone addressing bass drum pedal flutter. It's a problem I'm dealing with, and unfortunately very little success.

Good lesson. What about hiil up? And what about the spring? How we can find right force?

It's easier to bury the beater playing heal up. I've always buried the beater, it's just the way I learned.

What if there is no way to adjust the beater angle?

I use that exact beater angle that you've claimed to be bad and I'm playing 16th runs @280 with it, so this is clearly not applicable to all. All heel down ankle, spring almost maxed. Also I require almost no rebound for it. There are loads of variables in this area. This clearly for slower players not speed machines.

Learning to use buried and bounce gives you different sound options..

I literally play on my toes and don’t have any problems, but I’m self taught and don’t want to pick up bad habits. I guess stupid question of the day is should I change up if it works for me?

Should my heal be down playin

Aloha! My name is Sean and I work with Aixdsp. What's the best way to send you our plug-ins?

The Toe Up technique, where you angle the beater so your toe hits the beater on the rebound, giving you an easy, but painful, double stroke.

Ok where do I start. I actually disagree with this, but then perhaps is a subjective disagreement. This might work for some and not others so Ill say my piece and see what people think Ok you want more power in your kick. I put my beaters up as far as possible. I even have extended shafts (cause I play on 24's as well. I try to keep them at 45 degrees as well. By bringing the beater up more, you don't have to tilt them back further. The point is simple as well, you are using the same energy on the footboard no matter the height of the beater cause it will still hit on the 90 degree angle (that's how I have my kick tilted for this). If you tilt your beater further back, you have to put more force on the pedal as you have to push it down further, which means more tension on the spring. That difference even half an inch is noticable when you are used to playing with a certain muscle memory foot hit. You know, you go to step on your pedal, but the hit never happens cause you didn't hit it hard enough. Keep in mind that the pedal response has to come back as well the extra distance so the feel is not going to be the same. I am just giving a Coles notes on my take on it. I'd love to hear what others think 🙂

🔥🤘🥁

A lot of metal drummers do not use high beater angle. So high beater angle != speed. Many use beater angles around 35-40 degrees or even less, and are very fast (example - Kevin Paradis, 1037 strokes per minute, unofficial world record). p.s. i personally hate high beater angles, sorry :D

hey, is there a reason why there are no wraps on metall-snares?

has anyone trained their right foot till their both leg muscles feel imbalanced?

Ya gotta play with Big Toe Energy! 😁

For sure do this with your left foot too fellow double kick players

You don't have to play loud just open up a bit the volume of the monitor 🤔😅

Stephen, you are the drumming community's "big toe." (For you youngsters, I'm referencing a scene from the movie "Stripes" with Bill Murray.)

One guitar player disliked this video.

Other drummers say Just the opposite...find your own way...there are no rules in music.

Yeah well, no, the ONLY difference you have with a lot of angle is that the spring will travl more, so the motion will be easy to initiate, and give a huge response at the end of the movement, You can achieve the same response with a harder spring set looser And in anyway, if you burry rhe beater you WILL get rebound, and you see it whe. You have onpedal triggers, like a footblaster

as heel up this didnt help me XD

First

Stephen, thank you for the lesson. But please, PLEASE, start going to the gym! I just cannot look at your sticks (arms) without the tears in my eyes. You are a "dry" guy, aesthetics would be perfect for you. You have a nice voice and a pretty face. In 2 years you can build enough muscles to be handsome and irresistible gentleman!

Thanks, Stephen! I was wondering why my beater is too close to the bass then you showed where to adjust it 😅