Heel Up Bass Drum Technique - James Payne 

After watching this video I just realize that I have been doing double bass drumming in the wrong way my entire life. Currently the best video I ever watched explaining the technique. Thank you.

By far the best lessons on the internet.. perfect presentation and clarity.. I have learned more from you James than I have elsewhere in decades.. Yes I am an older drummer at 66 but always a beginner.. I can't thank you enough for what you do.. Thank you

I have watched number of videos regarding to this matter but I’ve never seen anybody describes kick drumming so detailed and do practical. Thank you 🤘

At least someone who makes a simple, practical, and complete demonstration about technique APPLIED in the bass drums. This guy has really good teaching skills besides his shocking drumming techniques. I really enjoyed Mr. Payne's videos. I still can't achieve extrema speed with great punch. Thanks for the video mate!

This explains what I have been wondering about for YEARS. I'm using a mixture of heel up and leg motion when I play fast, and I've always been struggling with control and coordination. I guess if it will be solved if I work more on the ankle motion part. Thanks man!

Thank you! Very inspiring and helpful!

okay, real talk. this guy gets it. his explanations resonates with me, its like hes putting into words what i struggle with in terms of mechanics and muscle confidence with my heel and ankle lack of commitment to range. thank you!

This is so helpful. Thank you so much!

Man, this video and the "heel down" are really great! Best I could find on RU-vid so far! Great Job!

Very helpful! Thank you!

this was awesome - being new to drumming and self taught, these exercises showed me how i have been working against the pedal. Especially playing without the spring was clarifying. So far, only a few pure flowing seconds at a time, and burning muscles, but this is the way to sounding and feeling better on the kick drum for me. Thanks!

Thank you so much for making this video. I've tried many other techniques and this is the most logical and I can really get behind it.

Dude you are a truly talented instructor. Thank you so much

Great and very useful video ! Thanks a lot !

Thank you very much for your videos. It's very helpful.

This is the best lesson i've seen on the topic. Thank you James !

This video made me notice so much about my kick technique... THANK YOU!!

Superb in every way…the best bass drum instruction I’ve seen on the net. Well done, rik👍🥁

thank you!

good explanation!

Great technique Thank u james🤘

Your videos on pedal technique are fantastic man, already helping me a lot after watching one. I subscribed and like the videos I watch, thanks!

This is one of the best, if not the best explanation of what you need to do. The video could be much shorter, but the important fact is what it conveys. The leg cannot be stiff, it has to be relaxed and the motion cannot be forced. There's no other way to play on fast tempos for prolonged amounts of time. When I'm practicing, I am also hitting the back of the pedal with my heel. I don't know why, but it just makes me relaxed and reassures me that the motion is correct.

learning to feel the pedal without spring tension as a natural motion of the leg is pure gold!

Awesome tutorial!

This was absolutely fantastic! I never really knew what double bass was about untill the explanation to take off the spring!!! Amazing video!!!!!!

Very helpful and very well explained! Thank you very much!

this is sick. amazing JP

Man, thanks a lot! this videos are really helping me

thanks!!!!

Excellent tutorial James. Well explained and confirmed exactly my thoughts on the physics of the heel-up/ankle motion playing. I will apply this workout and see where it leads me! Thanks again!

You can use an elastic if you wan't a minimal tension spring ! Thank you for this wonderful tutorial !

Heel must come down , videos like this is what caused my leg strain , your heel Must come to a rest

Hey man. Great lesson. I've been looking for this lesson since I fist played drums. Thanks!

Great video, you just unlocked the key for me!🤘

So i think of it three ways: Heel up, foot stays anchored at toes and heels can strike but return to up position. This is good for slow and medium tempo 1/4 notes. Then heel up dribble toes for medium and fast tempos and quick burst. Then heel and toes up stomping.

Very impressive, great work! I'll be working this starting now. You can actually play fast and controlled using the whole board, rather than playing the edge.

The heel up is what comes to me naturally. Now I am to a point when my left foot feels much consistent but a bit slower at faster tempo. I tried to reproduce the position of my left foot with my right, no tension at all. Thomas Lang did an awesome video helping me with this where you put your hands under your legs on the chair having you feet in suspension and just working on the motion of your anckles. It's exactly what happens in your video ! Your videos are great, your explanations are excellent. Learning to understand your body, the motions and your positionings. Your back too is important,try to give him a rest while playing :) I tried recently to go deeper in the push-pull technique but my right hand won't be able to learn it properly, I think ! Not sure but I have a "certain" problem with my right hand, my fulcrum and fingers have a hard time getting the initial move and feel without loosing my stick with my right hand... Maybe I should try something else. My double strokes are so bad man... But your videos give me the will to improve ! It's a winner here :) Anyway, thanks a lot for your videos, I'll check the others for sure !

Thank you sooooooo much . Very helpful! Needed this

no se porque dude , pero tu explicas so goood bro , awesome job , trabajas tambien la parte psycological ( brain muscle ) hands / feets , wooow so so so good , im new into this bass drum technique , thx bro , God bless u always

Now I know why I felt exhausted because I was using the whole leg..Thank you buddy for this life changing lesson for us self taught drummers :)

Hey man! Best explanation of the technique I have seen so far. I have a question: If you practice this on the floor, is it the ball of the foot or the toes/front part of the foot that actually makes the kick?

Great video ! Could you please explain how to do hihat pulsing 8ths ?

Yo I’m loving the WESC shirt!

Great video! I’ve been playing for 10 years and I just tried playing with shoes on and I realized I was kind of bouncing my foot off of the pedal, so that I was tapping the pedal instead of working with it. Whenever I try to generate a stroke, I push down on the pedal to lift my leg up and then my foot comes up from the ankle, leaving the pedal (not good) and then coming back on to the pedal. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember so this is going to take a while to fix.

Make sure your throne is at a medium high and don't seat to near if u're 6" and more for the heel up techn. If it's to low it'll be better to play heel down ( softer kicks and more contolled )

Hi James! What amazing videos! Thank you!! I realized recently that I have to use the ankle technique to gain higher double bass speed. But I think I have a right vs left leg speed issue - right leg I can get way higher speed with ankle motion, but left left leg way slower. Do I just work on the left leg to try and build it up? Or what would you suggest?

Great video James! When you're practicing this technique on the floor (without the pedal), does your hip muscle get activated ?

Dude, I'm also going to take your sandbag mount idea. That's great.

Also, what tempo do you switch from full leg to ankle technique and are there any modifications to the technique as you get faster like 250 - 300? Thanks in advance!

You deserve way more subcribers

Excellent video, what about the spring tension of the pedals?

Again excellent lesson man well done. Do you ever practice with ankle weights? Sorry if this has been answered before, I am new to your channel and really enjoying both your content and your ways of delivery. Thank you!

Hey man, great practice routine! I checked a lot videos on the topic lately and this one is the best I found! Thx for that! One question: there is no difference between the ankle- and the heel up technique - They are identical, right? Cheers from Switzerland 🇨🇭

Great video bro! thanks a lot! I just have a question for you, when you are playing just with your ankles, you should mantain your legs "in the air" lifting they with quadriceps? or you are pressing a little bit the pedals to mantain that position? thanks!!

hey, first.. thanks for all these great tutorials. I learned a lot and I'm happy to found your channel. I'm located in Germany and bought the same practice pads for my pedals. unfortunately the are lifting when I play, i always get double strokes because of the movement of the pad. have you got the same problems? is this the reason for these small packages on the pad? what is filled in?

Hey James, could you please make a lesson about exercises without pedals. I mean for example when you work in the office you can tap somehow in the flour or something else. Thanks

Hi James! I have a double pedal, not two single pedals. On the right pedal, I can easily play without a spring, because that pedal returns due to its weight, which is not the case with the left pedal, since there is no beater. would you recommend for the development of your left leg? P.S. when I play with my left foot on the right pedal (no spring) my foot does the job perfectly.

dude,first of all your videos are very helpfull.i m trying to do this exercise but i cant find good balance to my body in order to have my both feet in the air,i have to lean back.also my legs are aching up to hips.so this is why i could never go more than 130?i didnt raise my feet enought?couse when i tryed to play fast with pussing the pedal and by moving the whole leg as i have seen some drummers,sometimes i have even hurt my abs and my hips muscles.goddam its difficult...i must lern this angkle motion

James, this is awsome! My question is: how much time did it take for you to get to this level? 6 months, 1 year...? Of course, i'm talking about foot single stroke speed.

This is a great video James and I thank you very much for your well articulated explanations but the one question I have for you is this, when you play with the springs natural rebound it has its optimum speed where there is the least amount of work required from your ankles, but when you increase your speed past the natural recoil of the pedal at this point you have to work against the spring at this point as you are pushing the beater towards the head on the rebound before the beater has gone through its full motion for the spring to assist you. The faster you go and the more you have to shorten the stroke of the beater the more you are going against the spring, how do you approach this resistance as you speed up ? For example, my pedal at the max spring tension rebounds and swings back to the head at around 150bpm, therefore any speed above that I have to work against its natural motion, when approaching 200 bpm I am using quite a bit of force to fight against the full rebound of the spring to make my strokes. How do you work with this effect ? Cheers brother !

what model of vans you have on your feet?

Really nice lesson, i Have Been missunnar something like this! But When practicing with the spring te beatet tends to hit the top of my foot. What Am i doing wrong? :)

Great video, but i realize that leaving my heel up all the time hurts my thigh. Is that normal? Does it get better with practice?

Which double pedal do you recommend? I have been looking at the iron cobra but the speed cobra seems to also get a lot of positive comments

So do you use your hip flexor to keep your feet up in the air? I have just begun drumming and my hip flexor won't make it very long that way...

Can this technique be used for any musical genre?

I'm having a hard time knowing where to use what technique, ankle motion doesn't feel fitting for tempos around 120-160, is normal heel up (using calves) good for those tempos? 140-165 or so is an are in which I just can't figure out which muscles to use. Love the tutorials, very good explanations

does anyone know what practice pad he's using for his kick pedals?

Hi. How long did it take you to have control and speed ? For example I want to practice 2 hours a day.

Hey James, how do you set up your pedals? Is there less tention on the spring or more? I know it's all personnal, but I feel like tightening up the spring tention doesn't necessarily help. Thanks.

Thx james for the lesson! Could you help me? Why am i tilting while playing both legs alternating?

Great video, thanks for posting. I'm having trouble with the second part of the exercise. When I remove the spring from the pedal, it will not return after the down stroke, no matter how slow or fast or hard or lightly I tap. The beater wants to stay buried. Any advice from anyone will be appreciated. BTW the pedal is an older Iron Cobra...

How do you avoid having your upper leg grip in heel up position?

how about if I want to go slower than the speed of the pedal? like I'm not always playing doubles at those speed! I'd like to know how to correctly play 16th doubles at 70bpm, let's say. Should I use the same technique but controlling the pedal rebound?

What pedal is he using? I can't remove the spring on my pearl eliminator like he does and even if i remove it, it hangs there and the beater just stays flat on the practice pad.

What type of pedal and pad is that

when I take the spring off of my speed cobras, as soon as the beater is halfway there to hit the pad, it just wont come back down. i think its the pedal weight that drags it down. what do I do?

how many reps per session? how long should the sessions for practicing these techniques? how many sessions a week?

Does anyone have the problem that when you are going to finish the 16th note bar using the ankle motion and switch to 8th notes your foot "loses control" and it feels as if someone pull it or "it walked forward? Or I'm the only freak who experiments it?

nice video man! but i have some questions: do these exercises strain your thigh and back muscles with some time? after some minutes of doing this I need a little break. is that normal? another thing about the pedal workout: Instead of removing the spring from the pedal I just lowered the tension to a minimum, because the beater tends to stay at the drumhead or pad. maybe adjusting the beater height could solve this problem? thanks!

Hey, so I think I got the technique right, but I've got some sort of question about the feel of the technique when practicing to improve speed... You see, I can go with full motion at, let's say, 180bpm, and then I start practicing 200bpm, so obviously I'm still not used to go full motion at that speed... is it ok to apply a bit of strength to shorten the motion and progressively decrease the strength as the technique gets better at that speed, until I can pull full motion at 200bpm with nearly no strength applied? Or should I exercise at a speed where I don't have the need to apply strength whatsoever to pull it off

Hello. How many hours a day it is good to practise for muscle memory and for playing double bass at all?

Hello, James. I have a question. I was stuck in the technique of foot on the tempo 110 bpm. I play, exactly as you showed - heel-up and ankle motion. Socks as close to the chain as possible. As soon as I get up to 115 bpm, my legs start to get clamped. Pain in the groin area above and on the outside of the ankles. This has been going on for the 3rd month. I'm desperate. No progress. For more than 2 months! At 110 bpm !!! Can you tell me what to do? How to overcome this barrier?

I'm a beginner drummer. Can someone tell me if this is the correct technique for single bass as well? My doubt is if this technique is only used for fast double bass. Thank you!

Hey James, I have been practicing swivel for a week now. I have also changed my positioning on the seat and now sit more further back on the throne. Anyways, ever since these two changes I now have trouble playing my usual double bass using my whole leg. Its as if practicing swivel has taken away my 160bpm 16th note limit on my double bass. Is thus normal?

Hi James, thank you so much for all your incredibles videos that give me the will to go faster hehe ! I have a question about heel up technique. This technique seems to be the best for me to go faster, but, I have a big problem I don't have solve yet. After seeing both of the videos about heel up and the one about spring tension, I cannot stop my legs to have this f*****g nervous motion, even at lower tempos, so I'm not controlling the ankle motion in the right way. But I can feel when I'm in unison whith the pedal and when I'm not, I just can't controlling it yet. Do you have suggestions to solve this problem ? Thank you again, and just keep continue your amazing work, I'll be happy to have more !! Cheers from France !

Without the spring my pedal didn't move is that normal ? Because on the video the pedal move even without the spring?!

This practice pad for foot is BassDrum Practice Pad 10" ........... ? Someone can suggest me if is a good pad ........? The dimension are good also for the double pedal .........? Thank's

Hey james,I'm still practicing this without pedals .....when I do this continuously It kinda burn my leg portion ..is this normal?

when I take my spring off the pedal is totally dead and has zero rebound, any tips?

So for fast tempos you use your ankle with shins? Why not calves and back of the ankles by lifting the ankle up and down?

I get super tight during workout, will that get better over time if I continue to practice it?

I struggle to keep balanced when playing like this, I can't sit comfortably. What am I doing wrong?

I can do right or left from 170 to 200, but i can't play alternate at all ....

You're my fucking God

why is it when for example Luke Holland or Matt McGuire use heel-up, their whole leg raises like 5 cm or more?

My leg hurts 😂😢

So i have to lift my entire leg in the air and somehow stay relaxed?????

There is no cheating when using a drum pedal. There's just different techniques.