The Underrated Foot Technique You MUST Start Using Now | Kick Drum Technique 

As a side note to your technique teachings here, the foot wear you choose to play in will either help or hinder your bass drum playing. Neil Peart wore ballet shoes. Others have used neoprene water shoes or the like. Thin soles really let you feel the pedals as well as allow your feet to flex while playing.

Haha.. watching 'footage'.. I get it.

I love this channel. Especially the no frills aspect. Been drumming for 25 years and this is some of the most practical information I've found anywhere!

He’s right. I discovered this for myself and used to practice sometimes with my foot off the side using nothing but my big toe. Made all the difference in the world

This instantly made me conscious that I even have a big toe when I'm drumming, not to mention that I can try to consciously (and eventually subconsciously) use it to my advantage. Thanks

It's something about drumming that makes me thank God. He gave us a big toe, our hands and feet and arms and legs so we could even attempt to play this instrument made out of the trees he created. It all seems awesome and yet makes me feel so humble because these things perish- wood gets old and so do we. I'm grateful. Thanks for the tips

Thanks! i have the impression this is really helping me. 62, playing prof. for over 32 yrs now... and never been really happy with my right foot. Keep up the good work!

I have been searching and searching for a video that explains faster foot movement this in a way that that clicks for me. This FINALLY did and I'm already much more hopeful about my kick progress! Thank you so, so much!

Thank you Stephen! This is exactly the kick drum technique video I needed. I injured my right big toe in a cheerleading accident years ago resulting in some big toe muscle weakness but I didn’t think about that relating to my drumming technique until now. It was like a lightbulb going off when you compared your big toe on/big toe off the pedal in that example. That was exactly the missing puzzle piece I was looking for to improve my playing.

*Big* Toe 1:51 “It’s these *tiny little* toes...” *Big Toe* took that personally-

Oh, I'm so keen to practise this! My kick drum technique has held be back from playing some of the songs I love and I've recently committed to really working on it. This comes just at the right time, thank you!

Even though you weren't born when the movie "Stripes" came out (1981), your big-toe discussion reminded me of a line by John Winger (played by Bill Murray): "An army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe." I would also like to paraphrase this: "A band without a solid drummer is like a foot without a big toe."

Great video Stephen. I have been working to increase my skill with my feet on the kit. Having played heel down for over 40 yrs I recently chose to learn heel up technique to expand my skills. Remarkably it was only a few months ago that I learned of advantages to heel up playing. Knowing both will increase my versatility and give me more tools in my drumming vocabulary. This tip is another key to opening up my foot game on the kit. Thank you much, I look forward to applying it to my exercises in the morning. :-)

Yeah makes total sense. I was struggling, I went and spent a couple of minutes focusing on my big toe on the pedal and it worked. Thanks for the video, you have awesome content.

My first experience/aha moment was trying to play after smash my big toe; Oh man does that hurt. Hearing you talk about it, makes that more sense.

Thank you for this video Stephen...as a newbie drummer I've been struggling with even figuring out whether to go heel up or heel down. This video was an eyeopener. 👍

Really useful it’s a game changer been all my life playing with my foot , now I’m learning big toe pretty cool how much control it has

Hey drummy thanks brother! I love all your videos! All your videos helps me a lot. Keep them coming!😀

I learn something new everyday watching these videos man....a big thank you! also enjoy them!

Well done and always helpful videos. Can’t wait to check my technique.

It make a lot of sense, everybody has a different way to play ,this video has a way to help , great video, my friend, thank you.

Stephen I have to say I’ve been following you for a while now and your tips are just absolutely game changing. I’m a beginner and I’ve been struggling with my right foot control since the beginning! Thanks for helping me on this. I appreciate you man!

The explanation of the movements from the hinges of the arm and ankle and how that causes beats is super helpful aka arm-wrist-swing of stick etc

Very nice tip, thanks for sharing Stephen!

Great video! I’m really high right now and I’m just so stuck on how much you love those slippers. Rock on 🥁🤘🏻

Well done. Thank you for breaking it down this way. Have to do bone spur surgery on my bass drum big toe this Spring or Summer! Likely 2-3 months off.😪 This will give me a focus for physical therapy after. Much appreciated!

so happy to see this video! ive been told to use heel toe all my life and stuck to this instead

Interestingly enough, I do this, but reverse. I tap the pedal with my toe on the way down, and then push the ball of my foot into the board for the double. I'll have to try this out!

Your videos are so helpful and honest, new sub. Thanks

Such a big help thanks! Struggling with 32nd note bass drum at 110BPM so will try this!

Hey...thank you so much...i used this tonight ...and all i can say is wow it really did wonders for my right foot. I am new to drumming and up until tonight i have been very frustrated with my kick drum technique. I follow a few you tube drummers and ive been wanting to reslly focus on one channel so i can really dial in my lessons..you are definitely it for me...i can really relate to how you teach...thank you so much. BTW im 53 retired and always wanted to playvthe drums but was way too busy with life and working. You have so far made this very enjoyable and productive for me.

Thanks for the video. I definitely have noticed how my big toe does a lot of the work, and I thought this was a bad thing, so I was trying to correct it. But now I see that it is natural and even necessary, so I appreciate the video a lot. Although I think my toes are often tense even when I'm just walking or sitting around lol.

Thank you for making these videos. I suffer from a debilitating chronic condition that has destroyed a lot of my joints, including my right ankle. I took up playing the drums less than four years ago as a way to use the low impact movements as a form of therapy. I stumbled across a similar foot technique to this one you are explaining out of the necessity to reduce ankle pain. I also evolved into not wearing my shoes to help identify and control the power from the second stroke, or the rebound stroke, so I can easily get three hits of the same volume with one downward thrust, which is essentially two rebound strokes. I have just recently gotten confident enough to put it in a video (Offspring, Come Out And Play Tribute video). My ankle kinda naturally bends out a lot like the drummer Sugarfoot, and my Orthopedic doctor said the only way to (fix) it would be an ankle fusion. Since focusing on forcing my big toe to stay flat on the footboard I have noticed less and less ankle pain. This is a work smarter not harder technique and it's great you posted about it... SORRY for such a long post! Thanks again!!

this lesson was EXTREMELY helpful. thank you

Thanks you for this. My bass drum playing was greatly improved in about an hour of be more aware of my big toe.

Well done! That is a unique perspective and educational.

Excellent advice and teaching here Stephen! Thank you!

Love ur content, helps me out a lot. Thank u

I really love how you’re able to break this down to such a high level, thanks so much!

Great point. Back in the day I was athletic, I used to wonder why a ball player would be out 6 weeks, or more with "Turf toe" until I got it. I no longer feel my R foot (back), and every aspect of my playing has severely suffered. I've made some adjustments, and it's helped, but unless I experience a miracle, I'll never play the same

For 55 years I played with heal up and toe curled tight.. and there were times when I would notice nothing but my toe touching the pedal even at higher volumes.. You explained the 'whipping' idea very well.. Regarding shoes I have always used those 'top-siders' from Walmart that cost around ten dollars.. Very flat bottom and no laces.. Thanks for another informative video.

What an interesting, and I have a feeling, useful idea! I’ve been trying to nail down the double bass part for Liquid Tension Experiment’s “Acid Rain”. I’ll make a point to be aware of my big toe, for that song, and others! Thanks! Sergeant Hulka would be proud! 😉

You have a similar voice to Seth Rogen. I was listening to this and heard it almost immediately lol

I’ve been doing this for years and it’s great

Definitely gonna help when air drumming

Never thought about this, I'll give it a try thanks!

Thanks for this video

Great tip!

good 2k! i‘s alr doing this and figured out eventually one day i could play fast continuous rolls - with just my right foot - back in january this year!! today, after watching this video for the first time - i know for certain that i was not weird for using hallux !!

Finally, something GOOD on Friday the 13th......... Thanks and Blessings! My old bandmates called me "TheToe!"

Excellent video. Also, your kick drum at 5:34 sounds wonderful. Also, what brand are your slippers? They look comfy enough that I want some

Great show . Lately I have been wearing ski boots with ski attatched when playing the drums . Very hard and you have to sit very far away from the drum kit . But i will hang in there

Yup, i use the big toe often because i bury. Using it, I play the second stroke on a double or even the second and third on a triplet. It has so much ability!

This is why i love your channel.

It should be working fine for all drummers without collapsed feet or should I say flat feet. When the big toe doesn't help the posture it creates lots of muscle weaknesses. The big toe lacks strength. I'm struggling with this at the moment . Just like in ice skating when you look like a beginner but really the muscles have not been "waken up" for the arches to happen and therefore getting rid of flat foot. Then I might be considering working my bass drum pedal with my toe.. but for now other exercises need to be done. Thanks for the tip, I hope I get strong toes soon now that I found specific exercises to help strengthen the toe muscles. 🙂

I either play barefoot or with socks on. Rarely with shoes. I taught myself to do this on my own by accident as I eventually worked out what worked well over time. I also do a thing where literally only my big toe is on the pedal for some intense fast double kick, not always, but sometimes.

My “drumming shoes” are trail running shoes. As you say, a thin sole helps my foot feel the pedal, and results in better control. I use Merrell (the hiking boot company) Bare Access 4 trail running shoes. Lightweight shoe with a thin sole and good tread grip on the pedal. I didn’t buy them for drumming, but when I wore them once for a practice, they instantly became a mandatory part of my gear.

Have confidence in your material man, this does make a lot of sense. Actively thinking about using your big toe while using the foot pedal would help you use the smaller calf muscles like flexor hallicus longus e.g. Coming from a PT/B.Kin, background and it makes sense in terms of biomechanics and muscle recruitment. Nice lesson!

I love this video. I could never explain why I used this technique. The funny thing is I drive with my Big Toe. 🤷‍♂️ Everyone I’ve tried to explain it to looks at me like I’m crazy.

Great lesson

That is an amazing lesson because I have been using my big toe for decades, only because I am very weak with the foot sliding technique for doubles. I figured I was weak because I have been using my big toe for so many years that I have learned a bad habit that I could not break myself from. Now you are saying it is and underrated technique. Well, I will be damned!😂

Thank you, sir

Totally agree! Using the big toe is something I intuitively figured on my own a couple of months ago. I don’t use the toe all the time, but definitely use it for occasional fast doubles. One thing about the shoes: A while ago, Drumeo released a big interview with legendary Bernard Perdie. My personal biggest takeaway from that interview was his comment about shoes. He was asked what is, in his opinion, the biggest mistake modern young drummers do most often. And he replied: using sneakers for playing. Don’t use sneakers, use leather-sole shoes, the ones usually associated with formal wear. Since I always used my Converse sneakers for playing, and I had a pair of suit shoes lying around, I decided to give it a try, and I really felt the difference! Mr. Perdie didn’t offer a detailed explanation, he just said “don’t use sneakers,” but here’s my personal guess: rubber soles are elastic, and they eat up half of the kinetic momentum from your feet. Also, for the same reason, they reduce the feel from the pedal’s kickback, making your feel of the pedal less nuanced. Leather soles, being more dense and less elastic, give you a much better connection between your foot and the pedal. This connecetion works both ways - better conducting of the momentum from the foot, and better feel of the pedal’s kickback. I actually took it even one step further: I now play wearing socks and no shoes at all, and I really love it. But that introduced a new issue - the footboard being too slippery under the sock. I solved this problem by switching to a DW 5000 pedal. It has a nice rugged heel board that completely stops all the unwanted slipping if you place your foot right.

Guess I'm weird. I can only play with socks on. And wearing shorts. My pants feel like they are dragging on my knees while I play. 🤘🥁

I naturally go toe then ball which gives quite then loud strokes. I practice putting the emphasis on the first beat by going ball toe.

Thanks Mike. What is your Spring tension ?

Eita pegaaaa toop lembra-se bateras unidos jamais serão vencidos 🥁👍

I love the vibram toe shoes. Great for the big toe!

Practicing in a garage in the summer in Texas flip flops are a terrible choice so bare feet prevail, using the big toe is a no brainer and works great! Makes sense with shoes...ijs as a heel up player

Great topic man! Btw try Vivobarefoot shoes, only 3mm thin sole that feels amazing! Cheers

Nice one dude, it was my dream to play a drum but it never happened hehe

Haha, i though was only silly fool using toes. At times I'll use it as full stroke, or accent. Fabulous.

Hi , thanks so much . Can you advise how to record a drum play along with a drumless track. So we record video of our drum playing, the drumless track and the sound from our drums. Many thanks.

I love how the vans shoe is just sitting there 🤣

Interesting topic. I’ve played heel-up for 40 years, most practice in socks when I was younger with size 12 to 14 (US) feet. Pedal spring and drum head tension are vital to have a quick single foot too. I used a Tama King Beat pedal for 20+ years until it broke beyond repair, probably the best pedal I’ve ever had. Replaced it with a DW9000 double pedal, but there are differences such as the Tama King Beat having a wider more ‘squared-off’, foot plate than the DW. It was easier to play triplets with the Tama pedal as the shape of the foot plate allowed more of a shuffle of the foot when catching the beater rebound.

Hey,, thanks for this,,, I know you’re mostly a heel down kinda guy as am I,, my question is how tight is your pedal spring? Mediumish? Or other? Thanks.

Hi Stephen, I'm learning how to play drums seeing some videos here on RU-vid, including yours. Thanks for the explanation about the foot technique. I started learning to play the drums recently. Do you think is better I play the drum pedals without shoes at the beginning?

I started wearing the Vibran 5 finger shoes because of foot problems and a suggestion of my Doctor. Long story short, I noticed an improvement in my technique on the bass and hi-hat, hmmm? Give them a try, see what you think. Although it looks like you don't really need any help.

You're enlightened

I am a conga player and play a hand sonic as a drum kit what i have been working on is the same movement as my left hand on the Congas used on my right foot on my base drum pedal if you understand what i am trying to say

Kept jamming my foot into the pedal - playing too hard. Now it’s more fluid, easier and aware of the “sweet spot. “

I wear aqua shoes. I remember seeing wrestling shoes with Pearl logo in a drum magazine in early 90's.

I usually use water shoes, the thin nylon with really thin sole rubber on the bottom, but they stick a fair bit to my pedal and I am trying to work on the slide technique so struggling to find the right shoe.

I play like this since I start the drum. I was trying to play feeling this of blink 182. That help me for all the rest

I never would have thought that i'd be getting drum tips from Eddie Bauer

You mention liking thin soles / retain feeling but still grippy. Ever try SkyZone or hospital socks? ....just thinking out loud. Might be worth a try just for kicks. Footwear emphasis reminds me of Bernard Purdie, always talking about needing smooth sole real leather boots. I always thought he was joking around. Maybe he was serious.

Ok 2 questions. What brand of 2nd hi hat stand can you recommend? Needs to be static. Fixed. No pedal. Thanks again🤘🥁

awesome😃🥰😄

Steve, I have a PDP Long board Direct drive Single Pedal. Love the Long board with a size 13 shoe size. However, I continue to have my foot "slide" up on the board. I try different shoes and or sneakers , etc., but keeps happening. Any thoughts Out there? I play exclusively Heel Down due primarily on How I learned it over 50 years ago (I had a 50 Year Hiatus from playing drums - just returned as a retirement "Hobby" / Pleasure since 2019). Due to a short right leg discrepancy of 1 inch (long story as a result of a fractured Femur in 1966), I struggle with being able to play Heel To Toe due to the awkward leg length . Although I definitely don't play Metal , sticking to MY Music (I'm 69 YO ), playing recreationally at Home, I just ordered a Mapex 500TW DB pedal to Try. I just got it. But I didn't realize the effort of moving your left foot from the Hi Hat pedal to the Slave Pedal.... Any tricks to offer in that regard? THX for your terrific , informative Videos. They are very Thorough in all regards.

Man, I have to say, all these techniques are doable for me however "burying" the bass beater has been reeeeaaaalllly hard to break for me. Good channel by the way, thank you.

...thanks, clear, HBT. Heel, Ball, Toe. BallToe!

i broke both my big toes like 3 times each so they barely move now. thanks for the advice :DDD

Damn son, great feel!

I feel like your foot is teaching me to be a better drummer

I have to play with socks since our housing agreement says we cannot wear shoes beyond the threshold of our home (we live in a rental in Japan), so I use socks with rubber grip on the bottom, similar to the ones they provide at hospitals. You get both the feel of the pedal and the grip of shoes.

I've always heard that drummers have back problems. Now that I've started, I've realized that happens if I put just the balls of my feet on the kick drum and hi-hat. I avoid lifting my legs, but I don't know if it can limit me in anything. Speed?

I've been playing in my socks on my own kit for as long as I know and I'd never felt like it was any more slippy. I guess a lot of women's shoes are already pretty slippy compared to men's maybe?

Metal drummet here, I I only feel the pressure point on the surface juste behind mytoes, it amlows to use kind of the contrôl of all toes and not only the big one

Nice visit, Stephen. As with fingers, big toe has more nerves for feedback and control. Nice sox, thx no barefoot.. Tip on Vans thx. Anyone call you "Yeti" (lol)?

Using slip pers for grip? Haha. Nice video