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double bass pointers!!?
I have been drumming for a while and i am looking for help with improving my double bass stamina as well as speed. I have really cheap pedals so i know that is part of the problem, but within the next month i am going to upgrade to dw 9000s. i recently bought some ankle weights, i just wanted some exercises to try to improve my double bass skils. if anyone has any pointers or can point me in the direction of some, that would be greatly appreciated.
thanks.
2 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
First off, if you want to gain speed and stamina, slow down.
That probably sounds crazy, but hear me out.
Play the simplest thing you can, R, L, R, L.
On your metronome (you DO have a metronome, right? Get one) slow it down to 40bpm. Try to play perfectly on the beat in simple quarter notes.
Harder than you thought isn't it? When you can do it right, nearly everytime you practice, without having to start over, bump up the speed to 42bpm. Continue doing this until quarter notes become too easy. Then start playing 8th notes. Then 16ths.
Need a new pattern? Try Paradiddles. R,R,L,R /L,L,R,L etc.
Speed in musicianship comes from accuracy. You have to make the right sound, the right way, and have it fit into the rhythm perfectly. THEN you have to do it fast.
This goes for any instrument. Anybody can play a bunch of crap notes as fast as possible, but it's just noise.
Secondly, don't use those ankle weights. I know alot of drummers who have totally ruined their time by practicing with weights. You're teaching your legs that it takes a whole lot more pressure to depress the pedal, and then you take the weights off, and your sense of rhythm dosen't fit with how your legs are moving. You don't need strength, you need stamina.
Stamina dosen't come by working out very hard. It comes with working out lightly, and with constant repitition.
Your legs are strong enough to work the pedals, now you just have to do it over and over and over and over and over and over and .....get the point? LOL
Sometimes the best practice routines are the most boring, repetitive and mindless. Actually, most of the time they are.
There is a simple thing that seperates most musicians from Great musicians.
Focus.
Do this practice, regardless of how much it sucks, and you WILL get better. You may not see it at first, or for a good while, but be assured that if you have the determination, and a Will to get better, no matter what it takes, that you will get better.
Keep Rockin'
Source(s): 15 years of Musicianship.
