I've been drumming for about 2-3 years, and I think I've gotten pretty good. But when it comes to double bass playing, I suck. I can only do like fast 8th notes, but I can't do anthing fast than like 16th notes at 156 bpm... sort of guessing on the number, so I may be wrong. It might be lower.

Well, anyways, I've tried adjust my pedal, tightening/loosening the spring tension, moving the beaters away/closer to the head. The technique book I got was money down the drain. When I do get a decent double bass roll going, I just start to speed up and get quieter. I can't keep a beat with it either, and also I can't keep my foot on the pedal sometimes.

Now I want to just say that I'll never learn it and just use what I can do witha single pedal (which I can do good with), but my band wants to cover Cradle of Filth's Cthulhu Dawn, which has alot of double bass in it (obviously).

I was wondering how some of you learned how to play double bass. How did you guys develop the strength and control in your feet to do fast double bass playing? Did you do any rudiments, excercises? I would really appreciate any help you can give.

The thing is, there is no quick setup tip or excersize that will immediately speed you up and make you consistant (unless your old setup really blew!)... The trick is practice... like anything else, you have to start SLOWLY. People who just jump in and try to go fast from day 1 are never as fast, clean, or stable as those who practice properly. 8th notes isn't a bad start. I would get some simple excersizes (check the derek roddy forum), and play them slowly. It will take some time, but you will actually learn to use double bass, rather than just make fast, retarded noises with them.
One thing to do is slow-fast-slow excersizes with each foot: start off very slowly, and then increase your speed, again, very slowly. Gradually get as fast as you can play with that foot WHILE MAINTAINING CONTROL AND TECHNIQUE. When you are playing as fast as you can with that foot without starting to mess up or lose it, then hold it out for 10 or so seconds. Then, gradually slow down to the speed you started at, all the while in control. This is the BEST technique for gaining speed and control of anything, be it rudiments, or merely your limbs. The point is not to play so fast that you suck, but to gradually, over the course of weeks, build up your speed and effective playing levels.

a thing that helped me is loosen the pedal tension and if you bass head is tight, loosen that too. this allows you to just use the dexterity of your feet without bounce interference. practice alot, then progress to what your normal adjustments are. i always mess with the tension anyway.

most of it is getting your left foot in shape, theres no easy shortcut

I started playign drums (for real) probably about a couple months back. I had started out on double bass messing around years back. But for the last oh 3 months i guess thats one of the main things i've focused on. At first i mean i thtought it was ok until i recorded it and it was hideous timing (at least doing sustained triplets). So i realized the problem was my left foot timing. So what i did was set the left pedal higher up and set the tension a hell of a lot higher. Boom almost immediately did the trick for timing. Then it became an endurance thing.

But another question can you do basic beats using the double bass? (other than sustained like triplet rolls) Because thats really a big thing. I mean just practice doing.. R ..L R.. R ..L R. Once you get the basics then the rest kinda comes natural with playing.

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Best training for controll and for speed is in my opinion playing just RLRLRLRLRLRLRL while getting faster...
If you became a bit faster you should try to play some parts of "korn" (e.g. "good god" or "blind" are pretty useful)...
He got good double bass parts and its very good for your controll!!!

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http://metaltabs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15485

There are so many threads here about starting out on double bass it's not even funny.

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Dude the fucking key to this is practice to a metronome

Do like say one measure 8th notes, one 16, or say one and half measure eighth notes, the last half sixteens, ect. Start off with a comfortable tempo, and build it up slowly.

Work on accuracy, speed will come with that. Another good thing to do, is stop-start double bass, shit like 1e&a2 3 4 1e&a2e&a3 4 & ect... To get the feel of sixteenths

indeed a metronome does help, but personally the first semi-fast double kick song i ever did a few years back was propaganda by sepultura and after the first few times i played it i got the hang of it and started speeding the song up faster and faster and eventually i realized how fast i was doing it and moved on to faster songs like angel of death by slayer and what not...but just playing songs helps ALOT even if you dont notice it at first...well atleast it helped me alot...

Yes, playing along to music helps alot. Find an album with an average BPM that is a little tough for you. If you keep playing along to the album day after day, you will notice improvment. It's a little bit funner than playing along to a metronome too. And playing song after song will help alot with endurance as well as speed.

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I figured out something interesting today when I was setting my kit back up. I had it set up on these rugs because the floor was dirty as shit, but when I set the pedals on the rugs, they wouldn't stay flat on them and would wobble alot when I played. I got rid of the rugs that were under my pedals, and I was able to do better double bass beats than I had before. I still have some trouble keeping a beat with them, but it's alot easier now.

And thanks for all the advice. I'll still do what you guys suggested. I just thought that was a bit of interesting information I had to write.

No need to start a new thread for this. I was wondering if there's any techniques to help along double bass "walking"? I can do fast double bass and a few different rhythms, but I can never slow it down and walk it without fucking up. Of course, "practice makes perfect" goes without saying. But are there any ways to speed up the progress and make it easier to train your feet?

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