I've been playing drums for a couple months now and have tried to play double bass for the past month or so...The main problem is that when I play it seems as though im walking through mud and i can barely keep my balance on the throne let alone a steady beat upstairs...also my legs seem to tense up while playing
IDK if anybody else has had these problems but I'd truly appreciate some help on it cause its driving my bandmates and I fuckin' crazy lol! thnx

srry for the extra double bass thread...

You JUST started playing, thats why.

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indeed, practise a lot, dont start off too fast, start s l o w l y . . .

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I've always tried playing double bass on songs that don't require it, just so to get used to the feeling of having another pedal in my control.

play this, starting at 120 bpm

Hh|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
Sn|----o-------o---|
Bd|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|

This is, obviously at 120 bpm, a beat you can play with just one pedal. BUT not quite an easy beat play at, say.... well, alot higher than 120 bpm. So, as The Doctor said, start slowly. Build up your control of both pedals. If you start off too fast, you're gonna hurt your technique more and end up playing sloppy.... unless you want to play in a noisecore band, then that's ok (buh dump-bump *crash*). Just kidding.

Alternate the bass drum beat with both oyu feet; right, left, right, left, and so on. And when you feel comfortable, speed up the metronome. You may also wanna vary the beat wit the snare and hi hat, add some crashes when you're comfortable, and just experiment after getting used to the feeling of having two bass pedals under your feet.

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well...since you just started...make sure you are doing BOTH left and right leg exercises and then target your weak spots and go from there. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

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Also, I noticed you said you have trouble staying up on your throne. Although your poor double bass technique at the moment may contribute to that, it could also be the throne. Adjust it so it doesn't move around so much. Or take it back to wherever you got it, throw it at the store clerk and tell him to get you the one that doesn't suck.

I would choose the latter because people get hurt in that one.

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Thnx guys for the advice and that exercise is helping out alot...and Compelled my throne does suck quite a bit...so i might just have to go curb stomp the guy who sold it to me at the local music store lol!

Try adjusting the height of your throne maybe, lift it up a bit. What generally trows people off is the fact that they need to lift both feet off the pedals as the height of their throne means that they have to keep their feet down in a resting position . Instead of keeping your feet down on the pedals in a resting position (I suspect you may be doing that) keep your heel down and your toes lightly rested paralell to the pedal (so the footboard is in the same position as it is when your foot is not there). This is really difficult to explain, but it does have it's benefits when it comes to balance. If you're way too high, obviously lower the throne. Some people recomend having your legs parallel to the ground, but frankly I think that's a load of bullshit. I have my throne just a little higher than that and it feels great.

Adopt hand exercises and rudiments to your feet. Doubles, Triples and Paradiddles are essential. If you know any good hand exercises do them. A very useful exercise is playing 8th notes with one foot and sometimes sneaking in a quick 16th note between any two of them, IN TIME.

LLL LRLLL LRLLL LRLLL or reverse seems to be a good pattern.

I R BACK BITCHES

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