Category Archives: technique

Rock VS Roll: Double Bass Drumming with A Single Bass Drum

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There is an essential flaw in Death, Doom and modern Black Metal. Playing 32nd notes with your bass drums for a long steady time is awesome, but it doesn’t swing at all. It’s all “Rock” and no “Roll.” I am a firm believer that Rock & Roll does mean something, both as sex and a cannon of music. Rock and Roll are two sides, diametrically opposed, between a straight beat and a swinging beat. Rock is straight, Roll is swinging. Rock is Kiss, Roll is Thelonious Monk, Riders on the Storm is a good example of Rock and Roll. By the way if you listen to Riders on the Storm I swear Ray Manzereck is playing Horace Silver piano licks.

The problem for swinging in metal is that metal is played very fast, is very precise, and requires excellent tightness from all the musicians. That’s not a loose, free environment. Compounding this is the tradition of double bass drums as we’ve inherited it, let’s take Dave Lambardo as the first practioner I know to blow me away who sets this style. Playing a series of 16th notes or 32nd notes is very rocking but it’s also consistent – there is a great deal of equality between the bass drum sounds. This push for equal volume has gotten so severe I now read about many young drummers using triggers in order to digitize and simplify the process of playing smooth and evenly.

But playing smooth and evenly does not swing. For me, this has gone to far towards the Rock. Now, we all like to roll. When we were kids we rolled around, and when we were in college maybe we did some drug where we were rolling, or maybe you’re a fantastic snare drummer and can roll all day. Roll is the cool side of life. The ‘take it easy, man.’ Lying in a hammock = roll all day. Roll is cool, flexible, bounces, human made, grooving and sexy in an easy way VS the ostentatious sexiness of Rock.

The band Venom has an awesome song called Black Metal — which in my view is a rock & roll metal song — it’s punkish roots keep it loose and free. The chorus/hook says “we lay down our souls to the gods Rock & Roll.” There is some validity to this — in my view Rock is akin to Apollo and his precision and mastery. Think Yngvie Malmestein. Roll is Dionysus God of Passion, akin to an equally chop heavy John Coltrane. Apollo is knowledge while Dionysus is passion; your passion must fuel your desire for knowledge, not the inverse. For me, I want to make human sounding music that reeks of Nick.

Still I must engage in a genre of music I like very much, and bring my own turn to it, to revitalize it’s dormant swinging aspects. To this end I’ve begun playing a new kind of beat. I play my floor tom in sync with my bass drum in order to produce that chugging metal sound, but played between two different kinds of drums it takes on an even more cacophonous sound. It intrinsically sounds like an engine. My band NanoSMASH has two songs coming out soon that feature this beat, in Golden Spoke and Fast Cars.

The gist is that my right hand and left foot play every eighth note. My right foot/bass drum plays every beat inbetween those eighth notes. My left hand/snare is free to play when ever. I included a video below that shows you a good demonstration, both slow then fast.

Special shout out to Kevin Fitzgerald of 400 Blows who has his own style on this subject. He plays with his left hand on the hihat while I play with my left foot on the hat — thus freeing my left hand to do anything. I really like his drumming and this is a video of theirs here:

Super Powered Back Beats

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A graphic representation of playing on top of the beat

A graphic representation of playing on top of the beat

In order to master the drum set you must learn to do things in coordination and with a sense of simultaneous action. Often, you hit the bass drum at the exact same time as you hit the high hat, and other times you hit the snare drum at the exact same time you hit the high hat.

In order to master the back beat you must exceed those norms and find the perfect place to put your snare’s ‘Crack!’ Stanton Moore calls it “giving the full value to the back beat.” That is a reference to drawing terminology and I think it has some validity. In visual art, colors are an identity, but within that identity there are variations from light to dark, called the value. Shading the beat in either direction means moving it to the right or left in the context of time.

Playing behind the back beat may remind you of a flam. The differences are as follows:

  • A flam is preceded by a grace note. The grace note is quiet and played slightly ahead of the beat.
  • When playing behind the back beat, there is no pianissimo moment. The high hat is played right on the beat, but the snare drum is played slightly after the beat.
  • volume levels are determined by your tastes
  • and as always tastes are acquired through an acquaintanceship with tasteful things
Playing Behing the Back Beat, in a graph. Notice that the bass drum is played right on beats one and three but the snare drum alone is played slightly late.

Playing Behind the Back Beat, in a graph. Notice that the bass drum is played right on beats one and three but the snare drum alone is played slightly late.

I tried to draw this out visually. At the top of this post is a depiction of a straight back beat, and here next to this paragraph I have drawn out, with notes, how to play behind the back beat. Experiment and season to taste. This is an advanced Money Beat concept.

I’ve attached a video of me performing with Day VS Night. We’re playing our new song “Dramamine.” In it I utilize this technique. By playing behind the back beat I give a lot of feel, depth and power to this simple slow beat, and it helps the song chug along.

Bass Drum Technique – Moeller Stroke or the Heel Toe Method

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Leg posture for drumset -- the right angle for bass drumming

Leg posture for drumset -- the right angle for bass drumming

The heel toe method, a permutation of the Moeller stroke, is an advanced method for producing quick single strokes on your bass drum. It’s a delicate balance, a finesse move more than powerful. Power can come with time, but you’ll never get there if you don’t focus on rhythmic accuracy over speed.

Here is a video of my foot on the bass drum pedal. You can see how the motion is fluid when properly done.

The very basic steps of this technique are as follows:

  • Begin with your toe on the pedal, your heel elevated. This is the typical pose a drummer has right before they hit the bass drum in many contexts.
  • Push the whole foot down. Your toes will reach the bottom of the motion at the same time your heel reaches the plate. This will produce a bass drum strike.
  • Raise your heel, and as you do so, push down with your toes/ end of your foot. This is the finesse move. Your toe push will produce an audible strike.
  • Release the toe pressure so the beater leaves the bass drum head immediately, just as your heel + knee apparatus ready for another strike.

Practice slowly and evenly. This is a great method for achieving a double strike, boom boom, but it can be turned in to a long succession of bass drum strikes. Jojo Mayer is the master of this.

I I like to imagine stroke rotating around the arch of my foot. I prefer to wear shoes with rigid soles, it helps keeps your toes firm.

Jojo Mayer moves his foot more than I do. I’m seeking to get my technique to be like his. Here is a video of his:

His toes appear to strike at the middle of the pedal when he’s at full speed. In order to do this he lifts his knee pretty high to give his feet space to operate. He’s functioning well in his converse shoes. So I guess the challenge is on me to be more athletic, to lift my knee higher to give my foot more space.

EDIT – 3-2-2012
I noticed his posture — a by product of his throne, he sits rather high. His knees are bent at 90 degrees before he strikes. At rest his knees are below his hips.