Jesse's Drums Lessons: Double Kick Philosophy

In this video, I detail my philosophy behind double kick drumming. I think there are too many kids out there these days that are all-consumed by playing "fast" as opposed to "clean" or "musically". Double bass drumming needs to be approached as a musical device, not as a circus stunt- I believe this is lost on a lot of young drummers today. Hopefully you find the video enlightening!

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• improvisation
• drums
• rock band
• double bass
• drum lessons
• metal
• fusion
• jazz
• Virgil Donati
• Gavin Harrison
• Thomas Lang
• Marco Minneman
• Kalamazoo
• lessons
• Broughton Music Center

[ryukintakeda]

I agree with everything you said. No problem there. Good philosophy, I support it. Your actual technique is pretty weird though. You sit VERY close to your bass drum and it puts your ankles at a very poor playing angle. Also, You need to release the beater off the head much like you talk about releasing the stick off the drum. Burying the beater on double kick passages is really hampering your sound and likely your endurance. Not that everything needs constant double kick... but you never know

[JazzzRockFuzion]

@ryukintakeda Thank you for your comments and input! A couple things:

1) I sit relatively close to my kit because it puts everything within comfortable, ergonomic reach. If you notice, I also sit relatively high (i'm 6' tall), so my playing angle is perfectly comfortable, despite what it may appear to you.

[JazzzRockFuzion]

@ryukintakeda 2) I'm of the mind that releasing the beater between every kick is a matter of context (dynamics and speed)... Keep in mind that most kick drum heads are tuned VERY loosely...they don't offer the precise rebound of a snare or tom. Therefore, keeping the feet 'planted' between kicks actually gives you more control and precision in the end. I've never had endurance or 'sound hampering issues'. In fact, I get regular compliments at metal shows for playing even and NOT using triggers.

[JazzzRockFuzion]

@ryukintakeda I checked out your Floating Double Kick tutorial (which was great btw), and we essentially play in an identical fashion, my friend! :) I have to point out that you also leave the kick beater 'planted' inn-between slower strokes, which is exactly what I (and most drummers like Portnoy, Donati and Lang) do. You may be confused by my sandals here, which aren't hugging my heels, hence creating an 'optical illusion' as you watch.

[soccerdanny619]

was the first solo thing u played blink 182? 2:04

[JazzzRockFuzion]

@soccerdanny619

Actually, it wasn't based on a specific tune or drummer...it was just an example that I played off the top of my head. It's the type of fill that has been used by a ton of different players in different applications- something most drummers can recognize and relate to.

[CWMlolzlz]

thanks for the insight. I just got a double kick for christmas and im keen to take it further than just playing straight fast cramming.

[ryukintakeda]

@JazzzRockFuzion Continued: Flo Mounier uses some kind of weird slappy thing in his video but otherwise everything he says is great. George Kollias uses some weird heel swing thing, but also everything else he says is similarly great. They are much better than I am. They have their quirks but all the core ideas are the same.

[ryukintakeda]

@JazzzRockFuzion Once again we agree. Not trying to put you down or anything. I also do not use triggers and people have often refused to believe it in a live context. I think acoustic sounds better in everything other than extremely fast technical death metal. I am also 6'2" so I know what its like to have long legs too. check out these 1-VjuOTctdM & iMGqhYVwOJA

[tricky12321]

thats why triggers were invented haha