JBlade00 Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 Some tips that I can give you are right here (bad grammar I know =\) 1. Most important thing to learn when becoming a bass drummer: FEET! Your feet are your best friends when you are playing bass. No matter what, you always need to have good tempo with your feet, remember play your hands to your feet, not the other way around. - It is pretty easy to practice this, just use a metronome, set a pad on a desk, and just play exercises w/ the met. and your feet. 2. Technique - This is also a crucial part to bass drumming. The technique will usually be slightly different from line to line, but just make sure that there is a uniform technique, and you try your best to perfect it. Some lines like to break the wrist + the elbows to give more of a "I'm hitting me a** when I play" look. (Blue Devils for one) Some lines like to play with a really relaxed technique, while only rotating their forearm, and not breaking anything (except for really fast things like rolls), this technique is the "i'm not really playing INTO the drum, but it still sounds good when the unisons are together" (Cavies for one) Other lines like to mix those two techniques together to make sort of a harmony between them. There is a little break of the wrist, and a little rotation of the forearm. I like this technique the most because it is still relaxed, but the technique pretty much stays the same no matter what the basses play. This is the "I'm relaxed but can still ram notes" technique. (Cadets are a good example of this) - No matter which technique your line uses, remember that the technique of the hand on the mallet almost is always the same. Keep all fingers on the mallet while playing. Usually the fulcrum of the grip is between the thumb and pointer finger. And always remember to keep that thumb tucked in nice and tight, but don't squeeze, stay relaxed. 3. Flow - This is also a key part of bass drumming. If the line has good flow, that means that you can accomplish runs smoothly, without ANY break in sound. Evenly spaced notes, and correct interpretation can help this become nice. The 4 basic notations of bass drums are: 8th notes - 1's, 16th notes - 2's, sixtuplet - 3's, and 32nd notes - 4's. The heardest of these to keep clean within any line are 2's and 3's. The reason for this is there is a decent number of notes, and there must be the correct spacing between them in order to sounds clean. 4's might seem hard, but once you get the technique down, you don't have to worry about the spacing as much (you still need to worry about it, but not as much as, say 3's). Now when you mix these notes with UPBEATS (ee's, and's, and uh's) it becomes increasingly difficult to flow properly. - To practice this, again use a metronome with your feet, and play a bar of 16th notes, or 6 tuplets (or whatever) and then play a bar of only half of them (2's or 3's) See if you can still line up w/ the metronome. Another great way to practice is with someone else. Go through a series of patterns like this: 1's, 2's, 1's, 3's, 1's, 4's (each of those being 1 bar) this will help you in a lot of different ways. --- Well, this should just about do it. These are pretty much the basics to becoming a good bass drummer. It won't be till later that you learn about the hard stuff like splitting up rudaments (herata's, flam rudiments, split rolls), or playing a 32nd note split roll that sounds like 4's. You will learn these things as time goes by. Anyways, I hope this helps you, and anyone else intereseted. E-mail me if you have anymore questions: JBlade00@juno.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chi-Chkins Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 I marched bass for 5 years in Badettes and loved every minut of it. I would give anything just to march it again but medical problems set in....I wasnt the best but with practice and passion I am sure you can pull through... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdb-medina_bass_line Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 It's good to see more chicks, like myself, getting off the woodwinds and into percussion. I started young on saxaphone but quickly found my loyalties to lie in percussion. And now im playin bass 1 and layin' the beat down. Just practice like ever1 else has said 8ths 16ths sixes 32nd notes everything and get a hold of a practice pad and a bass drum as often as possible. [dcf]AnimayI-ayB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tylerdurden Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 yeah, i started out playing sax...then during my sophomore year i learned perc and just went from there, and my senior year i was bass captain....by the way, its nice to see some ayB peeps on here....word [dcp]Soap-ayB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade_fireman Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 ayb? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdb-medina_bass_line Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 ayb? yes ayB stands for all your bass. aka the nation of bass. It's for bass drummers one and all who love layin the beat down on bass [dcpf]AnimayI-ayB -formerly [dcf] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 (edited) wurd [dcf]Scrotus-ayB BK Sector Rev Sector Edited October 25, 2003 by Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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