Drummers? - How do you control your foot?

[ecfirefighter]

Hey guys,

I've recently moved up to the hard level and my foot won't cooperate with the rest of my body. Any tips? Sometimes it likes to hit when my left does, sometimes with the right but almost never independently... especially on the off beats.

Help...

The ******ed Monkey

[DarK_AssassiN]

This is probably not what you want to hear, but it comes with practice. The step from medium to hard is kind of a big one, but with practice, you'll get it ;)

[skullpit]

Try going into practice on a song you're having trouble with and just hit with your right hand and bass pedal. Ignore your left hand. Or just your left hand and bass pedal. When you can do these pretty well like that, try and put them all together. That's how I practice.

[chance2002iu]

As trite as it sounds, the best advise I can give is practice.

I started on Hard difficulty within the past month and had the same trouble at first (and still sometimes do if I start thinking on my limbs too much).

I was able to develop more independent limb movement by going to practice mode and picking the song that was owning me, picking full song at 50% and at the end of the song, going up a step. By the time I got to 100%, muscle memory set in and after doing a few songs like that I can now sometimes nail new songs with the same rhythm pattern that would've made me fail a month ago.

Hope my 'advise' is useful. 頑張ってね

[Parodygm]

Also, make sure that you have your drums set up in a comfortable position and that the action you're using with your leg/foot doesn't cause you to tire.

I'm definitely a heel up player and since exclusively using that method I never have pain in my ankles/shins/calves. Others find heel down easier. Try experimenting with setup as well as continued practise - it could be a combination of the two.

[NoobHealer]

The biggest issue I had when playing drums is that I don't always hear the bass. This was a problem for somebody like me who relies on hearing to play songs.

The way I've learned to play hit bass is to go into practice mode. Then only hit the Bass Pedal. This allows you to get the pattern for your foot.

Once your confident in hitting the bass pedal, add one hand at a time.

Good luck to you.

[QueensoftheStoneAge]

Practice. I wasn't very good at hard mode, but it just came to me one day. I had never really played drums before, but I've almost beat expert now. Stuck on Foreplay/Long Time and Dont Fear the Reaper. Once it clicks it will be much easier.

[lintball]

Heel up is a must for me to hit the tricky bass parts on hard/expert.

For example, "In Bloom", even though rated as easy, has some fairly complex 16th note kicks. I can not do it flat-footed (heel down), but it is fairly easy for me with heel up.

[davidshek]

If you're having problem with foot control, the only solution is practice. Yep, that's really the answer.

But if you'd like to learn the differences between the various methods that people are talking about in here (heels up, heels down, etc.), watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSKS9a9NuPc&fmt=18

It's about 12 minutes long, but quite worth it. He does a very good tutorial on the "heel-toe" method which, once practiced, will greatly help you nail those quick double hits on the kick drum.

[ddub]

Heel up is a must for me to hit the tricky bass parts on hard/expert.

For example, "In Bloom", even though rated as easy, has some fairly complex 16th note kicks. I can not do it flat-footed (heel down), but it is fairly easy for me with heel up.

But try both and do what works for you. Heel up on the flimsy pedal is quite a bit different than heel up on a regular drum.

I play exclusively heel down, even on the 16th notes. To do that though, I have to make sure that my torso to upper leg and upper leg to lower leg angles are slightly greater than 90 degrees. Having the pedal too close to me makes heel down much much more difficult. In this configuration, I do tend to push the set a bit if it is not braced firmly. Try tapping out triplets with your heel down and moving your foot closer and farther away from yourself. It is easy to find a sweet spot doing this.

The coordination thing though... yeah just practice. You can practice tapping your foot anywhere -- although if you are a righty, tapping your right foot while driving does gives a real nice gas-brake-dip effect :D

[Izorion]

I haven't taken the time to read all of the replies, so I'll apologize in advance if this advice has already been posted.

My brother's a professional drummer, and I grew up wailing on his set as a kid, and he taught me this tidbit of information at an early age. Keep the kick pedal pressed to the floor all the time. When the time comes, gently lift just your foot and depress the pedal again. A vast majority of my friends have have the tendency to lift their entire lower leg to activate the kick pedal. This will tire you out VERY quickly, particulary on Hard and Extreme modes where there are many more double-beats (Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria is a perfect example).

I'm no professional, but I consistently score between 97-100% on every track on Hard.

[Finster]

I hear you on the bass pedal. Particularly on the double hits and the "off" hits between hands. Just keep practicing and keep trying to find a comfortable set up with seat and drum height. I am still struggling on Hard with it, but I'm finding I'm hitting some of those off notes now without really thinking about it.

[Promark 747]

Keep the beater buried on the base head (well keep the pedal pushed down when not playing since the beater is only a figment of your imagination) Its how I play on my real kit and it gives your foot some place to rest when not using the kick pedal.

[ecfirefighter]

awesome advice, thanks guys. GREAT video