Double bass control exercises, anyone?

schist

Silver Member
Right, so I have sufficient double bass speed and endurance, but now I'm after control - specifically the ability to change from one motion to another without sounding weak/sloppy (eg. the ability to cleanly change from a stream of 2-footed 16th-notes at, say, 100BPM to a burst of 32nd-notes and back again - I'm not sure how to articulate it any clearer).

That said, does anyone have any control exercises they'd like to share?
 
Hey man! I hear you it's exactly what i love to do. Your best bet is to start at a slower tempo around 180 would probably be good. Do your 16th notes at 90 bpm and start with small patterns. Start with a burst of 4 and then move onto 6, 8 and what ever multiple you desire. The important thing to remember is to start the 32nd note burst with your right foot and end on your right foot so anticipate this. So you know you can;t go wrong if you are ending on your right foot. End on your left and you'll find yourself in a mess well at least i do!!! lol Anyways good luck, sorry i didn't comment more on exercises but i just threw myself in at this sort of stuff.
 
there's an exercise one of my older drum teachers taught me for my hands.

i forgot who originally developed it, but i THINK it's called the killer exercise.

basically, you play 2 bars of singles, 2 bars of doubles, and 2 bars of paradiddles

just do the same with your feet.

even though this is probably obvious, i still feel the need to press this upon people. Practice this exercise painfully slowly so you can focus on technique. get the technique perfect, then start to speed it up.
 
Right, so I have sufficient double bass speed and endurance, but now I'm after control - specifically the ability to change from one motion to another without sounding weak/sloppy (eg. the ability to cleanly change from a stream of 2-footed 16th-notes at, say, 100BPM to a burst of 32nd-notes and back again - I'm not sure how to articulate it any clearer).

that right there sounds like a good exercise. i do that sometimes. another good one is switching back and forth between 16th notes and 16th note triplets.
 
first off that is a sick exercise groovemaster i first heard bout it from joe moorello i use this exercise near everyday but for the feet if u go to george kolliases website he has a 16week double bass course that focuses on exactly wut ur talkn bout and yes the key is to start slow i think these exercises start off at 85bpm if i remember correctly but yea rock on
 
there's an exercise one of my older drum teachers taught me for my hands.

i forgot who originally developed it, but i THINK it's called the killer exercise.

basically, you play 2 bars of singles, 2 bars of doubles, and 2 bars of paradiddles

just do the same with your feet.

even though this is probably obvious, i still feel the need to press this upon people. Practice this exercise painfully slowly so you can focus on technique. get the technique perfect, then start to speed it up.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz9Mvt8Bj8A&feature=channel_page
 
It almost goes without saying that all rudiments can also be applied to your feet, its just a matter of going slower when starting out. Groovemaster_flex has some good suggestions.
 
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