Bass Drum Issue

swstarks

Junior Member
Hey guys, quick question:

I've always been a heel up, "bury the beater" player but a couple days ago I realized that some times I get multiple notes (or buzzes if you will) when it should be just solid bass drum hits.

I looked up videos of Aaron Spears, Dennis Chambers, etc. burying the beater and it's a solid hit.

Is this an equipment problem or I am just doing something wrong? By the way, I play with a DW 5000 pedal.

Thanks!
 
Many great players bury the beater and of course you can get great results that way, but you might consider learning to play legato strokes.

I used to get accidental strokes when I buried the beater, but after getting hardcore into hand technique I realized that all of those principles apply to the bass drum as well.

Now, if your bass drum is tuned and muffled in certain ways then it won't make much of a difference. But if you sit down at something like a bebop kit then there's a very noticeable difference.

Of course, that's just my opinion please take with an enormous amount of salt. :D

Cheers
 
Hey guys, quick question:

I've always been a heel up, "bury the beater" player but a couple days ago I realized that some times I get multiple notes (or buzzes if you will) when it should be just solid bass drum hits.

I looked up videos of Aaron Spears, Dennis Chambers, etc. burying the beater and it's a solid hit.

Is this an equipment problem or I am just doing something wrong? By the way, I play with a DW 5000 pedal.

Thanks!

It shouldn't matter what type of pedal you have. You can learn the how not to get that bass drum beater buzz.

I suggest checking out Matt Ritter's excellent DVD, "Unburying The Beater". In it, he explains the technique of allowing the beater to come off the head, playing heel up or heel down.
 
Ported or unported reso?

If you 'bury the beater' on an unported reso head you enhance the bounce or buzz effect. In fact it really doesn't work well burying on such a bass drum.
I prefer the sound of unported reso so the way out is technique - learn to let your beater come off the head (i.e. not bury). You may wish to adjust your pedal tension or beater length somewhat to help with that or just practice (I did both).
If you have a ported reso should be able bury the beater with no bounce. If you're getting bounce I cannot explain ....could be something odd.
 
I used to get buzzes, but changed up to not burying the beater. I don't have any advice on burying the beater without the buzzes, other than abandoning that technique...

Maybe give it a try, it's always good to have more than one way to play. I'm much happier since changing up my bass drum technique...
 
One possible cause could be your spring is tensioned too much, or you don't quite have an accustomed, comfortable balance point on the pedal.
 
I say quit burying the beater, you're just killing the low end and the sustain by not letting the batter had vibrate.

I made the choice a couple a months ago and I've already gotten to the point where I don't have to think about catching the pedal with the foot on the way up, it just feels natural.
 
Yeah my bass drum is unported so that's probably why.

Thanks for the feedback!

That shouldn't be the issue at all. I always have my bass drums unported, I max the spring tension out, have both heads tuned very tightly, but I never bury the beater. The only times I've ever had any issues with unwanted buzz notes were when I played with the beater starting position less than 45 degrees from the head, so I'd imagine the problem lies within your beater angle and technique. Having the beater angled anywhere from 70 to 85 degrees I find usually avoids both the unwanted buzz notes and the beater coming back and hitting you in the foot.
 
Back
Top