To blast beat, or not to blast beat?

jesusdrumm3r

Junior Member
Alright so i do not personally care for hardcore styles of music, nor do i enjoy playing them. Im more of a jazzy funk drummer with some cool chops. I was thinking though, should i take up blast beats just so i know i can actually do them? For some reason during my last practice session, during the last five minutes i just went crazy and did a blast beat and it was tough ill admit. Should i legitly use my time to learn this form of music, even if i wont use it as of now? Or just leave it alone and work on the things i will be using?
 
If you have absolutely nothing else you'd prefer to learn or get down, then why not. It's just another skill to add to your arsenal. If you have more pressing things you'd rather spend your time on, then there seems little point concentrating on blast beats just for the hell of it. Especially if you doubt you'll ever use them.
 
There's no reason not to spend some time on blast beats. Even better, don't simply practice blast beats as is, work on single stroke rolls between your hands and feet (say, right foot and left hand). Once you get them down at a good speed not only will you be capable of playing a solid traditional blast beat if you want to, but it should also open up quite few possibilities for interesting fills and beats.
 
My drum teacher gave me this exercise where you go slow with single strokes using your wrist motion and fingers. What you do it play at a constant but not fast speed and just keep doing them, but make sure that your sticks don't bounce any higher than about 3 inches. This develops your technique so you can do them more consistently. Add some accents here and there but don't over power the flow. Once it starts getting easy go a little faster and then faster and so on. If you do this a little bit every day it will be easier for you to play fast. Remember the less distance you have to move makes your speed higher. It starts to feel more natural. Do you work with a mirror and a metronome? The mirror helps you see exactly what you are doing and try to experiment with the metronome.

Oh and if you know any rudiments like paradiddles or double paradiddles try it with them too. You can do them separately or rotate every other. It's up to you.
 
Last edited:
Make a jazz blast beat. I wanna hear you do it.
 
blasting is just another facet of drumming, why not learn it. i never thought swing was usable in metal but i learned it for giggles and now it helps me come up with interesting beats. dont expect to progress in drumming if you ignore other drumming styles, they will serve to expand your bag of tricks. plus blasting is great for timing practice and endurance.
 
Yeah I say do it, there fun to play and are a good work out. You could blast with just your right hand and foot, and alternate with just your left hand and foot, that's a great exercise right there.
 
There's no reason to learn a blast beat. If you're not going to play a style of music that utilizes blast beats, it would be a waste of time to learn how to do them.

I disagree. Learning any new skill will improve a drummer's chops in other areas too. For example, a blast beat will likely greatly improve his speed and hand/foot coordination, which is something that will be useful in many, many other styles of playing.
 
I disagree. Learning any new skill will improve a drummer's chops in other areas too. For example, a blast beat will likely greatly improve his speed and hand/foot coordination, which is something that will be useful in many, many other styles of playing.

Aren't there a million other things a drummer can work on? Not knocking blast beats ... whatever makes you happy, but there's such a mountain of things to learn you have to prioritise. You can't know it all unless you're Vinnie, and even he would probably say the same.
 
As a blastaholic, I'm gonna say don't bother. It has no real application that I can see for what you do, so why not spend time on something a little more up your alley? I can't imagine you know EVERYTHING there is to know about jazz/funk, so keep on keepin' on.
 
I don't play heavy metal or heavy anything, but when my dad first started teaching me drums more than 50 years ago, I remember him telling me to learn everything I could about the art of drumming. I took his advice and once in a while I still do take a lesson here and there. Because of the different genres I've been taught, I have no problems playing and reading just about any piece of music that I'm given, this also helps a lot during wedding receptions and studio work. You never know what's going to be requested other than what's already requested by the bride and groom or what may come over the fax or computer. Go learn it, it won't harm anything and you'll know another style of playing. Never limit yourself.

I picked up these double pedals about two years ago knowing that I would be again expanding my level of playing. It was a good thing I did. Just about two months after getting these I was laid up in the hospital with foot surgery to my right foot. Knowing the double pedal got me through a couple months of playing using my left foot on the bass pedal.

DSC_0386.jpg


Actually my girlfriend is much better at blast beats than I am having great leg and foot coordination. A metronome helps out a lot also.

Dennis
 
You never know how a skill learned will translate to your own voice on the instrument. I personally find blast beats to be revolting, can't stand 'em, it's like throwing up on the instrument imho. Yet I'm sure that if I learned the technique it would find its way in to what I say on the drums.
 
Aren't there a million other things a drummer can work on? Not knocking blast beats ... whatever makes you happy, but there's such a mountain of things to learn you have to prioritise. You can't know it all unless you're Vinnie, and even he would probably say the same.

Of course. I was just saying that learning how to play blast beats isn't only useful for metal drummers. It will help anyone's playing. Whether it's something that should be a priority depends entirely on the goals and skill level of the drummer in question.
 
First person I ever saw play a "blast beat" was Buddy Rich.
Then later....Tony Williams, then.......

D.
 
use whatever fits the music the best, and there are alot of types of guitar riffs that may require blasting and if you hate blasting dont join a band that is remotely heavy, even if its progressive because along the line you may find yourself blasting or doing something similar. and if you do use blasting make it interesting, think about it like the basic rock beat but only for some extreme metal genres, build off of it and give it substance and musicality, i mean if you played in a rock band itd be boring if when you were called upon to play the basic straightup AC/DC beat for extensive periods of a song without giving it some feel and musicality
 
I don't much care for extreme metal. Or have a use for blast beats.

But I'm still interested in learning a few.

It takes a certain technique to play a proper blast, which I find interesting. And as mentioned, the finger and ankle control required for a good blast beat would be useful in playing many other things.

And I could certainly see how a 1 or 2 bar blast could be a useful fill idea in a rock, metal and/or a punk setting.
 
I disagree. Learning any new skill will improve a drummer's chops in other areas too. For example, a blast beat will likely greatly improve his speed and hand/foot coordination, which is something that will be useful in many, many other styles of playing.

True, I'm not disagreeing, but a blast beat has limited musical application unless you're playing metal or looking to pull it out as a lick in your particular style. If he asked what he should practice because he wanted to work on something to increase his hand/foot coordination, I would recommend working on rudiments between his hands and feet, come up with some licks that he'd actually use and work THOSE up to the fullest, and yes...even work on blast beats as yet another "exercise" to work up his hand/foot chops.

...but that wasn't his original question.
 
I would say do whatever you want.

But seriously, if you don't play metal or music that utilizes blast beats, you probably won't find much help from them.
 
Back
Top