Burying the Beater

Hannahsketchbook

Active Member
I’m sure this has been discussed but I thought I’d ask anyways for maybe some more specifics.

So I’m a heal up kind of gal and tend to bury the beater. (About two months beginner here) I know this sound isn’t ideal for all music types, so I was trying to consciously avoid this but kept bouncing extra kicks in there. I try and keep my foot in the center and put my heal down after. The most natural feel to me is heal up. Any tips on not keeping it on the drum? I will most likely play a lot of a rock but I don’t want this to limit my sound for other types of music I like too so I want to be able to do both, but I am having more control issues when I don’t. Probably because I haven’t practiced much this way. Plus I like the more muted sound for evening practice so I’ve practiced more this way from day 1.

Sometimes unconsciously I don’t keep it on the drum but I want to be intentiona.

I feel like that was a lot of words.


Uhhh bury the beater and how not to? Could the extra notes be due to my pedal and any adjustments I should make?


Opinions, tips welcome! Thank you! Hope everyone is doing well!!
 
Last edited:
I'm thinking a little tighter spring might help. Knowing what pedal (did I miss that?) Might help as well. Practice will always help. I'm working on it as well.
 
Consider working toward the eventual heel toe technique. It might make you conscientious about not burying it because of how the process works. Heel up is power, which is why I started with it, i guess. I didn't know heel toe until i started back after 15 years out of play.

After paying attention to my play I still tend to bury the beater.
 
Well, pedal adjustments and foot technique are highly individual, like a lot of drumming, so ultimately you'll have to figure out what works for you.

The pedal adjustment that will likely make the most difference is that spring tension. Increasing the tension may help get the beater back off the head without unintentional double strokes.

If I was having the issue you are having, I would increase tension until I could comfortably rest my forefoot on the pedal without the beater touching the head. Don't go overboard - you want just enough to help you get the beater away, without adding so much tension it's hard to make the stroke. Too much tension, and you'll have trouble keeping the beater buried without it dribbling. So you'll have to experiment.

As your technique improves, you'll be able to play heel up, heel down, bury the beater or let it rebound, all with the same adjustment.

Hope this helps!

TL/DR - mess with spring tension and see if it helps.
 
Well, pedal adjustments and foot technique are highly individual, like a lot of drumming, so ultimately you'll have to figure out what works for you.

The pedal adjustment that will likely make the most difference is that spring tension. Increasing the tension may help get the beater back off the head without unintentional double strokes.

If I was having the issue you are having, I would increase tension until I could comfortably rest my forefoot on the pedal without the beater touching the head. Don't go overboard - you want just enough to help you get the beater away, without adding so much tension it's hard to make the stroke. Too much tension, and you'll have trouble keeping the beater buried without it dribbling. So you'll have to experiment.

As your technique improves, you'll be able to play heel up, heel down, bury the beater or let it rebound, all with the same adjustment.

Hope this helps!

TL/DR - mess with spring tension and see if it helps.
Thank you! I’ll mess with it a bit! I figure my technique will improve. I just didn’t want to pick up any bad habits early!
 
You've been playing for two months, none of this is stuff you should be worrying about. Learn to count, learn to read, and play a lot of drums. Get with a reputable teacher as soon as you can, who will help you refine your technique at an appropriate time. If you're playing heel up but resting your foot on the floor between notes, your technique is probably fine for now. You just don't want to be up on your toe all the time.

Leave your pedal alone, however it was tensioned in the box is fine. Unless you got it used and it's super floppy, or super tight.

Be careful about advice given in youtube videos-- none of those people know who you are, or what is important for you to think about right now.
 
You've been playing for two months, none of this is stuff you should be worrying about. Learn to count, learn to read, and play a lot of drums. Get with a reputable teacher as soon as you can, who will help you refine your technique at an appropriate time. If you're playing heel up but resting your foot on the floor between notes, your technique is probably fine for now. You just don't want to be up on your toe all the time.

Leave your pedal alone, however it was tensioned in the box is fine. Unless you got it used and it's super floppy, or super tight.

Be careful about advice given in youtube videos-- none of those people know who you are, or what is important for you to think about right now.
Yeah you’re right. I made so much progress but I tend to bury it. I just was hoping it didn’t throw me off later down the road.
l got my kit used and the pedal does seem a bit floppy though. At first I just had nothing to compare it to but then I started my in person lessons and noticed a bit of a difference when I used the kit in his studio. My teacher just told me to play around with it. There’s no wrong way. It’s mainly what sound I want and what feels natural. He’s seen so many drummers play it differently. I had just asked about it because I was having trouble hitting two kicks in a row quickly without the extra note and I was wondering what the best way may be

Thank you!
 
What helps me the most is posture and seat height which I find to be core fundamental to drumset ergonomics in general; generally I want my center of gravity from the top of my head through my back in to the throne (and imagine through floor like a line). Another way I like to imagine it, like a puppet with a string on the top of head and having the string pulled upward for balanced posture.

In other words, I don't want to use my feet to balance my body while keeping a relatively perpendicular angle with my foot to the pedal. A way to cheat this, you can have your bass drum further away and you get a similar effect (I've done it but it's a less effective posture to with). But either way, my general approach is not have weight on my feet so hihat foot splashes or not bury the beat come very easy (adjusting back to bury into is far easier if that is a desired tone option too).

As for spring tension, I find the more 'correct' the technique, the less spring tension required as you get a natural bounce from the head but depends on open the tuning is, the beater, ect....it's gets complex for everyone's setup. If you have a dead already (sort of counter productive to get the full tone of the BD), that may not equate.
 
Thank you! I’ll mess with it a bit! I figure my technique will improve. I just didn’t want to pick up any bad habits early!
There is nothing wrong with playing heel up and burying the beater in most rock situations. Like others have said, you have much more important stuff to focus on this early in your development. Once you have good time and feel, you can shift more mental cycles to how your foot is positioned and how to produce different sounds with a technique that is comfortable to you. Believe it or not, there are ways to let the beater fall off the kick drum head with a relatively loose spring tension and heel up.

What I would suggest is finding a tension that fits your playing style (basically feels good to you when playing), and get proficient with that. After a while you will start to make small and natural changes to the bass drum pedal that you intentionally decide to make.
 
Yeah you’re right. I made so much progress but I tend to bury it. I just was hoping it didn’t throw me off later down the road.

It won't, nothing will, except not doing it, or not continuing to learn.

Getting distracted by the internet falls under the not doing it category, by the way.

Like, more information doesn't help. Nothing you're doing two months in should require any special technique. Learn your lesson assignment as best you can, try to figure out things that are bugging you on your own, at your drums-- if you blow it and do it wrong, your teacher will work on it with you next week. It's no big deal, just practice. Step on the thing, put the notes in rhythm, learn your assignment.
 
You've been playing for two months, none of this is stuff you should be worrying about. Learn to count, learn to read, and play a lot of drums. Get with a reputable teacher as soon as you can, who will help you refine your technique at an appropriate time. If you're playing heel up but resting your foot on the floor between notes, your technique is probably fine for now. You just don't want to be up on your toe all the time.

Leave your pedal alone, however it was tensioned in the box is fine. Unless you got it used and it's super floppy, or super tight.

Be careful about advice given in youtube videos-- none of those people know who you are, or what is important for you to think about right now.
Exactly! 100% on point.

BTW, many modern styles bury the beater anyway. Think "Uptown Funk"

Vinnie Coiauta buries the beater.

Enough said
 
It won't, nothing will, except not doing it, or not continuing to learn.

Getting distracted by the internet falls under the not doing it category, by the way.

Like, more information doesn't help. Nothing you're doing two months in should require any special technique. Learn your lesson assignment as best you can, try to figure out things that are bugging you on your own, at your drums-- if you blow it and do it wrong, your teacher will work on it with you next week. It's no big deal, just practice. Step on the thing, put the notes in rhythm, learn your assignment.
Sounds good to me! I was just curious if it was if there was an easier way to get two notes clean together because I was struggling a bit with that residual note when I was ready to speed up tempo.

My main focus is is definitely timing and coordination right now and just making sure I’m holding the sticks right and not tensing up.
 
You don't mention anything about your head selection, tension or muffling. Those too can have an affect on that unintended stroke.
For example, an unported reso head can exacerbate this problem whereas a ported head may help.
Hannah, it sounds like you might have a case of "beater bounce-back" that's giving you an unwanted extra beat/hit.
This commonly occurs with those of us who like to bury the beater against the bass' batter head.

Like WuHan Solo said, the easiest way to remedy this is to port (put a small, controlled hole) in the bass' reso head. The hole/port allows extra air (pressure) to escape from the bass drum when you hit it. The "bounce-back" occurs when the beater hits the batter head, and the pressure of the impact reflects off of the reso head, and returns back to the batter head. If your beater is pressed against the batter head in the microseconds in which this occurs, it causes an involuntary bounce (hit) of the beater.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with burying the beater as a player if that is your natural style (many of us do it). Porting will quickly fix this issue, if that is the problem. If you are interested in porting your bass drum's reso head, we can help/advise you with that. Or, your instructor. :)
 
Last edited:
Sounds good to me! I was just curious if it was if there was an easier way to get two notes clean together because I was struggling a bit with that residual note when I was ready to speed up tempo.

I couldn't say without seeing you play. Sometimes it's better to be loose/sloppy and get through your assignment than to get hung up on something subtle and spend half your practice time figuring that out. People have a way of working out a functional technique by just doing it.
 
You’ve gotten great suggestions. The only thing I’d add is before adding a port to reso loosen up bass batter so less tension and it gives rather than flutter- see if that helps. You can take off your shoes so you get more sensory feedback to see if help your body naturally adjust.
 
You've been playing for two months, none of this is stuff you should be worrying about. Learn to count, learn to read, and play a lot of drums. Get with a reputable teacher as soon as you can, who will help you refine your technique at an appropriate time. If you're playing heel up but resting your foot on the floor between notes, your technique is probably fine for now. You just don't want to be up on your toe all the time.

Leave your pedal alone, however it was tensioned in the box is fine. Unless you got it used and it's super floppy, or super tight.

Be careful about advice given in youtube videos-- none of those people know who you are, or what is important for you to think about right now.

going off of this, i play heel up all the time - metal, jazz, musicals etc. I bury the beater 99%of the time* , and no one has ever complained about my sound in 30+ years...sometimes my timing gets judged, but not sound

* the only time I don't bury the beater is with double bass
 
I couldn't say without seeing you play. Sometimes it's better to be loose/sloppy and get through your assignment than to get hung up on something subtle and spend half your practice time figuring that out. People have a way of working out a functional technique by just doing it.
I think this is right on. It's the way I learned, simply because I wasn't around any drummers besides my teacher once a week, and the Internet wasn't a thing. I had no choice but to figure out how to make my body and my tools do what I wanted.
 
Exactly! 100% on point.

BTW, many modern styles bury the beater anyway. Think "Uptown Funk"

Vinnie Coiauta buries the beater.

Enough said
Lots of amazing drummers 'bury the beater', however, for many players it is hard to avoid micro bounce, which results in a buzzing sound on those bass drum hits. No one would ever hear it at a live show, but it can be an issue when recording and I've certainly heard it when sampling drums.
As such I prefer to never bury the beater and I'm a heel up, power player.
 
Back
Top