Chords for How to Play Heel-Toe: Double Bass Drum Lesson

What's up guys?
Today I'm going to teach you how to play double bass like this.
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_ _ _ [N] This is called the heel-toe technique, and this is what all the kids are doing these days,
so if you want to keep up with the Bahis, you better watch this video.
I love this technique so much, and I was so happy when I finally learned how to do it,
because it allows me to reach speeds I never thought I'd be able to play.
And once you get it down, you're going to paint the town brown.
Okay, so to put this as simply as possible, we're basically doing double strokes with our feet.
Two hits with the right foot, and then two hits with the left foot.
Your starting position is going to look something like this,
toes on the footboard with your heel-bah-heel in the air.
Also, you don't need longboard pedals to do this, but I guess it helps a little bit.
So you drop your heel and pretty much your whole leg, and that's going to give us the first stroke.
Okay?
What happens here is the ball of your foot is pressing the pedal down during the heel drop.
I guess it should be called ball-toe.
Just one ball!
Also, want to make sure that we take the weight of our toes, or the ball of our feet,
off of the footboard during this heel-dropping process,
because that's going to set us up for the second stroke.
And for the second stroke, we're pretty much returning to the starting position
by flinging the momentum from the heel drop back up to the toes.
So first stroke, _ second stroke.
Yeah?
A little faster, it looks like this. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ So with the left foot.
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So the first stroke is with the heel, and then the second stroke is with the toes.
Hence the name heel-toe.
Pretty easy, right?
No!
You still don't get it?
What do I have to do?
Come over there and show it to you on the floor without the pedals?
Yeah?
That's actually a pretty good idea,
because this is a great technique that you can practice on the floor
when you're sitting down anywhere.
So again, same thing.
Start with your toes on the floor with your heel off the ground,
and just practice the motion.
Boom boom.
Boom boom.
Boom boom.
Heel-toe.
Heel-toe.
You're not.
You're not!
Focus on pushing that momentum from the back to the front,
you know, pretty much the opposite of how we should wipe.
Just do one foot at a time, and really concentrate on differentiating each hit. _ _
_ _ _ _ And after a little bit, it'll just sort of feel like a rolling motion. _ _ _ _ _
Once you're good with the right foot, start working on your left,
or if you're like most of us and your left foot is weaker than your right,
then you can work on that one first, if you like.
But once you've got that motion down with both feet,
then you can start using them together.
Go as slow as you need to, just work on getting the four strokes there.
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4 Right right.
Left left right right left left.
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
_ _ _ And while you're practicing this,
you might notice that your feet begin to creep forward a little bit,
so that's something you have to keep in mind as well.
Try to keep them in the same spot while doing the motion.
And when you get to the faster speeds,
you'll also notice that your second stroke will be much quieter than your first stroke,
but that's okay, don't worry about it, that's what the triggers are for.
So let's go back over to the kit and we'll go over some more tips and exercises for you.
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Yeah.
Tips and exercises, here we go.
Tip number 1, don't rely solely on the bounce.
Solely, see what I did there?
It definitely helps if you make your bass drum skin tighter to play this easier at faster speeds,
but don't totally rely on that rebound because you want to develop your muscles too.
I guess this is sort of the same concept as when you're working on double strokes with your hands.
If your wrists are doing more work than the actual rebound, it'll be a lot cleaner and louder.
The more you can feel the motion and actually control it yourself,
the more comfortable you'll be, so that means you'll be more consistent.
Yeah.
This is one of the reasons why I don't wear shoes anymore when I'm playing drums
because when I'm doing heel-toe technique, I need to feel those strokes on the bottom of my foot.
Because when I have shoes on, it's a little harder to feel the strokes.
Feel the strokes.
But that's just my personal preference, it really doesn't matter what kind of footwear you use.
As Jared from Drumeo pointed out, you can do this technique using giant snowboarding boots if you really wanted to.
Another tip if you've never tried heel-toe before is to loosen the spring tension on your pedals.
When I first tried this technique, I had my spring tension like totally maxed out
and it was pretty much impossible for me to get that second stroke against those really strong springs with my little baby feet.
So I went from 100% spring tension down to about_ TWENTY! Tick-tock!
No, maybe not that low, but you know, I loosened it quite a bit and I noticed the difference immediately.
Also, have some patience with this technique, because for most people, it's not something you can master super quick.
I've been doing it for years now, and I'm still pretty far off from where I would like to be with my heel-toe abilities.
But that's good, right?
It gives me something to practice.
It's great!
Just don't over-practice, this one especially, because this technique puts a lot of stress on your shin muscles a lot more than what they're used to.
So you gotta ease them into it without giving yourself shin splints.
If they're feeling pretty tight, you can stretch them by sitting in a chair.
Bring your legs behind you so the top of your feet are flat on the floor, toes pointed away, and you just push down a little bit to feel the stretch.
Yeah.
Okay, finally, let's get into some practice exercises that you can [Em] do for the heel-toe technique.
My favorite exercise for anyone just starting out with this is to just start playing standard single stroke double bass,
and then every once in a while, slip a little double in there with one foot when you're comfortable.
[Eb] Slip it in, Daddy! _ _ _
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That actually sounded like D-Manufacturer from Fear Factory, right?
Hell yeah!
You can also do this with your left foot, of course.
Throw some doubles in there, too.
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_ _ _ _ _ _ Another good one is just going back and forth between eighth note singles and sixteenth note doubles.
This will get your muscles used to going back and forth between the two, since you'll probably be doing that for some songs anyways.
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_ _ _ _ _ _ Again, make sure you're focusing on the timing and keeping the notes even.
Even Steven Secks.
Wait a second.
_ [G] Another thing you might figure out after a bit of trying this is that there's sort of a sweet spot on the pedals for this.
Not too far back, not too far forward, kind of right in the middle.
You'll find it.
Feels so good.
And lastly, you can do what we were doing earlier, you know, if you want to practice this technique without being behind a drum kit.
Just sit in a chair and do the motion over and over again with each foot, or do it with both if you want.
But I find it's better to [Fm] do one foot at a time, especially if one foot is weaker than the other,
and let's be honest, most of us do [Bb] have that one ball that hangs lower than the other.
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_ [N] _ _ _ You want a squeak?
I'll give you a fucking squeak, you shit chair!
My favorite exercise for anyone starting out with this is to just play your regular standard single stroke double bass,
and then every once in a while, slip a little double in there with one foot whenever- Fuck you!
Penis wrinkle! _ _ _ _ _
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