If you have a double bass drum pedal (double kick pedal) and are looking for some exercises to get started with, or to help you practice the basics, then these will be useful to you. These exercises would also be good for anyone that has been playing with a double kick or two bass drums for a while, because they can be played at fast speeds too – making the dificulty level harder.
Tag: metal
Intermediate Drum Warm-Up – Part 2
Following on from the Grade 1-3 Drum Lesson Warm Up posted recently, and the intermediate drum warm-up Part 1 for drummers that have reached a higher level of ability (about Grade 4-6 +), here is the second part of the Intermediate drum warm up.
This second part of the warm up consists of stylistic exercise, including Swing in 4/4, Swing in 3/4, Jazz and metal. This is a continuation from part 1 where on exercise 3 there was a funk rock exercise.
Exercise 4 – 8th Note Swing in 4/4.
The snare drums with brackets around are ghost notes, which means small quiet taps on the snare drum about 1-2 inches from the snare head. These beats and fills could be heard in musicals or swing bands for example.
Exercise 5 – 8th Note Swing in 3/4
These beats and fill again could be heard in musicals, swing bands, and also in Jazz.
Exercise 6 – Jazz
The ghost note snares and bass drums on the 4th bar are what you might play if you were comping. Here is a video that goes into great detail about comping:
Exercise 7 – Metal
This exercise is a good warm up for anyone and only needs a single bass drum pedal (kick pedal). It’s sort of an introduction to blast beats. You can learn more here in this video:
8 Intermediate Metal Double Bass Drum Beats
These double bass drum grooves can be played by advanced beginners, intermediate players, and above. Double kick beginners should try this very slowly to start with.
These grooves can be played in professional songs, they are mostly generic metal grooves and widely used by metal drummers.
These 8 metal drum grooves are all played with a quarter note hi hat ostinato, which is notated to be played with open hi hats. These should be played slightly open rather than fully open, to achieve that slushy hi hat sound heard in the majority of hard rock and metal songs. Many metal drummers keep the hi hats permanently in this position by setting up the height of the top hi hat cymbal to be only just a slither higher than the bottom one. This enables the drummer to have both feet free to bring the thunder on the bass drum pedals, whilst still being able to play a mixture of open and closed hi hats when needed.
FOOT PATTERN: R L R L [x4
FOOT PATTERN: R L R L – L R L [x2]
FOOT PATTERN: R L R – [x4]
FOOT PATTERN: R L R – – L R [x2]
FOOT PATTERN: – L R L [x4]
FOOT PATTERN: – L R – [x4]
FOOT PATTERN: – L – L [x4]
FOOT PATTERN: R L – L – L – L [x2]
The drum sheet music can be used as seperate exercises (1 per line), or as a complete exercise.
5 Beginners Drum Beats in different styles of music
Here are 5 beginners drum beats in the styles of Dance Music / Pop, Reggae, Hip Hop, Blues, and Metal / Hard Rock.
There are also audio examples to help you with the rhythms.
Audio Examples of each drum beat:
Metal Beats – Part 2
All these metal grooves are intended be played with a double bass drum pedal. You should already have done a lot of work with the double bass drum pedal before attempting these. If these look too difficult you could try 8 Intermediate Metal Double Bass Drum Beats.
There is a mixture of blast beats and simple double bass drum beats on this sheet. Play them all slowly to start with and then keep building up the speed. Ideally, use a metronome to record your progress, and practice this sheet over several weeks at least.
Related: Metal Beats – Part 1
Metal Drum Beats – Part 1
All these metal grooves are intended be played with a double bass drum pedal. You should already have done a lot of work with the double bass drum pedal before attempting these. If these look too difficult you could try 8 Intermediate Metal Double Bass Drum Beats
There is a mixture of blast beats and simple double bass drum beats on this sheet. Play them all slowly to start with and then keep building up the speed. Ideally, use a metronome to record your progress, and practice this sheet over several weeks at least.
Related: Metal Beats – Part 2
Two Bar Metal Grooves – Sheet 2
These are metal grooves that use the double pedal in an interesting way.
This sheet is ideal for a drummer that has been learning the double bass drum for a while, and has some reading knowledge. Hopefully this will give some people a few new ideas for creating their own double kick grooves.
Fast double kick drumming sounds great when executed with precision. Just remember, focus on accuracy and timing above speed, so start off practicing them slowly and correctly first.
Related: Two Bar Metal Grooves – Sheet 1 →
Two Bar Metal Drum Grooves
These are metal grooves that use the double pedal in an interesting way.
This sheet is ideal for a drummer that has been learning the double bass drum for a while, and has some reading knowledge. Hopefully this will give some people a few new ideas for creating their own double kick grooves.
Fast double kick drumming sounds great when executed with precision. Just remember, focus on accuracy and timing above speed, so start off practicing them slowly and correctly first.
Related: Two Bar Metal Grooves – Sheet 2 →