Double-kick speed exercises are designed to improve a drummer's overall dexterity and foot speed. While most drummers use one kick pedal while playing a drum set, many metal and punk drummers require a double-kick pedal for the fast-paced beats they are required to play. Double-kick pedal exercises range from leg strengthening workouts to quick twitch muscle exercises.
Basic Double Bass Exercise
This basic double bass drum exercise will teach you how to play eighth notes in rhythm. Grab a metronome and a pair of headphones and plug the headphones into the metronome. Set the metronome tempo to 100 beats per minute. From here, place both feet firmly on the two kick pedals located right in front of your base drum. If your metronome is playing back in quarter notes, start out by playing quarter notes with your feet to get a feel for the rhythm. On each click of the metronome, switch back and forth between each foot pedal. As you improve, double your speed by adding a kick in between each click. If you add this extra hit properly, you will be playing solid eighth notes on your bass drum.
Kick Pedal Speed Exercise
This double bass pedal exercise will improve your endurance and speed with respect to the bass drum. Start with both feet resting comfortably on both bass pedals. From here, start to slowly alternate between the two bass drum pedals. Once you have gotten a feel, start to increase the speed of each bass drum pedal until you are going as fast as you possibly can. Do not worry about precision, the goal of this exercise is to strengthen your legs by not focusing on rhythm. Try to play both bass drums as fast as you can for three minutes. As your legs strengthen, increase your playing time until you are playing for five minutes straight.
Double Kick Acceleration Exercise
This double-kick exercise will help you improve your bass drum speed by accelerating your kick pedal speed gradually. With your metronome and a pair of headphones, sit down at your drum kit. Start the metronome at 80 beats per minute and tap along with both of your kick pedals. After every eight hits, increase the beats per minute on your metronome by two. At first you will have no problem compensating for this new speed, but as you continue, you will find it increasingly difficult to keep in time and keep up. If you miss more than three hits in a row, stop the metronome and start over. As you improve, the speed of the metronome will get higher and higher.
Member Comments