- Hello everybody.
Derek Roddy here at Drumeo Studios.
Okay I have a couple of tips
that will help you develop your blast beats
and anybody who's familiar with my playing
knows that I'm a balance freak.
I believe that everything that happens
in this genre of playing blast beats and double bass
really centers on balance.
So here's an exercise that I feel that has,
it's been most beneficial for me as a player
trying to develop this, okay?
First thing we wanna start off is alternating 16th notes
between a hand and a foot.
There's four combinations.
First combination.
Right hand, right foot.
And, you could do this floor tom, on snare drum,
on various drums, kinda doesn't matter,
what you're focusing on is the alternating, okay, so.
Here it is a little slower.
Here it is a little faster.
Okay.
Second combination.
Left hand, left foot.
Little slower.
And a little faster.
Okay, combination three.
Right hand, left foot.
Little slower.
And a little faster.
Okay, last combination.
Left hand, right foot.
A little faster.
Okay.
So these are the four combinations.
Again, let's go back to what I said earlier
about the time limits.
Okay, time limits is something I like to apply
to most all of the exercises that I give you guys.
What you wanna do is start at a tempo
that is just under your comfort level
because this is gonna help you develop quicker
than starting, you know, somewhere
that's very comfortable for you, so,
push it just a little bit to where it's almost outside
of your comfort level, and to remember when you do that,
do that starting with your weaker limb, okay?
'Cause you'll start off faster with your strong side
and then realize when it goes to your weaker side
you're not that fast so always start these exercises
with your weaker side.
Okay here's another weak side development.
It's not really an exercise, it's more of a concept.
And that concept is just simply using your weaker side more.
And what I mean by that, if you're playing in a band,
in an everyday band, right, and you're,
whether it's a cover gig, whether it's originals,
whatever you're doing, if you can execute
the parts that you need to execute with your weaker side,
you should be doing that, okay?
And what I mean by that, you know,
if you're playing this kind of thing,
simply use your left foot.
Play with it more often.
Same thing with the left hand.
Again, being aware.
Simply using your left side more often,
obviously will make it better.
Something we don't think about,
something that kinda goes overlooked
because we go through our autopilot motion.
You know, as a drummer.
Use your weaker side more.
Definitely helps
And of course if you guys
dig this, head on over to Drumeo!
Tons of stuff that I've got there that work on blast beats,
different exercises for spacing and balance.
Check it out, head on over, drumeo.com.