How can i improve my double kick ability?

[ghostman]

I found when I was learning double-bass, I made notable improvement when I started concentrating on control, not just speed and consistency.  Control, to me, was not just pounding out LRLRLRLRLRLRLR 100% of the time and speeding up.  That's just endurance and speed training - which are necessary, but not really giving the feeling of control.  What I did to gain control was played paradiddles, double paradiddles, paradiddlediddle, tripleparadiddles, etc. - with my feet of course! When I worked on that for a few weeks, I felt like my control was a lot stronger, and my confidence grew, which in turn pushed the other skills.  I still practice speed, endurance, and control with my feet and hands.
And mix them, too. do paradiddles with your right side (hand and foot) sometime!  Good luck!

[Drumsareneat]

What I did to gain control was played paradiddles, double paradiddles, paradiddlediddle, tripleparadiddles, etc. - with my feet of course!

THIS!


Practice rudiments on your feet - pretty simple concept.  In fact if you have stick control (if not - FOR SHAME!) I would recommend practicing the majority of those exercises on your feet!  Play 'em slow and make sure not to bury your beaters into your bass drum head.  I might be the minority hear, but pillows is bass drums sounds AWFUL.  I need a nice full bass, which means a properly tensioned head without any muffling devices.  That's just me though.

You should also try to play whatever patterns you decide on starting with your left foot.  Chances are your left foot is not nearly as dexterous as your right.  Try playing some standard rock grooves using your left foot - i'm sure you'll notice its inferiority right away.

[DOUGHNUT-KING180]

I found when I was learning double-bass, I made notable improvement when I started concentrating on control, not just speed and consistency.  Control, to me, was not just pounding out LRLRLRLRLRLRLR 100% of the time and speeding up.  That's just endurance and speed training - which are necessary, but not really giving the feeling of control.  What I did to gain control was played paradiddles, double paradiddles, paradiddlediddle, tripleparadiddles, etc. - with my feet of course! When I worked on that for a few weeks, I felt like my control was a lot stronger, and my confidence grew, which in turn pushed the other skills.  I still practice speed, endurance, and control with my feet and hands.
And mix them, too. do paradiddles with your right side (hand and foot) sometime!  Good luck!

I have been doing this on the odd occasion, but i usually get sidetracked.... i think about something else and then i HAVE to try it haha... Is it best to incorporate the paradiddles into beats? Because i try that and it mucks me right up. but i guess a bit of practice will fix that

[DOUGHNUT-KING180]

First of all, you want your kick and your pedals setup comfortably. Generally you'll want your kick tuned really high, with the reso about average and the batter about as high as you can manage.

Ok raging, I tuned my kick pretty high, and it does help a fair amount - i get lots of bounce....But the sound... the sound is HORRIBLE.  I've fiddled around with it for ages and i can't seem to get it sounding anywhere near good.

[cheesy goodness]

Try messing with the Reso. For some reason that gets ignored by a lot of drummers (myself included), but it has a huge effect on how the drum sounds overall. Heads may also be a big factor, and if your head is ported on the front. Just some thoughts, I'm not a tuning master by any means haha.

One thing that might help you improve speed is to adjust your beaters. A buddy of mine made the observation that the lower the beaters hit the head, the less force is necessary to move it to the head. It's fairly simple physics on his part (it's astrophysics to me but whatever), but I've noticed a difference even lowering it a little bit. It does take some serious getting used to, but I can definitely see how it's going to be a huge help to my playing.

[ragingscythe]

If you have no muffling, I would definitely go for it. Ideally you want it about half-full/empty with heavy blanket/pillows, but even just one would be good (that way you dont get as much drop in volume).

Hopefully fiddling around with muffling will help get a good dry/punchy sound.