Bass Drum Control: Best Seller for More Than 50 Years!

One of the most frequent questions for drummers is "heel up or down" on the bass pedal. One of the things that is great about this book is that the CD gives some very good information about foot technique, pedal adjustment, seating position, and head tuning to get the results you hear on the CD. This guy plays a straight forward "heal down" technique with all the action coming from the calf, ankle and toes. No heal/ toe or toe slide or other gimmicks and you will be amazed at the speed the guy gets. All the exercises in the book are performed with a single pedal and this guy can do anything that people today do with two. Even more amazing is to note that this book was first published in 1964!When I first opened the book and looked at it I was very skeptical that anyone could play some of these exercises--especially on just one pedal--at least not at a decent tempo. I practiced a while w/o listening to the cd and got frustrated, so i finally put it on just to hear what the guy does and was very impressed. I had gone back and forth on my bass technique. Everywhere i looked I got different advice--heel up, heel down, toe slide, heel toe, flat footed etc. all seeming to contradict each other. I was using a combination of techniques and this inconsistency made my overall bass technique suffer. I have been following the directions of this book closely and practicing everyday and getting big improvements. I am using the heel down method now almost exclusively and find it superior for many reasons: You have more control over the beater and can get varying volume levels and accents in your bass pattern, I get more feeling and feedback from the drum head and feel like I am playing the bass drum instead of the pedal, There is no annoying buzz or multiple bounce that you often get when burying the beater into the head with the heal up method, There is a nice fluid feeling and your leg doesn't tire out, You get a nice full sound out of the bass drum and not the dead thud that you often hear. Some of that is tuning, but bass technique is a large part of it. When hearing me practicing this method, my son commented that my bass drum now sounded like one of the toms and he couldn't even tell when a note was played on the bass drum (on fills). He could tell that the bass was being used but it blended in seamlessly with the other voices with a similar tone and volume. That is how well the bass had become integrated with the hands. The technique advocated by the author is lighter in touch and lacks the power that one may want for a heavy rock beat, but one can always lift the heal if more power is desired. This technique is worth exploring for any drummer.The book is well thought out and organized going from single bass beats, to double, triples all the way to 15 beats on the bass drum in a row at 16th note speed. There are rudiments, time patterns, fills and complete solos.For me this book is the Rosetta Stone of bass technique and every serious drummer should have it in their personal library.

Great book, I joke to my students saying the guy looks like such a dork but listen to this cd.... they listen to some of the endurance exercises and his solo and are totally blown away. Going to take a look at "The Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming" byBobby Rondinelli, Michael Lauren next. That seems very good too.For double bass I suggest, Double Bass Drumming [Paperback] by Joe Franco. It's the red book, very cheap and has been the standard (even since I was a student)And obviously, 4-Way Coordination: A Method Book for the Development of Complete Independence on the Drum Set(just sub the hi-hat left foot for the double bass)It's a bit dry so be careful giving to young or/and immature students, recommended for 7-8th grade and up at least.All of these 4 books are pretty much all one aspiring drummer would need from beginner, to college level, for FEET techniques.Also suggest doing stick control with feet subbing!Good luck!

Colin Bailey is the GL Stone of bass drum foot control. This book is applicable to different styles, except maybe heavy metal. Try each two bar excercise over the usual ride cymbal pattern- it will give you a real workout. You also need to focus on relaxing your bass pedal leg while letting the ankle do most of the work. The exception is Bailey's use of side to side foot movement on the ball of the foot to play fast sixteenth note figures. I've tried heel-toe for pedal rolls, but the movement hurts my right knee. This book takes work- but the rewards will be great.

This book has completely changed the way I play the kick pedal. Just buy it already, you’ll thank yourself later.But get yourself ready for a lot of hard work - I’ve spent several months just on the first page alone (“Control Development”) before I felt confident enough to move on to the next pages.

The standard in jazz drumming.

The exercises in here will definitely wear you down! Be prepared to spend a lot of time playing very slowly (as you should) to get all of these patterns and variations ingrained. Once they are, it's amazing how much more control you can have over your foot (or feet if you're double-bassing).

I have only worked through the first 7 or so pages and I am already adding to my vocabolary......i also believe my creativity has improved considerably. I would recommend this book to any drummer any level..........cant wait to see where it takes me....

Colin's bass drum control led to a better understanding of the practice and techniques available for a musician to obtain more control and muscle memory that will result in better playing of the drums.

An absolute must have book for drum teachers and drummers. Well worth the effort, the exercises are well written and will improve your bass drum technique and control, if you put the time in.

Good book. Very useful for my son to practice his techniques.

great book, will keep me busy for years

good

In my humble opinion I think this is the best book on single bass drumming on the market