Howdy drummer people,
I must say i have become Greatly Overwhelmed with dam Double BAss

1) some peole Say: Pratice slow ( I see no progress)
2) Some people say: just blow your feet away ( I see no stability)
3) some people say: Pratice heal downs ( Still No progress)

Please !! What Do i have to do to play like Lombardo.... There must be some pill i can take!!!!

Which Has seemed to work for any of you? and how have u done em??

Here's my view .......


Slow practice DOES pay off ... but you've got to work on getting faster. Once you gain control, real control, at a slow tempo, speed up a bit ... then see where you are at. If you are still solid and have control, speed up some more.

Heels up or down ... it doesn't matter; I actually practice both ways, and use both techniques.

Simple things like taking George Stone's STICK CONTROL and applying it to your feet is a GREAT way to work on double bass.  Check out my 5-Minute Lesson ...  The Endurance Method and apply it to your feet using STICK CONTROL or anything else you want to work on.

It will pay-off, but it takes time, patience, diligence, discipline and perseverance.

What I meant by speeding up, initially, was that if you are playing at 80 bpm (for example), then you would move on to 82 bpm once you got 80 bpm feeling good and under control.  The reference I made to my Endurance Method was to make aware of the concept of covering ALL of the tempo ranges, never going faster than what you can play relaxed, and work over a long period of time to build up your endurance and control.

I don't know about the whole thing about having to stop before you speed up or your develop bad habits. I guess you could some bad habits, but I don't really think that if you do this you will definitely create bad habits. If you are maintaining control and staying relaxed ... I just don't see how you could develop a bad habit by speeding up while playing.

Perhaps I'm missing something here ... or maybe we are saying the same thing but in different words. I'm sorry I didn't explain my full intentions with my original post.

This is only my opinion but slowly speeding up while learing something new helps to reinforce the bad habit of rushing the tempo.  You play what you practice and if you slowly speed up while practicing there is a good chance that will happen while trying to maintain a fixed tempo.  Its only my opinion, but that is the way I teach.  

I realized a little more control, power, and speed by playing triplet patterns, at first accenting the 1st note (Rlr Lrl) then the second (rLr lRl) and the third. I still haven't  mastered it at a high bpm, but speed and control have noticebly improved.

Groovesmith, I worked my butt off about 10 years ago, and finally played Angel Of Death to speed...I haven't played fast since (I think it killed me) Lombardo is a freak!

I will second that Tony.

The other great thing about that video is that it has a written suppliment where if the video goes to fast for you, you can set your drum machine to whatever you are comfortable with and merrily chug away.

I bought a double peddal a year ago and i was using it on and off because i just couldn't get the hang of it and it was driving me nuts.  Then one day i thought that i'd start working on rudiments with my feet, maybe that owuld work.  So i did it and within a month i was rolling 16ths as smooth as can be and i've been going from there

Well, a lot of good information has been provided all ready, but here are my two cents:

Regularly play rudiments with your feet.  Work on playing them both with and without accents.  I would play them in the same way I would with my hands - start open, then close, then open over a 2-minute period of time (slow to fast to slow) making sure to hold your peak for around 8-10 seconds.  Also, I would practice them at a slow tempo (you should play everything to a metronome that you can, imo) for further reinforcement.

Get a double bass book (like Mel Bay's Double Bass Drum Workout) and start working on the exercises.  You don't need a book, but it helps because the exercises are in front of you and there's no need to spend time thinking of them (since this is solely for increasing technical ability).  Make sure to lead all exercises with both feet.

Also, take time to work on single foot exercises with ONLY your left foot.  A good book for basic rock exercises for one foot is The Drummer's Cookbook.

Finally, what I've found to be the key to my speed is an endurance workout I worked up (nothing that special, however).  All of the following rolls should be played accurately, never sacrificing accuracy for speed.  Also, they are all 16th note rolls at the specified quarter note metronome setting.  I play quarters on the hats and snare on 2 and 4 when playing these up until I hit the 200's, and then, I switch to snare on only 3.  Start out with a roll at a very slow speed for you (say, around 80-90bpm) and keep it going for 5 minutes.  Then, move it up a bit (100bpm) and go for 2 minutes.  Move it up again (120bpm) for 1 minute.  Then, move it up to a tempo that's starting to really push your limits (144bpm) and hold for 30 seconds.  Now, put it at the fastest you can play evenly (160bpm) for 10 seconds.  Finally, play as fast as you can for as long as you can.  In between each of the rolls, be sure to rest for 1-2 minutes and stretch your calves/shins as well.  My actual numbers for this exercise are, after 2 years of double bass, as follows: 144, 180, 220, 240, 250/260, 260/270.  They tend to fluctuate a bit (sometimes I'll do 200 instead of 180, etc), but those are current as of today.

As far as technique goes, heel up or heel down doesn't matter.  I play heel down and can play pretty much anything humanly possible.  Hope this helped!

Well, I can't hold anything over 250bpm for 1 minute (30 seconds at MOST).  I might be able to hold 240 for 45 seconds at most, so that's the closest I could come.  And, I play them all heel down as singles.  I don't ever use double stroke rolls with my feet because it's not practical - singles are louder and more energy-efficient (you don't have fingers to control rebounds).  I have a clip of me doing some crap with some fast footwork, I'll see if I can't get it up when I get home tonight.

I practiced with weights in my feet, not too heavy, just for endurance.