Bass Drum/Hi Hat Technique

Rhythms that are executed with your hands can be practiced with your feet. Therefore, the feet can be thought of as a pair of lower hands. To ensure ease of movement in your feet, it helps to maintain a comfortable distance from the drums. Your distance will depend on your height and body configuration, particularly the length of your legs.

Bass Drum Technique

Basically there are two techniques used for the bass drum; heel up, with the ball of your foot on the pedal, and heel down, with your entire foot resting on the pedal. Each technique has its place depending on the musical situation.

Playing with your heel down will give you control when playing softer volume levels. This technique works great in acoustic situations with smaller ensembles.

Playing with your heel up gives you more volume and power because your entire leg muscles are involved in the motion. Many drummers use this technique effectively in rock and funk/fusion settings because of the volume that is appropriate with that style of music.

Hi Hat Technique

Hi Hat technique tends to be one of the most neglected areas of drum set performance. There are three techniques involved with the playing the hi hat: heel up, rocking (heel-toe), or by flanging.

Playing with your heel up gives you a crisp and tight “chick” sound from the cymbals. This motion involves your entire leg muscles when closing the cymbals, very much like the heel up bass drum technique discussed earlier.

Rocking or heel-toe technique works as follows: when the heel is up, your toes are resting on the pedal; when your toes are up, the heel is resting on the pedal.

Flanging is a technique that is created by dropping your foot down on the pedal footboard and then quickly releasing it. This motion causes the cymbals to bounce off of one another producing a “splashy” or open sound.