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I had a few questions hoping you guys could help me with. I even bolded the important bits for you skimmers.  First off I seem to have issues with my bass drum. It isn't very loud if I flat-foot the pedal, so I have to (I don't know the name of this technique if there is one) bring my whole leg up and come down with my foot also pushing down on the pedal to make a decent audible sound. Is this because my seating situation is bad (I'm using a lovely stool that isn't adjustable and I'm 6' 2" so I might not be at an ideal height), or because of my smaller than normal bass drum (Pearl Rhythm Traveler, only 20" x 8"), or something else? Well I guess that touched on my second issue, how should I play my pedal? Like I said I used to flat foot practice on the floor before I had a kit, but if I try that with my bass drum it's just way too quiet (disclaimer: my definition of flat foot technique is that my heel doesn't leave the pedal, instead it acts as a pivot and the ball of my foot is what goes up and down, using mainly my calf muscle as the motor, so I'm probably wrong). Should my feet sort of be floating just above the pedal, or what? When I sit down on my terrible stool (that isn't adjustable) my thighs are not parallel with the ground. They're going slightly up, which makes me think the stool is too short. Lastly, my shittacular kit brass cymbals are very bent out of shape already after only 6 months or so of sporadic use. Is brass worse for strength and durability than bronze? I wouldn't want to shell out big money for a nice set of cymbals only to have them warped after a similar amount of time. Does this mean I'm also hitting them incorrectly? I usually try to hit the crash with the shaft of the stick, not the tip. KiddieGrinder fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Sep 14, 2014 |
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Sep 14, 2014 12:25
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| # ¿ May 5, 2024 07:00 |
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Thanks a lot! That really helps. Something else I neglected to mention is my snare is also below my thighs, so much so that I can rest the stick on my thigh and pivot it to hit the snare. Something also that happens when I play (not sure the terminology again) off hits on the snare, like when they aren't in time with the hi-hats? My arms sometimes make contact and it messes everything up. So I guess I should adjust my playing height and also adjust the snare and hi-hats to match, because I assume that's not meant to happen. Another problem is I use earplugs for protection, but that means (since I'm not using headphones) I have to turn my speakers up ridiculously loud so I can hear the music. I guess that drowns out the bass drum even more than it already is, because of its size. I guess I should learn to play with headphones instead. That 'how to play cymbals' link is worrying, because I've always struck the edge of them! My sticks even have little cut mark notches in them from it, it's that bad.  But I do always use the  shoulder of the stick, so I guess that's something good. (Learning those technical words!)Thanks again for the help!
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Sep 14, 2014 17:33
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