alrighty we are back with another
youtube technique tutorial
i got a question in our drum technique
academy closed facebook group by
jesse and the question is i was actually
going to ask you to make a video about
seat height but it looks like that's
already in progress yes that's the video
i released last week
second part of the question could you be
sure to touch on balance as well in that
video
and i didn't cover that topic in the
last video so that's the topic for
today's
video balance and balance exercises
so my plan for today is that i show you
three different balance exercises so
exercises and workouts to improve your
balance on the drum kit
while playing double bass two of those
exercises can be performed without a
double pedal and one of them can be done
with a double pedal so let's start right
away with the first
exercise so i got this first exercise
actually from derek
roddy this one is mentioned in his book
the evolution of blast beats so make sure
to check out that book if you haven't
already
and this exercise is the following you
just place your feet
on the floor you're sitting on the drum
stool you don't need bass drum pedals
and all you do is lift the weight of
your leg
by contraction static contraction of
your hip flexor
this way you lift the weight of your
full leg
this exercise number one trains your hip
flexor to
lift the weight of your leg and it's
also and you're also going to need your
core and lower back to stabilize
and be centered on the drum stool one
thing that i have to mention that is
really important when you do this
exercise is that as soon as you start to
lift the weight of your legs
off the floor you don't want to lean
forward or back to compensate for this
kind of motion so
you want your upper body to be perfectly
straight and just
lift the weight of your leg by quick
a static contraction of your hip flexor
you don't want to lean forward you don't
want to lean back
derek's suggestion for this exercise
is to lift your legs for
as long as you can works perfectly fine
try this it's going to help you out
big time so i think till this day i'm
derek's biggest fan out there
it was amazing to have him teach at the
academy a couple of weeks ago and i want
to share a short clip
of his last facebook live lesson at the
academy this one this short clip doesn't
deal with the topic of balance but it's
just an awesome clip so i want to share
this one with you as well
if you're playing a 16th note blast
beat you're really only left with 16th
notes
because if you play eighth notes or if
you try to play some cool
tasty figure it takes away from the
energy that you're trying to create with
the blasts right so to me it's kind of a
double-edged sword
right like you wouldn't you wouldn't be
you know
right i mean maybe if the guitar part
did that with you but just as a general
thing you know if the rest of the band
was still grinding it over what are you
doing
or if you're at a wedding gig you know
and you're
the bride and groom's dancing you know
what's that song
you know it's just it's not musically
appropriate right
so you know knowing
all right derek is the man so um he's
gonna be teaching at the academy in a
couple of weeks again
as well so make sure to check out that
session as well so
now let's continue with a short
variation of derek's exercise one that i
use
so this short variation goes like this
um you're still
sitting on the drum stool you still want
to lift the weight of your leg
by a static contraction of your hip
flexor so you're lifting that weight
but at the same time you also relax
your shin muscle your tibialis anterior
this way the ball of your foot and your
toes are always going to be in touch
with the floor so those are like those
extra balance points and you're lifting
the weight of your
leg by static contraction with your hip
flexor as well
just like the other exercise but this
way you also train
how to relax certain muscle groups in
this case the tibialis anterior the shin
muscle
while activating other muscle groups
like in this example the hip flexor
those of you who know me and those of
you who know the ankle technique
know that i always want my feet to be in
touch with the footboard at all times
and this kind of exercise trains that
you're always in touch with the floor
this kind of exercise and with the ankle
technique you're always in touch with
the pedals
when playing double bass one other thing
for this exercise that i kind of
like to do and recommend is don't just
lift your the weight of your leg with a
static contraction of your hip flexor
and keep it that way for a couple of
minutes
just lift the weight of your leg for a
couple of seconds so four or five
seconds
enough then relax your hip flexor again
your heel is going to drop back down
to the floor again and then contract
your hip flexor again for another five
seconds and repeat this cycle over and
over again
and what this does is since we
always want to focus on not leaning
forward or back
this exercise what this little exercise
does is that you get used to lifting
your leg without leaning forward or back
so now let's talk about the third
exercise the third balance exercise for
today
for this one you're gonna need a double
bass pedal so what i want you to do is
place your feet on your pedals and just
start to play with
one foot at a time one thing that
happens to all of us if we are playing
with just one foot
is that the other foot kind of works as
a human kickstand so this helps you stay
balanced
and what we want to do with this
exercise is we want to take away
this human kickstand and we want to work
on our balance when
working when just playing with one foot
at a time so just start playing with
your right foot
and while you play just with your right
foot lift
the weight of your left foot with a
static contraction of your hip flexor
do this for a couple of bars and after
that relax your right foot stop playing
and then start playing with your left
foot do the same thing again with the
right foot so
starting to play with the left foot and
you're lifting the weight of your right
leg with a static contraction of your
hip flexor
and this way you take away this human
kick stand and have to work
on your balance at the same time again
what i have to mention that's really
important
if you work on that kind of stuff make
sure that when you
kind of take away that human kickstand
make sure that you're not
leaning forward or back you don't want
your lower body to influence the balance
of your upper body
this third balance exercise is a big
part of bass drum mastery so if you want
to learn more about that
just check out bass drum mastery for all
the information about this third balance
exercise
all right and that's it for today's
youtube tutorial on the topic of
balance if you're stuck at a certain
point if you want my personal feedback
or if you want me to answer one of your
questions in such a youtube video
then just join the drum technique academy
and post your questions in our closed
facebook group
i'm either gonna answer you directly in
our closed facebook group or if the
question is a bit longer
takes a full video to respond to that
one i'm gonna record a youtube video for
you
and that's pretty much it for today guys
and girls have a great day cheers from
vienna bye
