Simple Tricks For Improving Your Bass Pedal Skills

!±8± Simple Tricks For Improving Your Bass Pedal Skills

When first learning to play, many drummers find the heels-up method easier and often this is the only method they learn.  They simply stick with what they know.  However, by taking this approach they are selling themselves short and limiting their ability to improve quickly.  Each approach uses many of the same muscles and by "cross-training" these muscle groups you can increase both speed and control when playing.

When you are playing double pedals you want to keep both pedals balanced and even so that when you are playing them together you don't unintentionally sound heavier on one side.  To do this, find the sweet spot (or balance point) on both pedals that will let you do the least amount of work.  Use the same point for both pedals.

Another important technique that can be played on any pedal (single or double bass) to produce fast double strokes with your feet is the heel-toe technique.  Just like using a double stroke roll on a snare drum, the heel-toe technique allows you to play doubles easily with more speed and precision than can be achieved otherwise.

When you play this technique your heel hits the pedal first making the first beat, then your toe hits a second beat right after using somewhat of a rocking motion.

When you use this method, your foot needs to be high enough on the pedal so that your heel can push the pedal down.  It is not as easy as a normal hit is, but when you get the rocking motion down you will find that it does not rely on pressure only - you also get the benefit of the natural pedal bounce.  If you have a toe stop you may have to move it away as far as possible or remove it all together.  It is easier to play properly barefooted since shoes reduce your feel with the pedals.

Simple Tricks For Improving Your Bass Pedal Skills

Buy Vented Skylights Wall Mounts For Flat Screens Discount

A Brief History Of The Guitar

!±8± A Brief History Of The Guitar

Guitarists know a lot about their instruments--techniques, chords, songs etc. But what many guitarists don't know is the history of the guitar. It's understandable, because many people don't feel this helps at all in actually playing the guitar. Still, it is helpful to know everything about the instrument--including the history.

The history of guitar is a debatable topic, as there are no concrete facts about the guitar and when exactly it first appeared. What is known, though, is that guitars or similar instruments have been around for over 5,000 years. Entire books could be written about the history of guitar, so in this article, we'll just go over a timeline of how it is thought the guitar evolved.

o 1400 B.C: The Hittites play a four-string, guitar-like instrument. This four string instrument had soft, curved sides, which were somewhat similar to the current guitar. Also around this time, the Greeks produced a similar instrument which was modified by the Romans and became known as the cithara.

o By 1200 A.D.: There were two types of guitars. One type was known as the Moorish guitar (guitarra morisca). This guitar had a wide fingerboard, rounded back, and several sound holes. The type of guitar was the Latin guitar (guitarra Latina). The Latin guitar looked more like our current guitar with a narrower neck and just one sound hole.

o The late 1400's: A new guitar, called the vihuela, evolved from the two types of guitar mentioned. The vihuela was a large instrument with double the strings of the Latin and Moorish guitars, a longer neck and ten or eleven frets. The Portuguese and Spanish courts preferred the vihuela over any other instrument for roughly 200 years.

o Until the late 1600's: The vihuela, and another instrument called the lute, were more popular than the guitar. This changed when the popularity of the lute declined because it had too many strings and was too hard to play and tune. The vihuela was replaced by four and five course guitars of that time. Four course guitars had seven strings--a single high string and three pairs of other strings--while five course guitars had nine strings--a single high string and four pairs of other strings. Some feel that the addition of the fifth course during the 16th century, which gave the guitar greater flexibility, was the reason why the guitar became popular.

o By the beginning of the 1800's: Some guitars used fan struts under the soundboard and featured six strings (like the modern guitar). Also changed during this time was the neck (which was raised), the fingerboard (which used ebony or rosewood), and the tuning pegs (which were replaced with machine tuners). Guitars like these are most similar to early classical guitars.

o By the late 1800s: A man named Antonio Torres Jurado changed the guitar dramatically by refining the strutting of the guitar. This allowed for as many as seven struts to be spread out like a fan under the soundboard. Additionally, the size of the body and the width of the neck were greatly increased. As a result of Jurado's improvements, the guitar had greater bass response and volume. Jurado's work made it possible for the guitar to meet the demands of both the solo performer and the concert stage.

o The Present: Our modern guitar is practically the same as the one made by Jurado.

As was previously said, this is but a brief introduction to the fascinating history of guitars. If you wish to find out more on certain types of guitars, such as the history of Acoustic, Electric or Bass guitars, you can check out our articles titled "The Acoustic Guitar", "The Electric Guitar", and "The Bass Guitar".

A Brief History Of The Guitar

Price Indoor Gardening Lights

Double Bass Drumming Technique - Heel Down Or Heel Up?

!±8± Double Bass Drumming Technique - Heel Down Or Heel Up?

The most common question associated with playing the bass drum must be "Do you play heel up or down?". In my experience most drummers seem to start off playing heel down and then, if their playing situations demand the volume, they switch to playing heel up.

Unfortunately, at this point most of us seem to leave good old heel down playing behind, not realizing that it still has its place namely when playing quietly where supporting the whole leg in a heel up position can be uncomfortable, not to mention waste of energy.

This talk of heel up or down also brings me to what happens to the beater after the stroke has been played. With a little practice and by dropping the heel onto the the heel plate after each stroke, the beater can be kept off the head after every stroke, thereby allowing the drum to resonate.

One Drum or Two?

During the late seventies and eighties, double bass drum set-ups were commonplace, with huge multi-tom kits adorning stages and drum manufacturers catalogues everywhere. Then came the advent of the double pedal and drummers realized that they could achieve almost the same sound with less equipment.

There are probably a couple of reasons aside from the obvious aesthetic one.

Firstly, two drums respond differently to one. Take Simon Phillips for instance, he uses two twenty-four inch kick drums with very little dampening which if played with a double pedal would be hard to control. It also means that each drum is resonating as the other is being played, creating a huge sound.

Obviously, the visual appeal and symmetry of a double bass drum kit will always be there. But now, most manufacturers offering such accurate and responsive double pedal that tuning and set-up aside there seems little point in carrying two identical drums around.

Double Bass Drumming Technique - Heel Down Or Heel Up?

Proform 10.8x Recumbent Bike Free Shipping