BASS TECHNIQUE TECHNIQUE AND EXERCISES FOR THE...
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TECHNIQUE AND EXERCISES FOR THE ALLATOONA BASS LINE ALLATOONA HIGH SCHOOL BASS TECHNIQUE
Transcript of BASS TECHNIQUE TECHNIQUE AND EXERCISES FOR THE...
TECHNIQUE AND EXERCISES FOR THE ALLATOONA BASS LINE
ALLATOONA HIGH SCHOOL
BASSTECHNIQUE
To begin, one should drop their arms to their sides and slowly bring them up so that their forearm is parallel to the ground. The angle of your wrist should be at about a 45 degree angle, however this may change according to the size of the drum. The angle should basically coincide with the same angle of your wrist if you were to shake someone's hand. The mallet should be held at your fulcrum (thumb and first finger). The fulcrum is very important because this is were most of the control comes from and also where the stroke will be initiated from. This stroke is the same type of legato stroke used by snares and tenors. When hitting the drum, the wrist should break after being initiated by the fulcrum and your thumb should always stay on top of the mallet across from the index finger.The mallet head will always shoot for the middle of the drum head, unless otherwise specified. The three playing areas most often used on bass drum can be seen below:
NOTHING changes from when you play in the center to when you play on the edge or on the rim in terms of technique.
Using this technique, you should never be able to see the palm of your hand and your wrist should only rotate slightly, as the main stroke is initiated with wrist moving and your fulcrum. The stroke that will be primarily be used is legato stroke with a relaxed grip. This stroke will let us get the best sound out of the drum head. The wrist motion is similar to knocking on a door with just your wrist moving. Arm is RARELY used in bass drum technique. You play one of the loudest instruments on the field, so arm is only used to “look” louder. Do not use arm for the stroke unless specified by the music.
More focus is on the upstroke than on the downstroke, which will lead to more fluidity and a better sound quality.
Playing bass drum, there is a heavy emphasis on rhythmic control. You have been provided with numerous “check pattern” exercises to help with this. ALWAYS practice these with a metronome and using the proper technique.
Lastly, as a bass line, you must also be a family. Your ability to get along, become friends,and interact with each other is crucial to the success of the bass line. Please come prepared to be open to anything and willing to step out of your way for other people. Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated!
Center Edge Rim
Allatoona Bass Drum Technique
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Battery Exercises
© Allatoona Percussion 2011
Basses (5)Allatoona Percussion 2011
8-8-16This exercise is meant to warm-up the hands and wrists as well as establish the legato stroke.It is usually the first thing that we will play. Practice at varying dynamics (12", 9", 6", and 3").
AccentsMost of what we play consists of accents and taps. This exercise, utilizing the staccato (down) stroke, workson each hand individually and puts them together at the end.*Notice the dynamics (heights) written under the first measure. This means that the accents will be played atforte (9"), and the low notes will be played at mezzopiano (3"). These are the usually heights we will be playing with this exercise.
Triplet DoublesIn this exercise, we further expand our legato stroke to including a second note. The pattern is fairly repetitive,with a "tag" on the end to work on stick control and even rhythms. Practice at varing dynamics (12", 9", 6", and 3").
Some notes on Bass Drum:-Notes written on the middle line (treble clef "B") are unisons, meaning everyone plays it.-Pay close attention to the stickings, as they will help you on splits.-As bass drummers, we add notes in at times called 2's, 3's, and 4's. This means that if you'replaying 8th notes, we might turn them into 16th notes, sixtuplets, or 32nd notes. This is very common in bass drumming. An example of this will be made on the videos and at camps.
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2 Battery Exercises
Accents and DoublesExpanding on our Accents and Double Strokes, this exercise combines the two. Again, pay attention to the dynamics (heights) written below the first bar. It is important to adhere to these so that we can be uniformin our playing visually as well as musically. Also notice the use of the "paradiddles" at the end.
Triplet Rolls and AccentsAs we combine our techniques with rudiments, we come across a more common diddle exercise: triplet rolls.However, this is not your usual triplet rolls, and has been made specifically for the Allatoona Drumline.It is very important to take this exercise slow at first and build it up. Please adhere to dynamics!
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3Battery Exercises
All of these exercises have been created for the Allatoona Percussion.
For more information and assistance in learning and playing these exericises, please refer to the technique videos posted on the Allatoona Bands webpage. It will be under Percussion Studio.
