Naah, i still got divorced.

I have played drums for over 42 yrs and played heel down all those years. I was self-taught and it was all I knew. Recently I watched a video on foot technique and it was suggested that all drummers learn both. The explanation of the heel-up technique was the best I have seen and it made sense to me. So over the next few weeks, I started using heal up technique and it felt really awkward at first. I have some exercises that I do each morning and I forced myself to play heel up and day by day it became more comfortable. It has been about a month now and I am starting to use it in my impromptu playing as well. I have noticed difference in my pedal skill already. I am getting more comfortable at getting my pedals more into my playing. So, while I am still in the process of developing this skill, and I came a bit late to the party, nonetheless I am getting it and it is already improving my skill as a drummer overall..

The term you use; "playing clean" is the greatest lesson you've taught me. I've grown and developed so much because of that. Perfect sync(opation) of limbs, *clean"... All my practice revolves around this. I always had heard but never "got it" until you said that word and expanded on it. Thank you.

I had heard of that third kick exercise pattern from a drumeo masterclass and ended up writing a whole song around it

As usual, EXCELLENT video on multiple levels...*concept of interest and practicality *humorous *creative editing *humility *the quirkiness of you. Thank you so much. I’ve always struggled with this issue as an on again/off again intermediate level drummer.

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time/effort to adding transcription to your video. Nice touch.

Sipping on coffee as I start my workday while watching your intro is the best part of my Thursdays

Man I am super happy that you took care of the drum sound in your videos, your feel translates so much better now

35 year drummer here. Been working in a Univ. dance Dept for 20 yrs. - 1) Muscle groups: gross motor and “quick-twitch”. Big muscles (hamstring/quads/“calf”) are slow, tiny muscles in feet are fast. 2) Muscles only contract or release. It takes more conscious effort to release muscles. Constantly engaged muscles are tired muscles. 3) Dropping weight. Familiarity of just how heavy YOUR leg is. Use gravity. There’s just so much here that can’t possibly fit in a U2b comment. 👍🏼love your videos!

God I was literally thinking about how I needed a kick practice regiment yesterday, bless

Great man, feel like I got a personalised lesson! No more tension complaints from now on

As an oooooold guy working to get some rusty skills back ... I always enjoy your style and find the tips and coaching very helpful. Thanks! for sharing.

I love how there's a whole drumming community on KZfaq that I'm addicted to. I'm sure guitarists and singers and plumbers have their own community, too, but... Ain't nobody got time for that.

I’ve been struggling lately. This helped tremendously. Thank you.

Thank great teacher!!! You are my inspiration, and a great musician!!!!

great tips i am going to use this info to improve my weak foot on the kit

this absolutely makes sense, thank you !

Love it! Thank you for this. I was taught to use both techniques and have defaulted to heel-up when I need more power. But my technique has been lax, and I often lose circulation in my foot, so I know I can do better!

I have been heel up since 1966 when I was 9. I totally get feeling off balance, but it is almost always when I use my DW 9000 pedal, it's just too stiff for me. I found if I wear my old loafers instead of my usual sneakers I'm ok with it. Back in the 80's when I gigged weekly I found I could do doubles on boogie blus tunes all night long with a Speedking or my trusty old DW pedal. My foot would be just past half up the pedal and it would be automatic, no thinking at all! Love your stuff, especially your attitde and humor!!!! Thanks.

I can dig it. I did heel down for the first little bit of my deep dive into drumming, but just in the last two days discovered the things you mention where lifting to heel up allows my ankle more easy freedom of motion from having a greater range of motion before hyper extension of my ankle joint.

been having trouble with my weak foot playing double kick lately I'm gonna try to start practicing these with both feet thanks man solid lesson!

Phenomenal video! Developing that foot control can take some work! Heel up, all the way. Thanks for the lesson! Happy drumming, everybody!

Thank you for saying things such as "it took me a few years to..." it really helps put things into perspective when I'm feeling like I'm making no progress, "only" a month into practicing particular techniques (especially regarding the secondary foot when playing double bass.)

That is a sweet sounding kit.

Love the jazz tune you referenced, really cool tune!

Dave Elitch is your man. He teaches all of this in detail

Sweet video, thank you!

Thanks! Love this one

Having the intro roll back at the start feels so much better!

Your snare sounds so good!

Excellent education as always.

I saw something similar in a drumeo video on the Moeller technique applied to the kick and hihat, very good tutorial

I'm not even a drummer but I love watching these. I sometimes try to transfer some of these exercises to comparable issues on the guitar, I always find that they improve my rhythm quite a lot.

I grew up around drummers who beat the poop out of their kits. I find your style of playing almost mesmerizing. I’d totally watch an hour long video of you just riffing to some improv jazz or something!

excellent video. there is no shortcut to developing good kick drum chops.

Jojo talks a lot about his sliding tecknique which is based on heel up but the back of your foot adds a second note. He´s basically playing doubles. And the beatdown shoutout was dope btw

Love your channel THANK YOU ! One person comes to mind in regards to bass drum precision , speed ,dynamics .....Virgil Donati! Peace from Detroit MI.

Great video. I have a terribly weak bassdrum foot so great to have something to work on. 10 out of 10. 5 stars.

Heel up definitely helped me out a long time ago............also, a nice Camco(1983) Chain-drive pedal works wonders! Great video!

omg thanks so much for that video, you explained that sooo well :)) this is helping so much already!! PS: i know this video is old but i still thought i should comment so he might see that people still watch and appreciate those videos very much :) seeing as it helps a ton because i struggle DEEPLY with my bass drum foot (especially tripplets are hell for me)

I’ve never been able to play heel down, heel up on front part of my foot, ( no shoes ) always ...I like these lessons thank you

I got a little burnt out on your channel but I'm back. And I see you're at a new studio

Thanks for validating the heel up method. Any experienced drummer should be able to play both ways. I appreciate your page. Always on point.

Thanks for your show, good stuff. I've always played this way, I thought about putting my heel down, tried it but hated it compared to what you're showing. I can't work out how people get any speed at all heel down, I'll easily concede my experience will of course not likely be many others experience.

Thanks Nate. Interesting take. A few years ago I started using a technique I learned from Modern Drummer (unfortunately I don't remember who wrote that lesson). Anyway, it's basically heel up, not too high, but after the last note the heel rests on the heel plate. This allows the beater to come off the head, getting a nice powerful full sound out of the drum. It also releases any tension in the foot, ankle or leg. I also found it helped me maintain my balance. I've seen Jojo Meyer use this technique.

Good lesson! Thomas Lang has spoke about pedal technique in several of his videos/clinics and specifically he speaks of both rudiments with feet and playing hands and feet together. Might have been his Creative Control dvds. But really I question his playing :)

There are various videos of Goerge Kollias (super fast death metal drummer, plays blast beats with one foot too) explaining how his foot technique works, which is sorta about the different tempos you'd play requiring different motions, but going through his 16 week speed and control workout for double bass is helpful for transitioning between hip and ankle motions. The principle could probably be reworked pretty easily to be for single bass drum. Just in case anyone's looking to investigate bass drum further or see how the other half lives haha

Thank you ! I'm a guitar player but like to play some drums for fun. (I'm a complete hack :) ) I had 2 problems with kick pedal - loss of balance and accidental ghost notes. I feel like such a newbie 'cause my major take-away from this was "You can adjust the pedal tension?!" playing around with this for two minutes fixed those problems.. I learn heaps from your channel and appreciate the no nonsense delivery of useful information.

Every word you said is 100% correct.... Bravo

Also in the ‘problems you don’t know you have’ category - I found I literally couldn’t play the hats heal down (Peter Erskine advocates being able to do both, and I realised I only ever played hats heal up) and it was because I was sitting too close to the hats and indeed to the drums generals. My leg / foot just didn’t work bending that many times. So I sat further away from the kit and moved the kick and hats away a bit and it really helped with a lot of other stuff as well as the original problem.

Great video man!

Nate luv the extra ghost note in the triple

I use heel down for quiet notes and for releasing the beater and I use heel up moving the entire leg from the hip, the knee, the ankle and the toes, just like with the hands, for the louder notes.

3:52 “smooth transition of power” he says early Jan 2021. Nice.

When talking foot dynamics, I find it helpful to try and keep the dynamic of the ride constant instead of matching the BD.

Good video with some nice insights about an important topic for drummers. Heel up or down seems to be equivalent to the traditional vs. matched grip debate: no easy or perhaps right answer, only what is right for each individual drummer. For me, heel up seems to feel more natural and ergonomic. Heel down has always felt awkward and unnatural. I just remember Dave Weckl saying that he sits on the very edge of the drum seat to get the most torque and flexibility in playing the bass pedal(s).

Great job.....i sometimes nail my doubles bt not always...recently started playing the same pattern as a jazz swing thing but with the kick..single/double or double single...as a 'foot' note..why do we play well one day and garbage the next lol

The hip usage works everywhere Even in martial arts... Use hip and baaaaaam a blast of power.. using the weight as an advantage ❤️❤️ I've seen jojo talked about it on a video too about using the hip

Great video again. I really appreciate what you are doing on your channel. I've learned a ton from them even though I play bass not drums. I have a small nit-picky suggestion. Feel free to ignore it obviously. When you speak into your stereo XY mic at close range if you move just a bit from side to side your voice moves around wildly in the stereo space, especially if wearing headphones. Maybe don't pan the two signals so widely for that mic. Other than that keep up the good work.

Thanks Boss

Also check the placement of your high hat stand. Sometimes changing that will also help with your balance.

Nice advice, so I video-recording my self, and, yep, I need to work on this :-)

Master thank you for this video!!! All your videos are very helpful and I am grateful! One question... which ride is the one you are using? Thank you!!

Fun fact! Tomas had to change his technique when learning that song to playing lighter on the kick w/ more ankles for better accuracy and endurance. On the other songs, he sticks with his full, hammered in, bury the beater approach.

I used to play by keeping my beater on the bass drum head. Later, my coach broke me of this habit and said it kills any resonance you could have from the bass drum. Thank you for your help, Dennis G Safford AZ

I’m digging the ESP shirt!

Resent ably slow 😜. Perfect use of the BeatDown quote. Interesting take here on exercises. Thanks for these

Absolute top drumming technique and theory KZfaqr

Great video. I'm trying to overcome a lifetime of bad habits. I find I naturally play heel up on my left high hat leg. It just feels right and I don't think about it. But my right foot I'm more inclined to play heel down but do heel up when I'm doing faster or louder beats. I have all the problems mentioned in this video and I'm trying to get the right foot to feel as comfortable as the left using heel up technique. I found that getting a really good drum throne and getting the height right helped a lot. Any thoughts on throne height?

Thank you very much for the lesson! It's the first time I'm on this channel. And I can't help thinking I've just watched Homer Simpson. In a good way.

For a given spring tension, there's a sweet spot for doubles, another for triplets, put your toe there and you use the rebound for the next stroke.

Nate... I gave you money for your course and I'm happy to do so. Why do I mention this? A. It's videos like this, (and others) that matter to invested drum set players. Thanks man. 👍🙂🥁

For spring tension to your weight, heel down , press footboard until the beater just touches the head. If applying to much pressure then vack off the tension until it feels good

"Samsonite....I was way off"

Couple things, 1. Agree with Martin - shout out to Rob, very cool! 2. Might be beneficial to talk about the combo ankle, hip technique. almost like Moeller for feet. 3. I play electronic now so as to keep my family life sane, but the chipped hi-hat reminds me of days past where I drilled out quite a few cymbals because I loved the sound and could not part with them. Even buying the exact same brand and size same sound. There's a tip there about drilling out the crack to stop it from from progressing me thinks. :)

I'm going to have to learn how to do that slightly early first note on the double deliberately. There's a fun shuffle beat in there.

I use a roller skate case (accidental delivery) for my kick pedal. It’s the perfect shape!

For some reason that beat at the 10:28 mark reminds me of Tangerine Dreams Dr. Destructo from the Thief soundtrack. Good stuff 👍

I had a teacher who insisted that I play heal down when learning but all the drummers I liked were heal up players so I also learned that way too. Now I do both. Somethings feel better heal down and somethings feel better heal up. Just depends on what I want. But, I think drummers who starting out should probably try to play heel down for one important reason. Not burying the beater. Heal up can cause many people to bury the beater against the head. I know may will say that's OK to do, but it's at best limiting and more probably just simply bad technique. Like not being able to bounce a stick. Complete beater control should be the goal so you can do whatever you want when needed. Heel down is much much easier to control the beater and learn to bounce it. Once you have that feeling it's easier to apply it to heal up. Tommy Igoe said something to effect of "If you're burying the beater because that's the effect you want then fine, but if you're burying the beater because you don't know HOW to bounce it?....well...." that's just bad technique.

Your bass drum sounds beautiful.

Thanks! ..you hit all of my current challenges on the Kick 🥲

I like the spring tension pretty low. I can feel the weight and power of the beater this way. I only put enough spring tension so that the pedal is not "lazy" on the return swing. Any more tension than that and I feel like it's just robbing energy on the down stroke.

Note:: Please ignore my kick question left on a different video. This installment covers what I needed. Thanks for your insight and talent!

Thank you Sire…yoo da man!!! I’ll give it a go 😁😁😁😁👍👍👍🍺🍺🍺🤟🤟🤟

Great stuff. I've always played like that but still have double issues in some places. You and Beatdown have been a big lockdown inspiration. By the way, brave to have shoe laces that long near a kick pedal. Trust me, I leant the hard way. Told you I had issues!

Great lesson as always, Nate. You spoke of imbalance on the throne with heel-down, which I found oddly interesting as the heel down establishes an anchor point. I've always found it very difficult to find balance when playing heel-up patterns while riding and playing HH patterns with my LF. Core strength issue? (yet I've seen some pretty out of shape player doing heel up on both feet just fine)

haha man that single pedal bleed bit in the beginning was great

When I was younger like 17 I was getting knee pain really bad when playing. Went to a drum school to see if they could help me, I was sitting too close. Needed to back up a bit. 90° degree angle with the legs

I find that counting the subdivision or rather the 'and" on any given Rythm helps from being too early or late. 1+2+3+4+ or 1 e and a 2eanda ect.

1:22 and has brushes love it!!! 😂😂😂😂

Thought provoking for something I haven't given much thought, I suppose since I have not shared in the complaints. So the right foot is always slightly elevated and left foot is heel down on the hihat pedal for balance? Does this mean double bass players are sitting with feet off the floor?

Huh, I never had to put this much thought into it. Perhaps having short legs putting me naturally into heel up is a blessing for once. I've actually had to learn heal down for feathering & playing off the head and not burying the beater to get a bigger, rounder more resonant bass note.

Some good ideas captain

3:45 someone with the name Marthyn Jovanovic. He always talk about stuffs like this, kick technique using hip flexor...ankle and stuffs.

@1:20 I LOMAO. Seriously though as light as your touch how the hell do you have so many broken cymbals!!? Thanks for the tips/chat! I gots ta get in on the 80/20 drinking game ;-)

3 leverage points, not just 2; Ankle, hip, knee/thigh (forwards and backwards motion in relation to the foot and the front and back of the kick plate.)

9:23 - what a snare sound! Pozdro666

There's an 80/20 drinking game? Tell me more!

Nate, you didn’t quickly address the tension. I know you said with better technique spring tension is less impactful. But I was just curious where you typically kept yours. Loose/half way/ tighter?