Noob double bass question

[Lemur]

I've been playing drums on and off for a while, and I feel like my rhythm could be a lot better. I also want to improve my speed with my double bass. Any songs to play along to that could help here?

 

[gnoll]

I guess any songs? I would just pick songs you like to make it more fun. And maybe that are not too easy, but ones that challenge yourself a little.

 

[Ordacleaphobia]

Anything with triplet rolls is good.
When I want to work on foot endurance (and by extension, precision), my go to's are:

• Converge - Trespasses
• Emmure - A Gift A Curse
• Amaranthe - Invincible
• Dance Gavin Dance - Deception
• As I Lay Dying - The Sound of Truth
• Soilwork - Nerve
• The Black Dahlia Murder - To A Breathless Oblivion
• TesseracT - Concealing Fate Pt II: Deception (although this kind of sucks because you want to run through the whole album lmao)
• and if I'm feeling brave...Meshuggah - The Demon's Name is Surveillance. I know I'm preaching to the choir on this board but man, Haake is a god. If you've got the chops, this is the best song to beat your footwork into improvement imo.

If you can't tell from the list, I subscribe to the idea that if you can master the mid-tempo to faster-mid tempo stuff, the actual fast stuff comes pretty naturally.

Avenged Sevenfold's The Beast and the Harlot is another classic too- that song lends itself really, really well to gratuitous double bass fills throughout pretty much the entire song. That roll before the 'breakdown' is surprisingly tricky too because there's no handwork to keep yourself in time. Honestly a great practice song.

If you're a bit green and the above stuff is a bit tough (sorry- I have no idea where you're at based off of your post ) you could go with The Dillinger Escape Plan's Milk Lizard. You've got the slower parts to practice keeping time, and the faster run toward the end to dip your toes into 16th note rolls.

If you want to tighten up your rhythm and feel, I also can't recommend adding Textures' Reaching Home to your practice rotation enough. Not especially difficult, but it kind of forces you to learn 'feel' if that makes any sense at all. All of their material does, actually. Stef Broks is a legend. I've been trying to nail Laments of an Icarus for years and I just can't do it.

Also anything with Northlane's name on it. Nic is an absolute icon and just lives in the pocket; playing their stuff has seriously helped me with locking into the song. Most of the stuff of of Alien has totally changed the way I approach the kit.

 

[Jacksonluvr636]

In my non drummer head I think it would be more beneficial to work yourself up to physically be able to play difficult songs vs scouring for songs to get better with.

What I mean is I would look into some instructional videos to get a solid practice regimine. I look at it kind of like going to the gym. Extreme metal drumming 101 by Flo Mounier is a very good video and will help you build speed and strength in order to be physically able to do what you want.

 

[TedEH]

Easy answer is that there's lots of power metal tunes out there that are basically simple beats with constant 16ths on the kick - just pick some that are in the range you want to work on. IMO the difficult part isn't so much speed, it's stamina. Playing fast in a short burst isn't too bad, but when it's sustained for minutes at a time you'll burn yourself out pretty quick.

 

[Floppystrings]

If you want fast double bass I have been using Axis Longboard's for like about I dunno...15 years? It's an industry standard and they are the only thing I would really use to play fast double bass, the kind with the variable drive lever. I have been able to play fast on other popular pedals, but Axis get's you there easier. The trade off is you won't be able to play hard slower without extra effort like with Tama Iron Cobras, or DW 5000 series.

For songs to practice playing fast, I don't know what kind of speed you would consider fast, but to me it's around 250bpm, give or take a few, I don't think I have ever gone faster than 270bpm, but some days you will find that you lock in easier and you will reach outrageous speeds without the ability to do it consistently.

Metallica "Dyers Eve", long double bass parts is a little under 200bpm:



Nile - 'Wind of Horus" 2:08 this is a little under 240bpm, and LONG, this was my endurance practice song back when I was learning to play that way:



Origin's "Burner" is at 250bpm:



Fleshgod Apocalypse "The Violation" is 280bpm:



If you are going to stick around 200bpm and not use triggers, hard heavier beaters seem to help a lot like the Danmar red wood beaters, for the really fast stuff most people use triggers with lighter beaters that are kind of like bouncy hard rubber, or even hard nylon plastic.