Double Bass Improvement Part 4

Expanding Your Legs' Poetential

Welcome back again double bass enthusiasts. In this installment, I want to focus on how to continue building and improving the muscles needed for advanced double bass playing. The answer is actually very simple. When you practice, practice both heels down and heels up. I stressed the importance of this in my first double bass lesson, and I want us all the stick to it until the end. As easy at that sounds, the hard part will be on you, the reader, to find the discipline to work consistently and reach your legs’ full potential.

The following exercises are meant to give you some ideas on some practice routines to incorporate into your own workout. I began using these basic exercises to help me with three things: 1) Control, 2) Endurance, and 3) Speed. I intentionally place these categories in the order you see. First, I make sure I have control at the tempo and time duration I choose before I begin. Second, I work on endurance by setting a time frame to maintain the tempo I choose (I suggest one minute). Finally, once you can control a rhythm for about a minute or more, it’s time to speed up.

If you think about it, it is impossible to work on the categories above from back to forward. Without control and endurance, speed doesn’t even factor into the equation, and without control, you have nothing do endure. In other words, start slowly.

What you will need for these exercises is a metronome, a stop watch or clock that displays seconds, and patience. Each exercise should alternate single strokes.

In Exercises 1 – 4 pay attention not only to the consistency in sound between each foot but also which muscles are being used with either heels up or heels down. You’ll need to develop both muscle groups associated with the technique used to really increase your legs’ dexterity. These next exercises will be a little more challenging because they require a bit more endurance to sustain.

I want you to approach these exercises not as trying to master them, but instead as trying to constantly improve upon them. Obviously, they are very elementary rhythms, but it is how you apply them that can present a challenge. Feel free to create your own hand patterns to play over the bass drum.

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