Pedal Bass

Pedal Bass

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Piano or keyboard?

For those who're considering which instrument they should buy, but dont know the differences bewteen a grand piano and a keyboard, heres a list of pros and cons- starting with the keyboard.

Piano -There are three main types of piano: The grand piano, upright pianos or the electronic pianos. A grand (or concert) piano's size ranges from 2m-3m for a parlor grand, to 1m-2m for a boudoir grand and slightly smaller for a baby piano. The pianos size really is an issue which you dont really have to deal with when owning a keyboard. If you have mountains of money and a helicopter pad to store one, a grand piano isnt really an option, as even a baby grand piano is quite big. The advantage with a piano this big is the sound. Most piano players will sing the praises of a grand piano due to the sound they produce, due to their huge size, which allows for long strings inside the piano. Similar to the principals of a Bass Guitar, the baby grand piano has thicker strings to maintain the tension to keep the sound quality. Thicker strings on a smaller instrument means more less 'pull' from the instrument and a stronger clarity in the sound.

A smaller instrument because the frame and strings are contained horizontally within the piano, the upright piano is what most families who buy a piano end up with. But, even with that size reduction it still dominates the room.

The electric Piano has been about since the 1980s, which uses digital techonology to reporduce the sound of each piano note. Even with modern techonology being so advanced it cant replacate the sound of an acoustic piano. Not really in the hghest of graces with 'serious' concert piano players.

And the triats of a digital keyboard?

Keyboards can be carried around, take us less room and you get more of a range to choose from for your money- good so far? The keyboards thrill or sound quality cant quite match that of playing a piano, but that digital technology keeps improving. Cost wise a keyboard is going to be cheaper, as some baby grand pianos start at 2,000 plus.

The final verdict? The piano may just well be too pricey for John-Everyman, and you can pick up a good keyboard cheaper than a piano.

Questions about Pedal Bass

How do I do really fast double pedal bass stuff without getting tired quickly?

I'm into playing metal on the drumset with fast double pedalling parts. When I do the relatively slow parts, like 8th notes and triplets and 16th notes, I'm fine. But when I do like 32nd and 64th note kinda stuff, my legs get really tired quickly. I notice that a lot of metal band drummers can do that for pretty long periods of time with no problem, so I was wondering if there were some techniques that I could use to make it easier. I'm aware that I could do the heel-toe roll, with each foot, but I'm not good at doing that with the left foot. Thanks for your help.

First of all...with all due respect to the above poster, do NOT use ankle weights.

You should first take a step back and reevaluate your technique. When you play double bass, you shouldn't think of the motion coming from your ankles or your thighs. Think of it like your getting ready to stand up on the ball of your foot (right behind the toes). If you feel yourself working your thighs, then you aren't doing it properly.

Using this technique, start by playing slowly with your right foot at a steady tempo. Do this until you get tired, then try it with your left foot until it gets tired. By doing this, you are using the weight of your leg to your advantage and it should help to improve your endurance.

There is another technique that heavy metal drummers sometimes use that involves "triggers". A trigger (if you don't know) is a contact microphone. Depending on the type you have, you either clamp it to the rim of your drum or stick it to the head with some double sided tape. It sends an electric impulse to a sound module (such as the Alesis D4 or DM5) which causes a sound to play through an amplifier or PA. This can get expensive, but it adds a volume knob, so you can play very, very loud without having to hit very hard. You could also mic the drums and send the signal through a compressor/limiter which will "squash" the signal (essentially making it louder if you tweak it a littlel) and achieve the same effect while bypassing the electronic sound module.

A quick Google search will reveal some of these techniques in greater detail.

Good luck, and happy drumming!

P.S. For the good of humanity, once you have blistering double bass chops, learn to play something besides diggadiggadiggadiggadiggadiggadiggadiggadiggadigga at 84,000 bpm. Check out the Greg Bissonette video "Musical Drumming in Different Styles" for some good ideas.

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