Lesson #031 - Double Bass Broken Singles

[Virgil]

Learning to improvise freely with the bass drums will help your creative powers and the level of excitement in your playing. These ideas are amongst the first I practiced when I started playing double bass as a teenager. My first instinct was to break away from the generic linear single stroke pattern, and to familiarize myself with these syncopated patterns. Once I was comfortable moving the rhythms around, it opened the door to many interesting possibilities. To this very day, most of my double bass playing is centered on variations of these exercises. One other important point I'd like to share, is that almost everything I practice with the bass drums I do with both right and left foot leading. Therefore I recommend you work on these bearing that in mind.

The video features a single stroke improvisation on the bass drums, with and 8th note groove. These syncopated singles consist mainly of 3, 5. and 7 strokes. Isolating and practicing these different combinations is a good starting point.

<img src="images/attach/wmv.gif">For a video demonstration, click here. (http://www.virgildonati.com/msgboard/attachments/feet-brokensingles.wmv)

3-stroke roll

<img src="images/!charts/feet-broken-a.gif">

3-stroke roll (version 2)

<img src="images/!charts/feet-broken-b.gif">

5 Stroke Roll - The 5 stroke inherently has a 3 feel, so at first feel it in 3/4, then learn to transpose it into 4/4.

<img src="images/!charts/feet-broken-c.gif">

5 Stroke Roll in 4/4.

<img src="images/!charts/feet-broken-d.gif">

7 Stroke Roll.

<img src="images/!charts/feet-broken-e.gif">

Based on the preceding exercises, the following are some of the combinations that I play on the video. I have separated the ideas into 2 or 4 bar excercises.

<img src="images/!charts/feet-broken-f.gif">

<img src="images/!charts/feet-broken-i.gif">

<img src="images/attach/wmv.gif">For a video demonstration, click here. (http://www.virgildonati.com/msgboard/attachments/feet-brokensingles.wmv)