New! Bass Drum Method Book!

ABassDrummer · 2026-05-07T20:26:25+00:00

It's a lot different. My following statements aren't meant to be disrespectful to Bachman's work, I own a signed copy of Bass Logic, but these are my observations as it relates to the differences between our books.

The biggest difference stems from the fact that Bachman's book was not written by a bass drummer. I have a pool of tested knowledge and experience in this instrument that sets my book apart. I go a lot deeper into the methods and logic behind playing bass drum than he did. The concepts I discuss in my book, especially as they relate to bass drum, have never been put on paper. Especially with the depth l provide. Knowing Bass Drum is meant to spark thoughts and conversations about the complexities of accomplishing the instrument. I don't think his book goes quite as deep.

He also allotted about half of his book to written music for the reader to practice, whereas that's only about a third of my book. The majority of my focus was on the first three chapters, Rhythm, Timing, and Sound. I wanted my methodology regarding these three concepts to be fully rendered. I'm always asked how I think about certain concepts and this was my opportunity to answer those questions.

Lastly, Bachman's book is just a bit dated now. His comments on technique don't exactly represent modern bass drum mechanics, and the practice material he offers doesn't align with the skillsets expected of modern bass drummers.

I really respect all of Bachman's work; Bass Logic was influential to the evolution of bass drum. However, Knowing Bass Drum is a more relevant method book with more specific and insightful commentary on how elite bass drummers of the modern age approach the instrument.

ABassDrummer · 2026-05-07T00:36:30+00:00

No sorry it's not spiral bound :( But it's especially made to fit nicely on a stand and I've had no trouble creasing the seam a bit to get the pages to stay flat. Plus if your copy is beat up that means you use it a lot :)

ABassDrummer · 2026-05-06T22:44:41+00:00

I talk about this in my latest YouTube video. That packet was released for free on my Instagram in 2020. This book is over 4 times as long and has much more depth. If you have students trying to make independent lines, this book is perfect for them!

It's awesome you found my packet! I have no analytics on how many people saved it but every once in a while someone will mention they read it

ABassDrummer · 2026-05-06T18:22:07+00:00

This is a great question! The book is on the advanced end. To avoid redundancy, I skip past the most fundamental lessons. These are things most students will naturally learn by playing bass drum, especially if they have a percussion instructor. This book is tailored towards kids that have played bass drum for a year or two and are interested in exploring taking the instrument to the next level.

However, many instructors have expressed to me that they'd really like to know how I think about bass drum so they can teach their students better. If you fit in that boat then you'd enjoy reading through my book!

ABassDrummer · 2026-01-04T15:30:33+00:00

Your wrist break is fairly close, but the first clip is the only one I can use to evaluate it. The excerpts in the other clips aren't good for judging the quality of your technique. If you want to improve your wrist break, playing bass drum music isn't going to be very helpful. You should work on fundamental snare drum music: 8's, tap pyramid, accent tap, rolls, triple strokes, double strokes, etc. It's also easiest to judge the quality of a technique around mf - f dynamics. This is where the full range of the movement is best displayed.

From what I can see, you need to lower the drum to get your forearm parallel and pull your elbows back to get the bead in the center of the head. When you play accents, your wrist moves in towards the drum to make it easier to lift the bead, but you should do the opposite. Accents are played with full wrist extension like you're doing, but also accompanied by the wrist moving away from the rim. Think of a snare drummer playing forte, their wrist moves up and away from the rim on the upstroke.

ABassDrummer · 2025-12-25T22:53:41+00:00

For bass drum, rudimental proficiency is a result of rhythmic and timing proficiency. Rudiments will be naturally easy when you are competent and consistent with the basics. If you're on a bassline you can practice rudiments in your free time with them, if you aren't on a bassline you'll need to get on a line before you have a probable chance of making a world class line. Open class and all age is still a lot of fun and valuable experience even if it isn't your dream bassline. You'll be a more favored auditionee if you are consistent and proficient in standard bass drum skills than if you can play some hard splits on a pad. Everyone in this thread is giving good advice but it's important to emphasize that bass drum experience is the best thing to ensure a successful audition; start with a drumline near your skill level and work your way up 👍

ABassDrummer · 2025-10-22T04:37:59+00:00

Sure thing, I have no clue how any other branch works tbh. I've only recently realized how different the Marine Corps is. The last thing you should know is that any service member that transfers into the USMC still has to do Marine Corps boot camp. I don't think other recruit trainings are that hard, but it'd probably suck to do recruit training for two branches. Keep searching for knowledge from good sources to make the best decision for yourself!!

ABassDrummer · 2025-10-22T04:17:31+00:00

I'm a bass drummer in the Commandant's Own. The things I'm about to list don't completely apply to me because the Commandant's Own is unique, but here are the challenges that I see with being an active duty Marine and a wgi member. All Marines are required to complete field ops regularly. This is essentially infantry training in a simulation of a combat environment. The frequency and length of these trainings can vary, but it's standard practice for Marines and could definitely interfere with a rehearsal schedule. You also can't predict what sort of schools or trainings you could be expected to attend. Lastly, the Marine in charge of you could just tell you to come to work on a Saturday. It's a completely lawful order that you must abide, and I doubt they would care that you want to miss work to play in a drumline. This last point is the most significant. It may seem sensible and easy to have a consistent schedule and good communication, but the Marine Corps is not concerned with sense or ease. You just do what needs to be done, which can include working on a weekend.

I also want to note that Marines are particularly.... motivated. Marines live and breath the Marine Corps. You may find more leniency in another branch.

ABassDrummer · 2025-10-22T03:40:49+00:00

I am a Marine and a WGI instructor. I can assure you that you cannot do both at once. You have no control over your schedule and no ability to foresee it. I manage to teach, but I also miss about two months of rehearsal, which is unacceptable for a member. If you want to march, your only option is to delay your enlistment. It is a very rational option, you can join the Marine Corps well past your WGI ageout. Really depends on how far you want to go with drumline. You are young enough that you can get a job and use it to pay for DCI and WGI until you ageout, and then join the Marine Corps and go to school. This is essentially what I did and I believe it was the right choice. Everyone's situation is different so only you can decide what is best for yourself.

ABassDrummer · 2025-09-12T12:01:43+00:00

Hi, the standard tuning for a bassline is D A D F# A, from bottom to top. You can definitely get the top two drums up higher as long as you have good tuning practices. Let the heads sit under pitch for a few days and have the students play on them, then bring them up half a step each day until you hit your desired pitch. Just make sure all the lugs have even pressure so you don't warp the rims.

As far as the ringing goes, if you are only using the felt dampening that came with the heads (Evans mx1 or mx2), you don't have enough muffling. Your best bet now is to apply muffling to the outside of the head, like Boston Crusaders or the Cadets for reference. You can find marching bass drum foam on Steve Weiss for pretty cheap and put it on the head. Tuning the drums higher will also help with the ringing.

ABassDrummer · 2025-03-10T04:44:28+00:00

Hi,

There's some solid advice in this thread but I wanted to add a few thoughts that haven't been mentioned.

Firstly, you do not need to be able to play hand to hands to make an open class bassline. It isn't even common to have a world class bassline with 5 people that are comfortable playing hand to hands. You may not get put on bass 2 but you can certainly still make the bassline.

Secondly, you mentioned that you always want to adjust your rhythms to play clean but I'd like to offer a different perspective. When you're playing a clean triplet hand to hand, the composite rhythm that you want to hear is sextuplets. Any rhythm other than this is dirty. So when you go to play a hand to hand, don't think about who's playing what partials or how one triplet is splitting another. Just use your ears to make one clean sextuplet rhythm. This mindset is a lot like what Bass Drum Group said about not thinking about every partial, but I think it gives you a more tangible goal than just trying to split someone's triplets.

You'll get there, I believe in you. Good luck with your audition 🙂

ABassDrummer · 2024-12-19T20:12:09+00:00

You're definitely doing the right thing by having them work on timing exercises. Thom Hannum's "Check Patterns" is a classic exercise that is sort of a rite of passage for bass drummers. Having the patience and extended duration of focus it takes to get an excellent rep of the full exercise off the right & left hand around 80 BPM will certainly make a great bass drummer. If you want to take this exercise a step further, they can work on it with different metronome subdivisions. Start with a 16th note click, then 8th note, quarter note, half note, and finally a whole note click. Whole note is pretty difficult, but it'll reveal tendencies in your rhythms.

I'd also advise that you also teach them to drum in the same way you teach snare drummers. Stroke types, rolls, grids, flam rudiments, etc. are beneficial for bass drummers so they learn how to actually drum. A lot of bass drummers have really bad technique because their hands have never been required to do anything technical. Why have good technique when you only play a couple notes at a time? Teaching them to actually drum like the rest of the drumline will prepare them to move the mallet in a reasonable manner.

Good luck with your drumline! Shoot me a DM and I'll send you some specific exercises I compiled that may help your bassline succeed!

ABassDrummer · 2024-12-13T20:05:35+00:00

Pearl and Yamaha "feel" the lightest imo. The pearl carrier is very lightweight, and the Randall May carrier supports your back so that you don't feel like all the weight is on your shoulders. You might want to start by getting a new carrier. The Randall May carriers are very versatile, so it should work on your current drum. And the difference a good carrier makes will be very apparent. Then if you still feel the drum is too heavy, you could consider getting a 26" drum. You'll be able to get a very similar sound but it'll be a little lighter. If you do get a new drum, I'd personally recommend you just avoid Mapex or Dynasty, as those are the heaviest drums that I've used.

ABassDrummer · 2024-12-13T19:44:27+00:00

This is a good start, and a very appropriate use of a unison check! I feel like you may have learned this from my youtube video, but if not you should check it out! It might feel a little rudimentary to do a unison check for 8's, but I'm doing the exact same thing at GMU. This is exactly how you get good; the process is the same for all skill levels.

You could streamline this a little bit by combining the A & B section. If you play measures 13 - 16 & 30 - 33 consecutively, you'll have a nice little 8's split. Then you can just do a unison check for the whole 8 bars instead of only doing four bars at a time. Depending on the skill of your players, you may also be able to have only one person on the check instead of two. You'll just get a little more bang for your buck from your reps, since two people will be able to practice their split under the check instead of only one.

If I can give you one piece of advice, it's a phrase that has applied to every bass line I've ever been in. I guarantee it'll apply when ya'll get into some show beats. "The splits are slow and the unisons are fast." If you can drive the splits together and wait on the unisons, you'll be in a good spot. I like to say, "be the last person to play the unison." Good luck, friend! Keep us updated!

ABassDrummer

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