Independence is the holy grail of drumming. It’s what enables a drummer to play anything he wants to on a given moment. Therefore, working on improving your independence will hail great results in regards to your ability to be more musical and to play by feel with ease. In this free drum lesson, Jared Falk takes you through a bass drum independence etude designed to free your bass drum leg from Quarter note, 8th note, 16th note, and 32nd note based hand patterns. If you’re having any issues with freeing up your bass drum leg from your hi-hat hand, this free drum lesson will do wonders for you.
If you’re not used to playing a certain combination between your hands and feet you won’t be able to play it at higher speeds from the get-go. Going at it too fast too soon will only hinder your progress and make you sound sloppy. The secret for mastering this etude comes from working on it slowly at first, regardless of the hand pattern you’ve chosen to play on top of it. The more control you have over it at slow tempos, the faster and cleaner you’ll sound. Take your time with this etude. One of the biggest assets you can develop as a musician is patience. It will do wonders for you drumming.
When you feel you have nothing more to take from this free drum lesson, you can keep on experimenting with new options. Take any Quarter note, 8th note, 16th note, and 32nd note based hand pattern from this website and go through the etude with it. We encourage you to start by checking the free drum lessons “Beginner Tom-Tom Drum Beats” and “Half-Time Drum Beats” to do so.
Another cool thing you can do to keep furthering your bass drum independence is moving the 8th note hi-hat strokes, or any broken hi-hat rhythms that you enjoy, to the bow and bell of the ride cymbal and use your hi-hat foot to play 8th note patterns. This will have you working on 4-way coordination, new and interesting grooves, and will challenge you even further.