A blast beat is basically a single stroke roll broken up between the snare drum and the bass drum, with the hi-hat/ride hand playing unison strokes with the bass drum. In this free heavy metal drum lesson, Sean Lang teaches you to play skank beats and the most common blast beats out there: the traditional blast and the hammer blast.
The traditional blast was the first type of blast beat to be created. It originated in the European punk and hardcore movements as a way to create a wall of noise. Death metal bands from the nineties were the ones responsible for shaping the traditional blast into its current form by giving it rhythmic value.
Hammer blasts were actually invented by drummers who, being new to the world of blast beats, couldn’t achieve the speeds and coordination required to play traditional blast beats.
Skank beats are slower versions of traditional blast beats. They were being played in the United States and in Europe just before blast beats were first invented. You can think of skank beats as punk beats or fast and heavy polkas.
Once you’ve mastered the blast beat, work on your weaker foot by leading with it. This will strengthen that foot greatly and have you working on coordinating the left and right sides of your body. You can also move on to learn some heavy metal odd-time drum beats. If you’re engrossed in blast beats, then there’s only one next step for you: learn more about them with the hour-long free drum lesson “Derek Roddy’s Tips For Developing Blast Beats.”