How do you exactly do you do blast beat?

[ReighIB]

Can someone tell me how to do a blast beat? Do you just hit everything at once?

[ulank]

Like this:

 

 

 

*plays blast beat*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Puck]

Do a search on this forum... I think Dark Slide even posted videos about how to do them.

[CrashStitches]

Play slow, steady double bass. Between bass strokes, hit the snare. With every bass stroke hit the hats or ride. Start slow, increase speed with practice. There are many different variations, but this is the most basic type of blast beat.

[Guzwar]

Wait wait wait, so you alternate the snare and hat/ride? I thought there was only one type of blast beat, where you hit the snare and hat or ride at the same time, either between or on the bass stroke.

[gcdrummer]

I think 'blast beat' is a very bad description of the beat. I think what you do is hit the hat and bass at the same time (on the down beat) and play the snare inbetween (on the up beat).

[ArtVandelay]

 

Originally posted by gcdrummer I think 'blast beat' is a very bad description of the beat. I think what you do is hit the hat and bass at the same time (on the down beat) and play the snare inbetween (on the up beat).

 

 

That's it as far as I know. Pretty much a polka sped-up for metal. Once the basic is mastered, you can embellish it with double bass drums and anything else you can imagine - maybe doing double strokes with one or both hands. Doubles on the bell o' the ride might sound interesting and give the groove a little more urgency.

[Timekeep69]

 

Originally posted by ArtVandelay That's it as far as I know. Pretty much a polka sped-up for metal. Once the basic is mastered, you can embellish it with double bass drums and anything else you can imagine - maybe doing double strokes with one or both hands. Doubles on the bell o' the ride might sound interesting and give the groove a little more urgency.

 

 

 

You're describing a grind beat. The beat that Slayer, and other thrash metal bands use quite bit.

 

A blast beat is playing the hi-hat and snare simulatneously with 16th or 32nd notes. Like most death/black metal bands use nowadays.

 

There is a difference.

[Timekeep69]

Hopefully this doesn't cause more confusion.....

 

Blast beat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Blast beat is a drum beat consisting of torrents of alternating or simultaneous snare and bass drums which increase the speed, density, and percussiveness of death metal, black metal and grindcore. The hi-hat or a ride cymbal is often played simultaneously with the bass drum and the snare drum at the same time, and occasionally a crash cymbal or china cup is also featured. Diverse patterns and timings are also frequently employed by more technical players. While this method is often used to create a forceful climax, a blastbeat can constitute the bulk of an entire song.

 

A blast beat is normally played in tempos from 180 bpm upwards, with so-called "hyperblast beats" (achieved by using a one-handed roll on the snare and hi-hat and double bass drum) existing in the range of 260-340 bpm.

 

Typical blast beats consist of 8th note snare and 8th or 16th note bass drum hits, on the top of which a cymbal, normally a hi-hat or a ride, is hit, in Quarter or 8th notes. Variations exist. Some people maintain the bass drum should be played with one foot for the best effect; others prefer a double bass drum.

 

Blast beats have their roots in hardcore punk as well as thrash metal, however in modern standards the snare work is frequently comparable to established snare patterns in jazz. Early blast beats (the original use in metal is generally attributed to SOD and Napalm Death) were generally quite slow and less precise compared to today's standards. The blast beat is a fundamental component in nearly all of extreme metal. Bands making extensive use of it include Origin, Cryptopsy, Napalm Death, Dying Fetus, Suffocation and Dark Funeral among others.

[CrashStitches]

Originally posted by Guzwar Wait wait wait, so you alternate the snare and hat/ride? I thought there was only one type of blast beat, where you hit the snare and hat or ride at the same time, either between or on the bass stroke.

 

That works too. That's a newer variation. The one I described is the classic, slower type. As you get faster, it takes a huge level of precision to maintain accurate alternate strokes, so many drummers just play db as fast as possible and hit the snare and hat/ride at the same time. This sounds sloppy. Listen to the Black Dahlia Murder's cd Unhallowed for a diverse sampling of blast patterns, sometimes one right after the other.

[Dark Slide]

There are so many different blasts it's silly.

I'll try to do a cheesy tab version of a couple.

 

[ArtVandelay]

How long did it take you to get the technique to do that gravity blast? That terrific the way you use the rim as a fulcrum to raise the tip so that your upstroke with the wrist becomes a downstroke with the tip.

[Dark Slide]

 

Originally posted by ArtVandelay How long did it take you to get the technique to do that gravity blast? That terrific the way you use the rim as a fulcrum to raise the tip so that your upstroke with the wrist becomes a downstroke with the tip.

 

 

I am still working on it. It's definitely not as clean as it should be... even worse in that video as I have progressed since then.

 

I am still having a hard time pulling it off in a live situation.

 

That being said, here is a quick video clip from the studio of a blast... This was a bad track and I ended up throwing it out because I blew the short rolls on the snare... but you get the idea.

 

http://hatredalive.com/nicks/maggotblast.wmv

 

And here is the recorded audio of the final tracks (Unmastered)

 

http://hatredalive.com/nicks/maggotblast.mp3

[WorshipMetallica]

The most common in my opinion is the original blast beat you hear most in black metal but also plenty of death metal bands. It's my favorite blast. If you drum with your stongest hand in single strokes as fast as you can: that's how fast blast beats are played with each limb (generally, roughly anywhere between 170-230bpm). Of course there are shortcuts though, like doing slow double bass instead of fast single bass. Anyway here's the basic blast beat, where the hihat and kick start the beat off:

 

[Dark Slide]

Didn't I already tab that out once?

[WorshipMetallica]

Yeah but he doesn't know much about blast beats, so I just stated the most obvious ones, and assigned them the most common names for them. I could've said something like "and the Cannibal Blast is the 3rd down from the top he posted if you scroll up.." but that's just too confusing.

 

Btw, your fav. blast, I've been playing that a lot lately using two feet (my hands are a lot faster than my feet) it sounds really cool. My hands are at like 230bpm, my feet are like 170bpm, so that beat sounds really cool at 220bpm or so with double bass (I use heel-toe for that..)