Simple Concepts Difficult to Execute

the Mike Johnston signature sticks i bought about a month ago came with a free "Speed Chart" poster. the poster has exercises ranging from R-hand L-hand, bass drum, and drum set exercises. though there is one exercise that i'm particularly having trouble with. and that is 16th note singles between my hand(s) and right foot. part of the issue i feel comes from the exercise starting with the hand (on one). because when i do the same exercise but lead with my foot (on one), i don't have trouble.

of course since it's still a limitation, i'm going to work through it. but i was mildly surprised that i even had trouble doing it at 70bpm. nevertheless, i feel the awesome poster is worth the price of the sticks alone.

any insight? comments? other "simple" exercises in which people would initially have trouble with?

Check your feets work. Probably stroke latency. See, pedal work should have the same mechanical swing as stick work. Right now ons are comfortable because you know where they are and simply step down.

When you interleave this with hands on the beat, your foot gets disoriented. Where does the offs start?

You probably should work on your foot separately at all tempi - THIS MEANS BY ITSELF at all tempi. The pedal often refuses to cooperate so you have to deal with these timing issues as they arise.

When you get this all calibrated and presentable, boom tap boom tap or tap boom tap boom won't make any difference.

I hate it when this happens

Start slow, build up speed gradually and use a metronome

It sounds similar to Derek Roddy's exercises. You might think about trying it with one hand and your foot. starting with the snare first and then the kick. Now switch hands. Next you start with the kick and then snare, again switching hands for the next exercise. If you play double bass you do this with each hand and foot, for a total of 8 exercises. It helps to break the muscle memory habits we all have. You do all of this with a metronome, and increase speed gradually.

A very cool chart.

Check out the rt. foot drill with the 32nd notes. Get that up to 200bpm and you'll be my hero!

yeah, i figured it might be the muscle memory that's holding me back.

top half:

bottom half:

right hand and left hand exercises are all the same, just reversed/switched.

The Roddy exercises will break you of that. I'm still struggling with that between my left foot and right hand. Keep in mind that I lead with my left hand. I generally get into trouble around 8ths at 170-180bpm. I haven't done them in about a year, and should see where I am with those.

I've always said " it's the pedal stoopid" . With sticks you can manually go;

aAAnd tap aAAnd tap

somewhere close to the ideal 180* out of phase.

Pedals obviously go at a fixed rate and latency has to be dealt with on that basis.

I feel your pain. There are bizarre "simple" combos that throw me for a loop .

One thing that I cannot master (yes, I said CANNOT) is RF, LF, RH, LH, repeating at any reasonable speed. It's so uneven that my ears just start bleeding.

additionally, i've noticed when i play heel down (which i prefer as i get the feel and sound that i want) that my foot begins to creep up. to the point that my toes impeed the mechanisms. annoying!

The precise reason that I forever swore off heel-down.

same {censored} happens to me when i try to play heel-down.

If you play flat on the full board your toezes have to deal with the full travel - roughly 2 inches on my pedal. No biggie for 50s rock but way awkward for modern posing. So you lift the heel, quicker but you still got that 2 inches AND it's still faster than you.

Learn the heel end of the pedal. Actual foot travel is less than an inch, you can still lift your heel if you like, AND the beater will never hang on a cuff or bang you in the foot.

heh i'm pretty sure i have a permanent bruise on the top of my right foot.

Simple Concept

Difficult to execute

Turn off the oven after each use. I still screw that one up like once a month.

Use the timer.

Epic.

I'm pretty sure I have wrecked a couple of pairs of shoes this way.

ohmanjusspractissahreddy