One of my students complained to me that he had a weak foot. “I have no strength or control of my bass pedal,” he said. I gave him some exercises to practice on the bass drum. At the next lesson, he was still frustrated by the lack of progress with his bass drum technique. As luck would have it, this student happened to live near me. I suggested that I visit his house for the next lesson to check out his equipment. When he showed me his drumkit, I noticed that he was sitting quite high and very close to the bass drum. He was definitely uncomfortable with the pedal and the bass drum. I attempted to play his set just the way he had everything arranged. The bass drum pedal was impossible. It turned out to be some unknown “bargain” that came with the drumset. Superman could not have […]

July 1984 Issue