How to Play the Slide Technique

IF you have been researching bass drum lessons and methods, then I am sure you have heard of the slide technique. The slide technique is played on the bass drum with either a single bass pedal, or a double bass pedal, and can double your bass drum speed. Learning how to play the slide technique will increase your overall drumming, and open doors you never thought you could open on the drums. So how do you play the slide technique on the bass drum? Well, I will describe how to do it in this quick mini lesson. The slide technique is a method of bass drumming that every drummer should learn!

Sliding your foot on the bass drum is the same idea as the Heel Toe technique. In the end, you are ending up with the same result, two strokes on the bass drum for only on quick movement of your foot. So which one to learn? That is completely up to you. I would suggest trying them both out, and using whichever one feels more comfortable to you. However, learning both will only broaden your knowledge!

To start, you want to play the bass drum with your heel up. It is possible to get a slide motion playing heel down, but it is a little bit harder; plus you can get more power out of your heel up playing. With your heel up, kick your pedal with your ball of your foot, (or the toe of your foot). Instead of hitting your pedal at the end closer to the beater, hit around the middle area. This way you still get a solid stroke. Here is where the slide comes into play. After you have hit the pedal once, slide your toe up the pedal. The pedal will naturally bounce back from the first stroke, hit your toe that is sliding upwards, and bounce back again.

This may sound a little confusing, but it actually works. It is hard to describe in an article lesson; however try this technique out for yourself. If you have been playing a lot of fast doubles on your single pedal, you may be already using a variation of this method. With one quick slide you can get two solid strokes. This is very similar to the heel toe method, so make sure you try both out. When you master the slide technique on both feet, you will be able to play blazing fast doubles on the double bass drum pedal. If you do not play the double bass drum, this technique is still very useful. You can easily incorporate this into fills, solos and regular beats for all styles of music. Make sure you practice this regularly!