[rubberhands]

Hey Everyone,
I would like to know if anyone has any tips on maybe some exercises that will help me find out how to use My bass pedal while using my hi hat pedal.
I got the timing down on both of my feet, but I am finding it really difficult to play a bass pattern while keeping time with my hi hat foot.
Any Ideas?

Lft = Hi Hat Rgt= Bass Pedal.

Thanks,
RubberHands

[slingerland59]

You can take any exercise book with snare patterns in it (e.g. Ted Reed's Syncopation book is easy to find but any book will do) and fiddle around with the arrangement as follows:
(1) play your left foot hi-hat pattern on beats 2 and 4 of the bar (use a heel-to-toe rocking technique so your heel hits down on beats 1 and 3 of the bar and your toe closes the hats on beats 2 and 4). -- really lock in that groove at a slow speed;
(2) now play the written snare part with your right foot bass drum pedal (the Syncopation book is good because you can start with quarter note pattens and move through 8th and 16th note patterns and triplets, all the while keeping the hi-hat pattern going -- just completely ignore whatever parts are written in your book besides the snare part);
(3) then add in straight quarter notes with the right hand on the ride cymbal (which you can later vary to other ride patterns); and
(4) you can add your left hand on the snare to accent beats 2 and 4 if you want.

Another nice exercise, if your book has accented 8th, 16th and triplet note studies (like at the back of the Syncopation book), is to play straight 8ths (for example) on the snare with alternating hand strokes (no accents), lock in the heel/toe hi-hat pattern on beats 2 and 4 (quarter notes), and then play the written accents with your bass drum (if you do this 8th note pattern fast enough and add snare accents on beats two and four to accent the hi-hat pattern then you've got a "railroad" beat going on).

I hope this helps. Rock on!