I went to the rehearsal studio last night to play some drums to get ready for an important show on Saturday. Playing drums alone is fun but sometimes there is a point where you have no idea what to play.

So I decided to use the time to get better at a kick drum technique I don't use often. There are two basic ways to hit a kick drum.

1. Press Only

Version one is press the kick pedal down for every hit with your toe. Every hit is strong. You end up bouncing the leg a lot. It uses more energy.

2. Press / Slide

The other is where you press down towards the front of the pedal (most far from the actual drum) with the toe. Then you kind of slide forward and place your whole foot on the pedal. It uses less energy after you master the motion. You can also get up to incredible speeds if you need it for your genre.

Which technique to go with?

Both.

I spent the time slowly trying to force myself to use method two last night for while. I got the motion down a little more solid and it started to feel pretty good. It definitely uses less energy and I think it is a little easier to keep the kick drum notes a little more even sounding.

I am still faster with just pushing but probably not for long.

Have the two ways down well and using them where appropriate. I can see myself using the Push/Slide one for long stretches of the same pattern to preserve energy and then with to the other for intense bursts. The Push only method sounds really cool so use that when it is needed.

I see it like a guitar player. You can strum up and down (ex: push/slide) which is more efficient. You can also just do downstrokes (ex: push only) which sounds really cool.

Get good at both and use when the time is right.