A New Way to Develop Foot Speed - Drum Lesson

[@RicardoGonzalez-fb9li]

These micro lessons are amazing and keep me so inspired. I started drumming at age 50, and I took lessons for over a year. I moved out of state about six months ago, so I am without a teacher. You’ve kept me inspired and going back to my kit to try new things and keep developing my vocabulary. I’m back in touch with my old teacher from Crest Hill, IL, and working on remote lessons. Thank you so much, Mike, for being like a life jacket that helped keep my head above water these past 6 very lonely months. I’ve been watching you for a couple of years now and will be here as long as you keep putting out content!

[@jasondrew6369]

This is next level creativity. Genius.

[@williammoses5939]

Your foot chops are insane bro

[@ceciljohnson4798]

Mike you are just simply phenomenal. Your breakdowns on each lesson is impeccable.

[@vadymstetsyuk6887]

Paradiddles are fascinating indeed. I'm continually amazed at how this concept can be applied to various contexts. Thank you Mike.

[@SimonRileyDrums]

I absolutely LOVE that talking angle how the outside as well as the inside are perfectly exposed👌🏻 lighting compositions like this are notttt easy so well done man!

[@mikeslessons]

You just made my day!

[@adityatyagi4009]

Awesome lesson. I liked how you played quarter notes with your left foot at the end. That adds a level of complexity which will also prove to be helpful in other contexts. Well done.

[@sebaromanbaterista]

Absolutely fahanantastic as you say!!!! Just imagined the permutation possibilities and my brain went nuts!!! Salutes from Chile

[@NikolaiSchlott]

Doing the stick control with your left hand speed lesson you did couple weeks, no time to switch to some feet. And like the new micing and that china defently sweeeeet

[@KonradasDesignCo]

I will definitely try this! Thank You so much, Mike!

[@SafeInstinct]

Hi Mike Another great lesson - a huge thanks from here. Your lesson this time reminds me enormously of a lesson I got in close combat many years ago, from one of the US-Marine close combat instructors (referred to here by his initials, BM). We spent a whole day on different ways in which the right and left hand could act, react and reason in different combat situations. When the day was over, we were asked how many techniques we had trained during the day - and the answers were diverse. According to BM, the answer was, 1 technique. In all the different combinations of what our hands did, there was only one form of legwork. And the legwork was the core lesson - the hands were just a mental focal point. We were subconsciously taught the legwork. What you have presented here reminds me enormously of this lesson from BM - and just shows me how brilliant your lessons are. So a very, very big thank you from here ❤❤

[@MarkDuffyPhotography]

That's another level dude, love it. Gonna try and switch to the slide technique and can I get more cleaner results. Heel toe has worked and not worked for me with my foot.

[@eddievandongendrums]

Mike I LOVE this sound man!! This is really something that sounds like you. Great stuff, as always, daily inspo from your teachings for the last 12 years man! Thanks for being there!

[@DrumsEngineering]

Great lesson! Wow! Never thought like this! Gives the fun back to the daily workout!!!!

[@alexandremaigrot9728]

Thank you for sharing !

[@madt0wn1]

This also keeps you at lower BPM, which I think really helps to clean things up. Fantastic free content. Thank you.

[@ryanshreevedrums]

Oh boy am I LOVING that China on your kit. It fits in perfectly

[@juliechan8626]

Love the new look in your lounge shots! ✔️🖤

[@nixneato]

Substitutions are great. R and L can be anything (great example here) and it just changes everything. Another classic one in triplets is R = Rll, and L = rrL.

[@CoraStanley-ue7rw]

What a great idea Mike! Like you, I get bored easy, but this adds another layer of complexity to keep my mind engaged. I look forward to employing this in my practice as I have been working an fills using kkRLRL and KKRL in various combinations and and subdivisions around the kit. So this will just add a little more zing to that. Tanks Mike, great lesson.

[@Pure_KodiakWILD_Power]

Man, you're getting smoother in your playing, and your on camera personality 👍

[@carlotd93]

Awesome lesson Mike!!!

[@BeatItDrums20]

This is actually awesome Mike. It also sounds good at goal tempo, bonus. Thanks

[@jerrylehti7230]

Nice variations to keep me busy!!

[@atishep]

I dig the reverb!🤘🎧

[@matthewcurtis6794]

Magic content. Your handsomness seems to be increasing with your drumming ability. Added inspo to practice.

[@ShaneMcCosky45]

YOUR OLD BAND?! The one that you toured with opening for all of those dope bands?! YESSSSS!!!! Finally!!!!

[@ignaciomontalenti9620]

I needed so much this lesson! Thanks Mike

[@someroomtodrum]

Brilliant! Perfect timing for what I'm working on. 200 bpm may be a few years off but this'll make the journey more fun. Btw, this is Greg W from the Sessions. Great stuff, Mike!

[@SpikeTSmith]

Another great lesson Mike. I’m liking the combining the paradiddles in exercise too.

[@mattbecker01]

great lesson!

[@YamahaMK]

creative as hell !!!!!!

[@paulmarr7873]

Ha! I have been doing this for the exact same reasons Mike! Also, this variation is fun: RKL RKL but some R-L's are accents and some are not. And because the R-L's are first/ third triplet partials, you can create rhythmic accent patterns within the note groupings by accenting/ not accenting some of the notes. Hope to make it to a camp one day, I'm like 15 minutes away. Happy Drumming!

[@joc8]

Thanks, Mike, your lessons are inspiring, and are great to take to the kit. One thing I work on everyday, is placing the kick in between notes, ie, snare, kick, tom (or varying combinations), that, for me, is more difficult than placing the kick at the end, ie, snare, tom, kick (or, other combinations). I don't know if it was a promo thing for Meinl (I love their cymbals), or an idiosyncratic thing about the logos, but it made me laugh, I turn my logos to the side, to avoid hitting them. Drummers are abit like tennis players, with funny little traits. Cheers.

[@joshuajosiahcolumbus]

This video popped up in my feed and now I feel inspired to create some foot exercises to work on some of my own musical ideas. Thanks Mike!

[@DawggKC]

That was the best news for me all day when you said there will be some new Simon Says!!!! ❤

[@moqtev]

Thanks Mike 😊👍

[@terrydrums]

I dig puzzles, too. Lately I’m playing a jazz waltz while playing the Stick Control stickings between the kick (R) and snare (L)…in triplets. 😎

[@TheShaolinfunk]

I think you just activated BEAST MODE!

[@wannabeadrummer]

Great exercise Mike

[@ignacioperezdelcastillo3182]

Gracias

[@luisfernando-mm3jt]

Nice work

[@larrythelobster4198]

Hi Mike! Loved this lesson as always! I'm wondering what the chain sizzler on you crash is?

[@JohnKostarasskn]

Thank you for this. So many possibilities! I struggle with the 2nd bass drum stroke having equal dynamic as the first stroke. Would your solution be to try exaggerating/accenting that stroke and building up speed, or maybe investigate a different technique? I find I press with double stroke rolls, and not sure if this is hindering my flow, dynamic and speed. Be great to hear from you (all).

[@TheThortoy]

I just have a question. Why you should to record OH mic in mono. (That audio technica mic sound really good too)

[@serbadork]

Awesome lesson Mike!! foot speed has always been something i super super struggle with, along with having ADHD (which leads to very easy boredom of doing the same thing over and over) so this is perfect for someone like me. Quick question though, what drum heads are you using on this kit at the moment?! Kit sounds fantastic!

[@nandopolesel]

Awesome exercise just did it, got to 88bpm. I love stuff like this

[@chadjohnsonsr_thedrummer]

Nom nom! Tasty stuff, Mr. J! Thanks!

[@mikeslessons]

So glad you like it my friend!

[@chadjohnsonsr_thedrummer]

🥃 cheers!@@mikeslessons

[@PalashBackup]

Mike, you enthusiasm for everything is contagious! Be it a new piece of gear, a new pattern, the renovation of your studio or waking up at 4:30 in the morning. I guess it is a matcha thing :P. Thanks for the motivation and the lessons. Hope you and Amber are doing fine.

[@mikeslessons]

Awe man, thanks so much. Ya, I'm generally pretty excited about everything all the time! It's why I use so many exclamation marks when I type!!! lol

[@K13R0NI3O6]

WHAT! Your getting the band back together?! HECK YEAH!

[@lokidrums86]

uiii nice lesson and China!!! ❤😊

[@Pubwie]

luvit!

[@sergiopezza-batteriadrums3493]

Thanks!👏👏👏

[@mikeslessons]

You are very welcome Sergio! I hope you enjoy it and get tons of use out of it!

[@justinfarah310]

Ewww I like this! 🤘🏼😈🤘🏼 Simon Says reunion? Are you serious right now? That’s freaking EPIC Mike

[@mikeslessons]

YO!!! Great to hear from you old friend. And yes, we have a couple shows coming up and we are putting out some new songs in the next couple of months :)

[@justinfarah310]

@@mikeslessons really stoked for you guys. All OG members? How did this come about? I’m sure the new music is going to be awesome. You guys will be held to high standards dude! Those first two albums are AMAZING! 💣💣💣

[@towermason1538]

Nice Daytona, Mike

[@mikeslessons]

I wish, lol. A Daytona is a bit out of my price range. This is a Tudor Black Bay Chrono :)

[@davetaylor3040]

I'm thinking all that foot speed is due to that new"old" pedal! Hahaha. It's so sweet that it matches your kit too!

[@tillgerke9481]

Trying this out now!!! A similar thing is actually one of my favorite fills. The accents are the same but only one Kick. So - RlK rLK RlK rLK :) I think I actually learned that from you, lol! Also, LOVE the sound. Sounds so amazing, even through my laptop speakers. ;)

[@mikeslessons]

Ya, same exact concept. And yes, I have taught that one a few times as a way to create interesting triplet vocab. Thanks for noticing the sound brother Till!

[@DiegoMSilva]

exercicio matador! muito bom.

[@marcusdrums_hh]

Dear Mike! Great Video again. Love it! One thing that I personally miss in this cool clip is an explanation of your foot technique itself. So how do you play these fast doubles? Maybe that could be something for a upcoming video? Cheers and keep on this really great work!

[@mikeslessons]

So glad you enjoyed it my friend! I have 7 courses (6 videos each course) on www.mikeslessons.com walking your through every exercise and every technique I used to create my foot speed. It would be awesome to have you over there, but no pressure. Hope that helps Marcus :)

[@c3N3q]

This is a great exercise. One could start with 16 notes at slow tempo and then "speed up" by switching to triplets for few bars, then back... Buddy Rich would probably recommend taking the spring off your pedal 🤔. 200 BPM is pretty impressive, many use double pedal for this.

[@rjinnella]

groove scribe is awesome!

[@Sticks0915]

Beast mode unlocked! This is a such a great lesson (honestly never seen anything but great lessons from you) When you said shins hurting I thought you were going to pull an old Buddy Rich trick "take the spring off the pedal and work". LOL. So when do we hear about this china you've added?

[@Tekkerue]

Another great way to get in repetitions without getting bored is to practice while doing something else like watching KZbin, TV, movies, etc. One of my favorite videos on this topic is by Guitarmastery called 'TV Practice %&! Rules' where he talks about how to do it correctly instead of just mindlessly noodling while watching TV and thinking that will help you improve.

[@the6ig6adwolf]

Butter the biscuits and unbox the Triscuits Mike uploaded a new lesson 👐

[@mikeslessons]

SOLID!!! May I use that one in the future? :)

[@the6ig6adwolf]

@mikeslessons of course, my man 👌

[@drumsrlife71418]

Hi Mike love from Missouri. I have 3 points I want to address to you. #1. That kit sounds SICK lol. #2. Love the ol school converse look your going with lol. Lastly, I see your incorporating a heel to toe kinda approach on ur bass pedal. Is it helpful in faster tempo applications? Thanks.

[@mikeslessons]

I love me some used Chucks! As for the technique... no 'heel0toe" happening here. That is a very different technique and set of foot mechanics. this is rather a skip (or slide) technique. I hit the pedal in the middle of the foot board, and then I skip up about and ince. And yes, I only do it at faster speeds. I hope that helps :)

[@drumsrlife71418]

@mikeslessons love the chucks lol. Ok thank you for clarifying. I will work on that approach on the pedal, thanks.

[@arsonne]

My problem with RLKK has never been the speed. For years I've had a pretty fast kick double but that first hit is just always lighter than the first and makes it sound uneven and drives me CRAZY.

[@timmydodd1978]

I fully expected you to freak out that your metronome was on 3 while you were talking for a little bit LOL

[@abbeychaima9439]

Good very good

[@MrWwoww123]

Heres to day 1 of getting to goal tempo 😁 Edit: day 10: fastest-cleanest tempo rn is 125. This will take some time lol

[@jpalcando1669]

Sir, what's your pedal tension?

[@russpiraino9096]

"Stick Control" J.Chapin. just got it. how did you, do you work it out?

[@ManleyReviews]

remember watching this channel a decade ago seeing you live on the clinic with Matt and JP. so sick to see you still making these.

[@davefiano4172]

Like the Chiiiina!

[@shalaq]

AND hi-hats on 1 2 3 4....

[@chadcarrdrums]

Personally I loved the reverb. lol

[@ibleebinU]

If my foot were anywhere near that fast, I wouldn't need double pedals to screw things up! 😂

[@maeu59]

Out of curiosity, why no double pedal? Especially if you get bored.

[@mikeslessons]

That's a great question. I've actually never played one. For me I still have so much work to do with one foot that working on two feels a tad overwhelming, lol

[@maeu59]

@@mikeslessons yes but as good as you are it can take you to an even higher level….just another tool in the bag but opens up a lot of new doors.

[@mikeslessons]

@@maeu59 That's very kind of you to say.

[@maeu59]

@@mikeslessonsI challenge you 😂

[@s0t33W]

@@maeu59 I wouldn't say a double pedal takes anyone to a "higher level". Just takes to a different place, which can be wonderful sometimes, but not everyone wants or needs to go there IMO. You can do wonderful stuff in many different ways.

[@jjfloyd618]

The old bait & switch eh? Was expecting to see a bass drum workout featuring the janky looking Gretsch pedal from the thumbnail pic with the ancient leather strap that looks like it will disintegrate any second.

[@groovebag61]

I simply cant get my foot up to speed at all,, lol.

[@ColeParamore]

Damn! Don't scare us like that - I thought my player was set to 1.5x speed in the intro!

[@StuartJrBarrett]

Drums sound Fat, Mike!!!! New mics on the toms and snare?

[@mikeslessons]

Thanks so much Stuart. I've had these mics on the kit for a few months now. I just happened to have it set to my "sessions" mix and I was too lazy to go back and remix it once I was editing the video, lol. Glad you like it though :)

[@rturner9]

I love the idea and your content in general, but man this just stressed me out even more lol. I've been playing for 15 years and I can't get my foot that fast. I just don't have the time and the space to practice as much as I need to right now. Regardless, I'll give this theory a shot and see what happens.

[@EJCAudio]

I have struggled with foot speed for a similar amount of years... and it turns out that I have reduced ankle mobility. Without working on that (in physio) I never had a chance of doing fast double-kicks stuff. Looking forward to getting to it now I have that information!

[@luigi6628]

..❤

[@DrumGalaxy]

I LIKE reverb!