Play Blast Beats on the Drums

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The blast beat is a type of pummeling, fast drum rhythm used most commonly in death metal, black metal and grindcore as well as some extreme forms of punk. There are a number of different types of blast beats and variations within each type that make for a rather large arsenal of rhythmic textures and moods. You too can play a basic blast known as the European, black metal or grindcore blast with ease. Just a few tips and tricks and you're there!

Steps

  1. Start off with your dominant hand (the one that plays the ride cymbal) on the ride and your feet alternating. So whenever you hit your cymbal, one of your feet hits the bass drum.
  2. Once you can play this at a decent speed, add the snare drum. So essentially you will be playing 16th notes with your hands and 8th notes with your feet. Just make sure your hand playing the ride is in unison with your feet and the snare should land in between.(Sounds a bit like a polka when played slowly.)
  3. Begin getting it faster and faster and you are good to go!
  4. If you only have single bass pedal, you're probably going to have more luck with the traditional method:
  5. Hit the bass drum and high-hat together on each beat (right leg and right hand together). Between these beats hit the snare. (Effectively you are alternating bass-snare very quickly. The high-hat gives the illusion of greater speed).
  6. If you need even more speed then try hitting the bass pedal twice in rapid succession. This can be done using the heel-toe technique, although this technique works much better on a Long board pedal.

Video

Tips

  • Good bands to listen to for different types of blasts are:
    • Brain drill (Euro, Cannibal, Gravity)
    • Suffocation (Smith blast, Euro blast, Cannibal blast)
    • Cryptopsy (Euro blast, Cannibal blast, Flo's signature "gravity blast")
    • Necrophagist (Euro, Cannibal, Smith)
    • Dimmu Borgir (Euro)
    • Behemoth (Euro, Cannibal, Smith)
    • Hate Eternal (Cannibal)
    • Immortal (Euro)
    • Origin (Cannibal, gravity)
    • The Berzerker (Euro, gravity, ultra-fast "hyper blast")
    • Nasum (Euro)
    • Vader (Euro, Cannibal)
    • All Shall Perish (Deathcore)
    • Cannibal Corpse (Cannibal)
    • Aborted (Euro, Cannibal)
    • Vomit Abortion (Hyper Blast)
    • Napalm Death (Euro)
    • Dark Funeral (Euro)
    • The Black Dahlia Murder (Euro, Cannibal)
    • The Red Chord (Euro, Cannibal, Hyper)
    • Ulver (Euro)
  • try to use your wrists or your fingers and not use your full forearm, or you will not get much faster.
  • Don't forget - not everyone uses double-bass and you don't have to either. If you play in small pubs and clubs and/or If its not muted, double bass drum has a tendency to obliterate anything else that the other band members might play (particularly when played fast)
  • A few variations include the Cannibal blast (after Cannibal Corpse who purveyed the style) which involves playing a 16th note double-kick roll while hitting only 8th notes on the snare, the Suffocation or Smith blast (after Mike Smith of Suffocation for inventing it) which involves hitting the snare and kick and often hi-hat or ride bell in total unison and the gravity blast which involves playing a basic Euro-blast pattern on the kick and cymbal but using a one-handed roll technique using the snare's rim to create what sounds like a two-handed drum roll with only one hand.
  • Even these basic variants of the blast beat can be used in many different ways depending on the tempo played, whether you're using hi-hat, ride bell or other cymbals, whether you're leading with cymbal or snare, whether you play in triplet notes, etc. Play around with these variants and discover what an actually versatile form of drumming blast beats can be.

Warnings

  • Make sure you stretch a bit before doing it for long periods of time because your hands might cramp up. Keep your arm away from your body and make sure to hit the snare close to the center of the head. Tensing up for a blast beat for too long will give you one hell of a bad muscle cramp!

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