Pedal positioning.....

Hi fellow drum loons, and a happi new yr to you all and yr kin.

Strange question really, have any of you cut the bar between yr double pass pedal in order to get the left pedal and hihat pedal more further in? Im new to double bass and for the life of me can not get comfortable with the positioning of my hihat. I have tried to put the left pedal on the outside of the hihat but this doesnt feel natural either. Before i start sawing up a brand new DW9000 twin has anyone done this, or would it be advisable to realign/re-learn my feet positioning?

Also it may be my eyes, but are Vinnies pedals also quite unnaturally close together? Anyone got any birds eye view pics of their pedal positioning? Being very tall I do sit quite low, and I just dont feel comfortable raising my seat height. Any input would be most gratifying.

Many thanks

Peace and music.

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Originally posted by PhilCarter:
Anyone got any birds eye view pics of their pedal positioning?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://www.moonbeams.plus.com/drums/top.jpg

stewarts pic is good. you need to have the left and right pedals at equal positions, just like your feet naturally fall when you sit down. i have my hi-hat pedal slightly further in toward me than my left double pedal. playing double pedal always means your hi-hat will be slightly further away. thats just the way it is - u have to consider how important playing a double pedal is for you or how much you want to learn it.

http://www.rudidrums.com/bilder/star3.jpg

I always have the double pedal bar stretched over the hihat stand (which is where a two leg stand comes in useful), so my double pedal is on the outside. Dunno why i do this, but it just feels more comfortable, plus i can do double bass grooves with the hihat down by keeping my toes on the hihat and playing the bass with my heal, which works a treat. I find it really hard playing on kits with the other type of setup. I think my legs got a kinda muscle rememberance in it, because i can move i my leg a lot faster sideways to the left, rather than to the right, presumably because you have to get on to the offbeats quickly after playing the on beats on the hihat, but you can move more slowly back on to the hihat to play the on beats. Dunno whether this is just the way the muscles in my leg work or whether i'm reading too much into it. But i think ultimately you have to get comfortable with something - there's no point playing a setup you're not comfortable with.

Quote:

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Originally posted by PhilCarter:
have any of you cut the bar between yr double pass pedal in order to get the left pedal and hihat pedal more further in?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I did that years ago when those connecting rods used to be too long. The newer pedals shouldn't need to be chopped. You won't find a snare drum stand with a small enough base to fit between the pedals if you do.

Are you finding your legs spread too far? Is the distance between hi-hat and snare too great? What is your problem with it exactly?

As for Vinnie's pedal setup, it's not any tighter than anyone else's and he doesn't cut the connecting rod.

Any other comments on proper double pedal setup?

A couple of my students got double pedals for christmas....One of them set them up "traditionally" (kick pedal inside the hihat) and the other set up with the kick pedal on the outside of the hi-hat like LD's setup....
Is this a bad habit?
Would you recommend or not?
Or is it just a personal thing?....
I too believe that personal comfort is really important.

any thoughts?

Many thanks for the replies all of you, its been most helpful. I dont think cutting my bar is going to help, so Im going to try to get used to the spread of the hi-hat being further away, its just that Ive been playing so long with a single bass pedal, its alienated me. I have no intention of using a double bass pedal that much, just to colour up my chops, and play maybe 32nd flurries more accurately. The Virgil way is interesting but well beyond my capacity. Ive found raising my hihat higher helps, so ill go with that for now.

Many thanks again

Phil

I extended my double pedal's bar so it is on the outside of my hi-hat pedal and it feels great. If i didn't extend the bar, it would NEVER feel right. It took me about 8 years to actually get comfortable with where my feet are, and in turn, where my hand plays the hi-hat. I used tons of different approaches in the years leading up to that point. As a rule, the double pedal NEVER EVER EVER dictates where my hi-hat is positioned. Because of that fact, i have to put the double pedal on the outside. It works for me. If you want advice on how to extend the bar, i would be more than happy to tell you more. It is a lot to write on here, and it involves having two universal joints for the pedal (or, shall we say, having two "connector bars").

I either have to use the Yamaha Flying Dragons which have the shortest rod, or place it like Matricks. I hate having the hihat too far away because of the double pedal.

Did i miss something in any of the posts here?

Can't you just loosen the drumkey-toggle/screw[s] on either side of your extension bar & "pull them in" [within the outside bar-housing] to make it shorter? You should NEVER have to saw/chop/cut anything...or am i just unfamiliar w the 9000?...I still have my 5000+ from the mid/late 90's...the extension "bar" consists of two smaller bars that extend out from within either side of the main [outside] bar-housing, which is "hollowed"...