You are so lucky to have this resource ..... we all are....I started playing drums mid 60's. Always heels up- for no reason because there was no internet, no printed info in my small town, not a lot of TV showing a drummers feet...it just felt normal to me. When Led Zeppelin came to Toronto for their first gig I was there and saw Bonham's front kick drum skin quiver when those triplets hit on Good Times,Bad Times.....how did he do that...? So back home on the ball of my foot with no coach spending hours trying to get that bass drum right. After a few weeks I couldn't get through gym class from shin splints...! They eventually sent me to the school nurse and she asked if I had injured my right leg recently...my explanation of Bonham-envy didn't impress her much lol

I used to teach at a Drum Institute many years ago and I would get many students coming all over Europe. Many of them wanting to learn bass drum technique, so naturally I became very good at teaching it. I think the biggest confusion for students with YouTube is that 'heel up' technique naturally evolves into the 'sliding' technique. When playing faster doubles, (16th notes above +/-80bpm) the 'heel-up' technique utilises the 'foot' stroke or 'ankle' stroke (as shown by Benny Greb in this video) followed by a 'leg' stroke. So it becomes... foot/leg. Both strokes are played using the ball of the foot. When played faster it naturally evolves into the sliding technique, because it has to do with momentum. I never teach the sliding technique - I mention it to students, but it happens organically when students try to play faster. They are one of the same thing :)

I think people forget that each strategy is usually existing to cater to individuals rather than wholesale. I hate heel down, it feels restricting, and heel-toe is impractical for different people simply by virtue of wearing or not wearing shoes or socks.

Just try em all, see what works best for you.

I'm heel up always, and speed and power come with practice, not switching your technique because you had an anecdotal experience preached to you.

Hi, Nate.
Just yesterday i was fighting with this and bring a video about the subject? That a great timing, man.

There’s this other approach not many teachers talk about: playing without the pedal spring. It’s pretty tricky at first, with little guidance available. The only thing that helped me was keeping the bass drum head not too loose. After tons of failed attempts and lots of trial and error (with both foot technique and pedal settings like beater height and angle) you eventually start to feel how to let the beater naturally rebound. Once that clicks, you can do multiple strokes in a row, and speed follows.

by far the most cohesive explanation of heel/toe technique ive grasped.

I've always been a pedal stomper, and to try to get faster I'd been trying to switch to swivel. The problem then became, I had skipped some steps, because I had very poor ankle control, which I could only build by practicing heel-down. So now I'm re-training my feet from scratch, in my 40s 🥴

Your videos are consistently thought-provoking very thorough! Outstanding work. There are so many variances of foot technique, and each technique has its place. Your breakdown here is helping me think about how I approach my students as well! Thank you!!

Got my first drum set a few weeks ago after playing marching drums all through school (10+ years ago) and I feel like I'm losing my mind trying to figure out the "right" way to play fast bass doubles... Thank you for the sanity check!

Great video Nate!  This is a topic I find fascinating.  Interesting, your characterization of Jacob's technique as close to heel-toe.  When I took the course with you two I found (and still do) his method as closer to the slide. To me it seems to break down like this, for doubles: the heel-toe distinctly puts the ankle flick on the second stroke, while the slide puts it more on the first.

So heel-toe is leg - - ankle.  Slide is ankle - - leg.

Jacob doesn't slide per se, but he explicitly teaches leg up, ankle stroke, leg stroke.

I agree that they are all means to an end and one or the other seems to work better for different folks.  Also, the better players tend to shrink the motions down which does make them hard to analyze.

Hey thanks for this video man! That was a really helpful breakdown.

This video is much appreciated. I play drum set as a hobby, my main instrument being Trumpet. It  
is always a challenge to explain to a student what is happening physically when learning specific techniques,  especially when we now have so many resources to draw on. There are always contradictions and new "secret to.." methods. My go-to has to be 'It's not what you do but how you do it', coupled with 'K.I.S.S.'

Cheers from the UK.

Great video on the subject. I never really thought about how they are really the same thing but a different way to see and learn the technique. You do heel-toe in your examples but they are smaller circles so NOT heel toe if you get my drift. The Bruce Lee quote is write on. Martial Arts has large and small circle. Bruce's one inch punch is all about small circles.

Top stuff Nate brilliant summary so well put together..I feel the heel toe I'm thinking time to do my stretches..

thx for this very helpful and comprehensive video, with some new ideas for me 🤩👍🏽

Ignoring heel-toe and/or slide is probably fine if you're only going for a max of doubles. Once you want to play fast groups of 4 or more, these techniques are super helpful, if not essential. And both work - you just need to pick the one that feels better for you

It took me a while to get 16th notes or fast doubles on the kick.  I think I rock heal toe combo with slide technique.

I find the slide technique works really well and it's very simple to get the hand of.

thanks man! this one was particularly helpful

Great post and great resource! Thanks for the shout out 🎉