How to Play Thrash Metal on a Drum Set

By any name, black, doom, extreme or thrash metal is often treated as rock's proverbial red-headed stepchild. On closer examination, the stereotype of thrash metal musicians as abrasive, unmusical bumblers does not hold up. Nowhere is this more obvious than from listening to the drum parts, which are among the fastest, most powerful and complex in rock music. Relying on chops, creativity and an unusual degree of stamina, thrash metal drummers bring an awesome dedication to their art.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Classic studio and live thrash metal recordings
• Double bass drum pedal
• Instructional DVDs
• Practice space

Learn the foundations

1. 
    
   Slayer are among the original thrash metal pioneers

   Learn "blast beats," which are the foundation of nearly all thrash metal drumming styles. Use your dominant hand to hit the ride cymbal as your feet hit the bass drum. Alternate between both motions until you can confident of playing them fluidly.

2. Using your right leg, hit the bass and high hat. Between those motions, hit the snare drum, essentially, you are playing sixteenth-note strokes with your hands, and eighth notes with your feet. The power comes from the combination of the bass drum and high hat, with the latter device giving the illusion of greater speed.

3. For an extra dimension, add the "gravity blast" beat to your bag of tricks. Rest your drumstick's shaft on the rim of your snare drum. Move your hand up and down, with the stick's head striking the drumhead. The drumstick's shaft should hit the rim on the way down. This is based on an old jazz technique perfected by drummers like Buddy Rich, allowing the hand to pull off two strokes instead of one.

Build speed slowly

4. 
    
   Charlie Zeleny is among the masters of blast beats.

   Work slowly up to your ultimate blast beat speed, which can range from 180 to 300 beats per minute. If necessary, count musical passages aloud, breaking them down into "ones" and "twos." The most common expression of this approach finds its way into a 2/4 time signature, which is really a speeded-up version of rock's prevailing 4/4 beat.

5. Use your bass drum pedal. To produce the relentless driving beat that serves as the genre's defining stylistic signature, work bass drum pedals with both feet. This will also enable you to cut through a muddy sound mix in a live situation. If precision is your goal, play with one foot.

6. Sharpen your bass drum precision with the so-called "heel to toe" technique. Suspend your foot above the footboard of your pedal. Play the first note with your heel, snapping your foot upward. Bring the heel off the footboard, bringing the toes down for a second stroke. Faster bass drum rolls is the reward of getting this technique down.

Tips & Warnings

• Listen to as many different musical styles as possible, not just the drummers comprising the so-called "Big Four" of thrash metal--Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer. In reality, thrash metal drumming covers a wide range, from Gene Hogan's more jazz-inflected playing, to the more bare-knuckled, succinct bashing favored by Slayer's Dave Lombardo. Keep practicing to retain the feel of what you do musically, and stay in physical shape to play. The complexity of thrash metal leaves no margin for error, which listeners will easily detect from a drummer who has not been playing regularly.
• Warm up, whether you gig regularly or not. If a rock drummer should be in top shape, this rule doubly applies for thrash metal drummers. Not doing so can mean a cramping leg or locking wrist during an intense musical passage. Avoid using drum triggers or machines until you are confident of playing with the precision and stamina that thrash metal requires. Although some bands justify both devices on artistic grounds to gain speeds that are simply beyond the range of human legs to achieve. The resulting loss of individuality may not justify the switch.

Resources

• Bass Drum
• Extreme Metal Drumming
• How To Play Blast Beats On Drums
• Thrash Metal Guitar And Drums
• Chuck Zeleny Introduces Blast Beats