How to Play Death Metal Drums

Death metal drumming is all about intricacy.

Death metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that incorporates active double bass drumming and an overall speed in the playing not seen in any other genre to this degree. In order to play death metal drums, a drummer must have two bass drums or a double pedal for his single bass drum. By focusing your practice on increasing the speed and intricacy of your double bass, you can set yourself apart in the death metal genre.

Instructions

1. Calculate the beats per minute of every song you play. Use a metronome with a recorded version of the riff, or have a guitar player play the riff and use a metronome to calculate the BPM of the song. Death metal is often very fast, so you will want to know how fast you will need to play, as this will help you create an appropriate drum beat. If the song is very fast, you may decide to play fast double bass with a half time or double time snare drum pattern.

2. Create a kick drum pattern that somewhat mimics the rhythm guitar parts of the song. If there is double picking during a musical selection, you can place one kick drum hit with every note picked for maximum speed. Death metal drumming is characterized by fast double bass, and the more intricate the pattern the better.

3. Place your snare drum hits on downbeats during the song. You can choose to play the snare in double time, half time or straight time, which are subdivisions of the time signature. If the measure is in 4/4, half time would be two hits, double time would be eight and straight time would be four. There may be places where half time is appropriate, depending on the riff or breakdown in the song. Other times, you may want to add a blast beat, which is where each snare hit coincides with each note played in the riff. Death metal emphasizes the downbeat to create the heavy feeling it exudes.

4. Play the ride cymbal directly on the dome, located toward the center of the cymbal during fast sections to create intricacy in your drumming. If you use the dome of the ride cymbal, the sound will cut through the heavy guitars and bass as the cymbal will not move much when you hit it in this location. If you can create a separate pattern using the ride cymbal, it will add to the complexity of the song.

5. Hit the crash cymbals often. Hitting the crash cymbal to accent particular downbeats will add to the heaviness of the riff and add dynamics. Many death metal drummers choke their cymbals during staccato parts to add drama to the song. Choking a cymbal is when the drummer hits a cymbal and immediately grabs it with the other hand to stop its ringing. It is an effective way to accent guitar parts and add silence during pauses.

References

• Rock Drumming Underground: Learn How To Be A Heavy Metal Drummer
• Ultimate Guitar: Developing Accuracy Through Double Picking Exercises