How to Use Drum Kit Pedals

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is Frank. In this clip about drum set we’re going to focus on pedals. The pedals of course are what we’re going to use to play the instruments with our feet. It’s only specific to certain instruments, whatever instruments the pedals are attached to. We’ve gotten very creative over the years; it started with just the bass drum that we would use a pedal with. And then the hi-hat that we’ve talked about, that piece of equipment from the drum set from another clip, but the hi-hat actually started out as a low hat, and they called it a low boy because it was so close to the ground, it was about this high off of the ground it was very short and never played with the hands, it only was this little…sounds and that’s it. We still use that sound; it’s much more pronounced, it’s much better but mostly jazz musicians play it, jazz drummers play it on the hi-hat, but I haven’t seen a low boy or snow shoe—they also called it that—in years, and I’ve certainly never seen it performed live. Maybe it’s just never going to come back; that’s the way it goes. But with the pedals that we use today, this is an older pedal, it’s kind of a vintage pedal, but I still use it just because I respect it so much. This is an older pedal—that’s compared to the newer pedals. This one I use a lot—the single pedal obviously referring to just that there’s one beater—but both pedals pretty much are made the same way. Even though one’s incredibly old and one’s incredibly new, they still haven’t changed that much: there’s tension on the pedals, the footboard is of course where you put your foot, and as you push the footboard down, the beater goes up and it hits whatever instrument it’s attached to, like we said. Sometimes they’re connected via a chain like this one, sometimes there are straps that connect it—no chain, just a really strong strap—and sometimes, like this older one it’s neither a chain nor a strap, it’s just a really strong bar that’s connecting the footboard with the beater. But again it’s all about pushing down, hitting, and then a spring mechanism of some sort pulls it back into ready position to play."