Help with foot technique

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DalaiLhama
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2023 4:23 am

Help with foot technique

Post by DalaiLhama » Sat Aug 26, 2023 4:36 am

Hey everyone! I've just received my Aerodrums and I can say that I haven't had this much fun in a long time, it's so amazing!

Having said that, I'd like to ask you fellow aerodrummers if any of you are also having issues sometimes with foot technique: many times it won't register some of the notes that I play when I'm playing a quick succession of notes, like a double stroke with the foot. I've been playing drums for decades now and I'm pretty sure it would register in case I had a pedal, a beater and a bass drum. From what I've seen in videos of people playing Aerodrums, it usually works fine when you're playing by just tapping the tip of your foot with your heel constantly laying on the pedal (like a jazz drummer), but in my case I like to play with my heel always up, lifting my entire leg whenever I hit the bass drum (more like a heavy rock drummer). I can play with my foot laying down as well but it turns my calves into mush pretty quickly in case I'm playing something very intense (I know Joe Morello could do it without a problem, but I'm not a jazz god unfortunately). I've tried changing the bass drum's sensitivity, changing position, placing the foamy triangle on different parts of my foot but nothing seems to help.

So... can anyobody help? :)

Richard
Posts: 1020
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:45 am

Re: Help with foot technique

Post by Richard » Mon Aug 28, 2023 9:45 pm

The main thing to pay attention to is the up/down movement of the reflector you wear on your foot. Aerodrums will trigger a hit when the reflector moves down and comes to a stop. You can judge the motion of this reflector by it's corresponding coloured circle on the drumming screen in the Aerodrums program.

Is it possible that you swivel your foot a lot, making the reflector move more sideways than downwards? It's tricky to say exactly what the cause is without seeing a video of your foot motions. When I play heel up I suspend my foot in the air and then tap the ground with the ball of my foot while keeping my heel more or less stationary.

In case you haven't come across it, this video about foot technique with Aerodrums might be useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSYlz9K-2NM

DalaiLhama
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2023 4:23 am

Re: Help with foot technique

Post by DalaiLhama » Tue Aug 29, 2023 2:00 am

Thanks for the reply Richard! The video sure is helpful, maybe there is something about my foot technique that doesn't translate very well to the sensor. The idea of attaching the sensor to a drum pedal sounds pretty swell, I'm gonna try that and see what happens :)

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