Videos from Colin’s DVD, Bass Drum Technique, offer drummers the opportunity to watch Colin demonstrate his bass drum technique as he takes you through the exercises already made famous by his book, Bass Drum Control. Two additional videos show him playing with his trio of John Chiodini on guitar and Jim Hughart on bass. More instructional videos and Colin’s performances follow. Click on the links below to access.

Lesson 1

Bass Drum Technique

(Based on the book “Bass Drum Control” by Colin Bailey)

•  Slack Spring Tension – If the spring tension is too tight it becomes more difficult to obtain a faster speed. Pull the beater back away from the bass drum head then release, allowing it to kick back and forth. The response should be a longer-lasting, deliberate back and forth motion. If the beater ball has a short, fast-ending duration then the tension is too tight.
• Length of the Beater Stem – I find that the best result is to place the stem at 0.75 inches, give or take 1/8 of an inch. If  the stem is short in length there is nothing to work with, and makes it more difficult to achieve faster multiple spikes.
• Proper Footwear – This technique requires your foot to be able to move smoothly over the pedal. Shoes with large bumps on the bottom, such as heavy boots, restrict smooth movement.
• The Best Leverage on Footboard -For the best leverage, use the ball of your foot with the back of your toes placed on the footboard about 4.5 inches from the pedal.
• Bass Drum Head Tension. I like a tighter bass drum head. The looser the bass drum head is, the more difficult it is to use this technique. It can he done, however it requires more work to achieve the same results.
• How to Strike the Bass Drum – When striking the bass drum, the beater immediately comes back to the same place it started from every time, regardless of how many beats are played. This comes from what I call an “ankle stroke” and it takes time to develop. The main thing is to feel comfortable bringing the beater back out of the drum. Eventually you will get to a much faster speed,

For continued studies in fundamental, intermediate, and advanced drumming techniques go to DrumChannel.com and take lessons from Neil Peart, Chad Smith, Peter Erskine, Terry Bozzio, Stephen Perkins, Ralph Humphrey, Jeff Porcaro, and a long list of the world’s greatest drummers.

In this lesson Colin Bailey demonstrates 4 two bar solos from his book Drum Solos, The Art of Phrasing. “All instrumentalists use phrases to put together a solo”. In this lesson Colin teaches you how to solo in two and four bar phrases. He also shares some nice sounding variations for each of the solo examples.

In this lesson Colin Bailey demonstrates examples 7 & 8 from his book Drum Solos, The Art of Phrasing. He will teach you how to play the examples, offer a little insight to each one, and then show you how to combine them to create four bar solo phrases.

In this lesson Colin Bailey demonstrates examples 9 & 10 from his book Drum Solos, The Art of Phrasing. He will teach you how to play the examples, offer a little insight to each one, then show you how to combine them to create four bar solo phrases.

In this lesson Colin Bailey demonstrates examples 13 & 14 from his book Drum Solos, The Art of Phrasing. He will teach you how to play the examples, offer a little insight to each one, then show you how to combine them to create four bar solo phrases.

Twenty years after the death of legendary guitarist Joe Pass, who recorded the seminal album For Django, the remaining members of his quartet, jazz giants Colin Bailey, John Pisano & Jim Hughart along with Joe’s protege Frank Potenza came together over two days to record for Capri Records Ltd. a tribute aptly titled For Joe.

Istanbul Mehmet Endorser Colin Bailey stops by their North Hollywood warehouse to check out some Cymbals.