A Curmudgeon's Guide To Blast Beats

 My tastes lean toward lighter music styles, so thrash metal -- the domain of blast beats -- is not on my short list. But when I see a player like Joey Jordeson or Thomas Pridgen or Derek Roddy, I'm a little envious of that speed, control and raw energy. It's hard to not be impressed when someone's feet are slamming out 16th notes at 200+ bpm.

I'm not about to try out for a metal band, but I thought it might be interesting to work on some simple blast-style beats. The techniques aren’t difficult and they are terrific strength builders. The main issue is speed, and that comes about gradually over time. The other issue is, uh, speed. Because of the control required, the rhythms should be practiced ... no, not fast but very slowly. That's hardly an auspicious start to a career in speed metal, but trust me on this.

Let’s start with the basic beat: alternating strokes with the feet (shown here with bass drum and hi-hat) and straight ‘bang bang bang’ with the hands. Here it is as 8th notes and then as 16th notes.

This is the core blast beat, and it's usually done with double bass pedals and a ‘wash ride’, which just means play the lead hand on a crash cymbal. Play the exercises at a comfortable speed for 5 minutes. Next day, move the metronome up a notch. Keep working up the speed scale -- gradually -- until you reach your personal goal (see "Faster, Faster").

I call this next one 'Running on all fours'. Hands and feet just play the same thing, rather frantically. Also try the reverse. 

Challenge
Once you’re comfortable with some speed, try different stickings against the standard blast foot pattern and vice versa. A great source of ideas is Stick Control (check out pages 5 through 7), although any book with lots of hand patterns will work just fine.

I've committed a number of these exercises to paper and would be glad to send you the PDF.