Dealing with Bass Drum “Creep”
Thursday, November 17th, 2011| Bass drum creep doesn’t refer to the frightful guy with the bass drum, it is the term used to explain the maddening situation when your kick drum starts sliding more and more away from you with each stroke of your bass drum pedal. Setting up your kit on a good thick rug or a carpet the spikes at the end of your bass drum legs can sink their teeth into will most likely help in keeping bass drum creep in check. ( If your bass drum legs do not have spikes, replace them with ones that do. Any decent drum shop will carry replacement bass drum legs at an air price.
) Ensure your carpeting is sufficiently large to fit your entire kit, including your throne. The weight of your body on the throne will help to keep the bass drum from sliding away with the entire carpet. This shifts more of the drums weight onto the legs themselves helping the spikes dig in more successfully, which should put a brake on most bass drum creep issues. Take a 3 foot long 2″x4″ piece of wood. I’ve got some nice fabric fixed around it to make it seem pretty, provide some protection to the drums, and stop chips. Drill 3 quarter in. diameter holes thru the wood one hole in the middle and one near each end. Using some nice, enormous, two in. washers and quarter in. thick bolts basically bolt the wood to your carpet at the front edge of your bass drum. Make efforts to put the flattest part of the bolt on the under side of the carpet so that your carpet still lays pretty flat. I like to put a layer or 2 of gaffer’s tape over the end of the bolt so it doesn’t scratch up any nice wooden floors that happen to be beneath the carpet. Now when you set up just slide the front of the bass drum right up against the piece of wood you have bolted to the carpet, and it won’t slide any farther! It works best if you get the wood wide enough the legs themselves basically raise against the wood block even though it will work fine with the edge of the drum against the wood block – just be certain to cover the wood with froth or thick fabric to stop the wood from damaging the edge and lugs of your drum! Make sure I know how well it works for you. Source: One Direction |