Blast beats are the torrents of alternating
snare-drum and
bass drum which increase the speed of
death metal,
black metal or really any type of fast-paced music, creating a very high-intensity, almost frenzied (at least from the point of view of the
drummer)
musical experience.
Blast beats should be performed with one
foot for the most precise-sounding results, although using
double bass pedals (such as the
Twin Iron Cobra) will result in a much thicker
sound overall.
As far as the
technical aspects of the
blast beat go, it's actually quite simple
in theory. It's a little more difficult
in application, but all that is really necessary is steady
practice The
beat consists of
bass (or
kick) on the 1,
snare drum on the 2,
bass on the 3,
snare on the 4, etc. Often times the
drummer will throw in a
hi-hat with the
bass hit, which would notationally look something along the lines of this:
x------x------x------x------ Hi-hat
----x------x------x------x-- Snare
x------x------x------x------ Kick
Some
drummers prefer to play the above pattern by alternating between two
bass pedals:
x------x------x------x------ Hi hat
----x------x------x------x-- Snare
x-------------x------------- Kick 1
-------x-------------x------ Kick 2
There also exists a newer, more
hardcore-oriented form of the
blast beat which follows more of an '
everything at once' idea. To play this
beat you simply hit the
hi-hat,
snare drum, and
bass all at once at a steady pace, like so:
x------x------x------x------ Hi Hat
x------x------x------x------ Snare
x------x------x------x------ Kick
And the
double bass variety:
x------x------x------x------ Hi Hat
x------x------x------x------ Snare
x-------------x------------- Kick 1
-------x-------------x------ Kick 2
Both types of
blast beat sound much better if there is another
bass hit between each of the hits in the above figures. These require a lot more
coordination and
muscle endurance but are definitely worth the
effort:
x------x------x------x------ Hi Hat
x------x------x------x------ Snare
x------x------x------x------ Kick 1
----x------x------x------x-- Kick 2
and
x------x------x------x------ Hi Hat
----x------x------x------x-- Snare
x------x------x------x------ Kick 1
----x------x------x------x-- Kick 2