How to practice bass drum without pedals

Question

I don't have drum set in my room, so I was trying to practice bare foot with mimicking the motion of my foot when I kick with a pedal. I have several concerns about this practice.

First, practicing bare foot. I am not sure if this is harmful or not. Secondly, the feeling and motion is in general not the same when you are on drums. I know it is pretty normal that practicing drum bass without pedals would not be ideal but I just want to optimize the practicing method.

I found some material in the web which try to answer the question, but I suspect the quality and scope of them generally. I also would like to learn more from drummers here.

I also would like to here some rudiments (if they exists) which are more suitable for a pedalless practice. Also, using the motion of pedal to do some more kicks without full effort kind of techniques are obviously hard or impossible to do in my setup and a recommendation in that aspect would also be appreciated.

Answer 1

For an apartment it is generally a good recommendation to go with electronic drums for the purpose of practicing. So, to borrow from that book, you could simply create a soft pad to use in place of the bass drum, that would be hit with the beater of a regular pedal.

Another option would be something like Triggera Krigg, a sensor that is hit with the pedal surface, not the beater. It is the most quiet sensor with a realistic play feel.

Apart from the sound of the beater hit, there is also the vibration that transmits through the floor. For this purpose there are noise eaters that are placed underneath the pedal and absorb a lot of that vibration. You can also create one yourself, just look for "DIY tennis ball drum raiser".

But, to answer your question - apart from exercising the leg muscles immitating the pedal moves, I see no good way to do this. The bass pedal skill is mostly based on pedal technique and this can be practiced only with a pedal. As stated earlier, there are different ways to get a practice pedal without getting the whole drumset in a room. Also, I find it better to have a slick layer underneath the feet so I wear slippers when playing drums in a room. This helps with sliding techniques a lot.

Answer 2

Why not buy a practice-pad and pedal combo? Here's one example. THere are plenty of variants out there.