The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Picked up an archaic Roland kit today (Albatross's comment on it: "How very Flock of Seagulls", heh) and was having a high ol' time pounding away on it for a good few hours and...

Is it normal for new players to be whacking the crap out of their right shin with the kick pedal's beater? I mean, do y'all have softball sized calluses there or is this a fine motor control issue that gets developed over time?

-rg

Your pedal is too springy. It shouldn't have that kind of rebound.

Ken

Yeah Ken's right...HOWEVER if you keep letting it hit your shin, it'll eventually calcify and build up to incredible strength, like Thai kick boxers and shit.
But then, one leg will be significantly heavier and look much larger. Then if you don't pay attention, you'll walk around in circles with crooked legs.

Thanks Ken & Alby for pointing me in the right direction. Didn't have a clue that the thing was adjustable, tension-wise. Y'all rock.

...and JC, the logical thing would be to get a second kick trigger and pedal, and develop a whole upside-down Popeye sort of thing. Heh.

Better yet, leave the pedal as it is, and put a second trigger on a velcro strap you can wear around your shin to play lightning fast double bass patterns!

Ken

Rabid Garfunkel wrote:(Albatross's comment on it: "How very Flock of Seagulls", heh)

Seriously, that thing looks like you lifted it right off of Wang Chung's tour truck.

ken wrote:Better yet, leave the pedal as it is, and put a second trigger on a velcro strap you can wear around your shin to play lightning fast double bass patterns!

Ah yes, I can see it now: the Roland SHP-20 Shin Trigger Pad, complete with optional strap extension for those extra-fat calves...

I was just at guitar center kicking some of the kick pedals and really can't see how the thing hits your shin. Either your foot is too far forward and/or the beater is too long. Have you tried adjusting it yet?

Ken

This pedal's got to be at least 20 years old. Or insanely cheap. But where there's a chain in modern pedals with a nice little cam thing that you adjust the tension on, this one's got a nylon strap with belt buckle-like holes.

And it was on the loosest hole, so that when it was at rest (with no foot on it) the beater was maybe an inch off the ground (and I'd kept on getting it caught in the leg hole of my pants when I'd first sit down at it, heh).

Choking up on the strap, and shortening the beater by about an inch has made all the difference in the world to the good.

leather.

or get one of those shin pad things soccer players wear.

Or a full on Cricket Uni. Now that's punk as fuck. Plus if any fights break out in the bar you're playing...you got pads AND a stick!!