About double tapping

Hi everyone,
I just started the Breakbeat Course today, and there is this technique called “double tapping” in lesson 2 (Funky President). My question is; do you guys release the pad when doing it? What I mean is, I’m doing the “shaking” without releasing the pad, GIF related:
ezgif-4-a804ec70038f
Is this a false technique? Should I just raise my hand until I actually release the pad?
edit: bigger gif

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It looks like you might be lifting your finger like a microscopic amount in between hits. If that’s the case it’s very good actually. The less movement you can make while still double tapping, the faster you can do it.

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Thanks, then I’ll stick with it!
Yes, I’m lifting my finger just enough to untrigger the sensor, but still keeping it on the pad (most of the time).

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I am curious why people are using one finger to play doubles or triplets? I don’t have a lot of experience with finger drumming, but for me it seems that ability to play multiple fingers opens possibilities of speed and variety which are not accessible even with real drum set

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It’s a very useful skill to have. Can be, that your other hand is just busy with something else. Or maybe you want to play really fast, so you’re alternating doubles with your two hands.
Or if you mean playing the same pad with multiple fingers for speed: while it’s possible, it’s probably quite hard to control at high speeds.

Actually on the gif above, I didn’t know yet, but my doubles were totally uncontrolled. When I started alternating doubles in the Advanced course, I realized that you can get away with just “shaking” your arm only if it’s one double, and that’s it.

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I was talking about fingers from same hand. I feel that with 2-3 fingers (especially of left arm which usually has less job to do) it is easier to do controlled fast beats. Of course I agree that it is personal preference after all.

Yeah this is sort of my experience as well. A single fast double stroke can be easily done with one finger and a shake of the hand/wrist.

And you can even play an very large amount of never ending doubles by alternating them between two hands (so RRLLRRLLRRLL) and learning to immediately relax the hand that is not playing.

I have the most control over dynamics and exact timing of the notes by using the wrist more than multiple fingers.

That’s not to say it cannot be done and I do use it sometimes. For example to do a flam on both snare pads with one hand!

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Looking for tips learning double tap. It is the main thing hindering my progress. By learning I mean increasing speed of it

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It’s hard to totally explain this in written text but one of the most important things is to not try and “hit” twice. So dont hit, lift and then hit again. Instead just get your finger close to the pad and then execute a little spasm or shake. Once you can do it it’s not that hard actually, but you have to move away from the bigger, firmer motions and get into the super subtle, soft, relaxed shake vibes…

I also explain this in my “advanced techniques” course by the way.

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I already finished advanced techniques as well as breakbeat courses, but I am not happy with my double tap. I will try more relaxed manner!

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Alright, feel free to send me a video of you playing and ill see if I can give any specific pointers, perhaps in the next livestream.

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  • Make your finger just “bounce back”, don’t actually try to hit twice
  • This is way harder to do, if your finger is relaxed. Lock your finger, and do it from the wrist (that should be super relaxed). As I said, in the above gif, my double tap wasn’t controlled (my finger was relaxed, although I did it from the wrist). I pretty much separated the uncontrolled double (where you need only one double, and you don’t really care about the tempo, etc.), and the controlled one (the one in the advanced course) in my head.
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Will try, thank you!

Aha, that finger locking might be what I need for the crescendo…

Not quite sure how you lock your finger but have your wrist loose though?

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