Shifting Bass Drum? Here’s How to Fix it

Any drummer will be all-too-familiar with that feeling of mounting horror as they helplessly watch their bass drum slowly shift further and further away from them during the gig. It’s maybe the most annoying thing that can happen on stage, or even in the studio or practise space, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be solved. Here, we take a look at what you can do to help stop your kick drum from wandering off into the far distance.

Plant the Feet of Your Wandering Kick

For a start, it’s obviously a good idea to make sure that your bass drum feet are well planted on the floor. If you need to, try rotating the rubber caps so that the pins are exposed and will be forced into the floor as soon as you start hitting the kick pedal. Of course, if the floor is a bit slippy then investing in a drum mat is the next smart move. Laying a mat under your kit will give the pins of your bass drum legs something to bite into, keeping it stable and in firmly place.

Try a KickBlock

But, what if you’re working with sub-optimal kick drum legs, or the legs don’t have any pins? Then it can be worth trying out a KickBlock of the JK Drum Systems Hooves. These little widgets are designed to be placed in front of your bass drum, where it attaches to your drum mat via some really strong hook-and-loop tape, literally stopping the drum in its tracks.

Tie it Down?

While it’s far from ideal, you could always take two lengths of thin rope or elastic, loop them around the bass drum legs and literally tie the bass drum legs to your drum throne. What might also work is the following: make sure that your kick pedal is firmly secured to your bass drum before taping your kick pedal down with a liberal quantity of gaffer tape (just make sure that you don’t tick off the sound engineer by leaving a load of white sticky residue behind). If you try this, then avoid applying tape to any of the moving parts of your pedal, so tape down the base rather than the footboard. It might be a less-than attractive solution to the problem, but it should at least get you through the gig.

You Have No Rope, You Have No Tape?

In that case, you can always try out the more traditional method of yelling and screaming at your kick drum in the hope of coaxing it back, or think way outside of the box and try inviting a member of the audience to sit in front of it. Your call.