Dealing with Bass Drum “Creep”

Drum creep is a term used to describe the frustrating situation when your bass drum starts sliding further and further away from you with each stroke of your bass drum pedal.

The problem seems simple, just set your drum kit up on a rug (even if you have to borrow it from the entry of the bar you playing at that night) this doesn’t always work, so below I have listed some simple tricks to overcome the problem.

9 Simple tricks to keep your bass drum from creeping forward

1. Drum Matt, Rug or Carpet

Setting up your drum kit on a drum mat, rug or carpet that the spikes at the end of your bass drum legs can sink into is by far the most common solution to the problem and will generally help keep bass drum creep at bay. Also, many bass drum pedals come with spikes that can be adjusted to provide additional creep stoppage.

2. Bass Drum Spur

Practically all bass drums have spurs (or legs) on either side of the instrument. These spurs can be configured in one of two ways:

• Rubber Feet: Intended for use on smooth surfaces like concrete or laminate.
• Spiked Feet: Alternately, you can set your bass drum spurs up with spikes protruding from the ends.

The adjustments are accomplished by screwing the rubber foot up or down the leg of the spur. When the rubber foot is screwed up onto the spur, the spike is exposed at the end and vice versa.

3. Rubber/Neoprene

This solution is geared towards the actual bass drum pedal than the drum itself. Most bass drum pedals come with a metal plate on the bottom and some come with rubber strips attached to the underside. These strips don’t really do much to prevent your bass drum from sliding across a slick floor. Sheets of neoprene can be purchased and adhered to the pedalboard. This solution is good on smooth surfaces but doesn’t help with carpeting.

4. Velcro

Much like the ‘Rubber’ solution above, this is more geared towards the bass drum pedal than the actual bass drum. Velcro is made up of tiny little plastic hooks which are specifically designed to adhere to material much like carpet. Velcro isn’t an effective solution for smooth surfaces like floors or concrete.

Velcro comes with two sides, a harder side and a softer side that feels more like fabric. Don’t use the ‘softer’ side as this isn’t the piece that is designed to adhere to carpeting.

5. KBrakes

KBrakes are a relatively new product on the market and do an effective job of stopping a kick drum in its tracks. KBrakes have flat-bottom ‘boots’ with about 500 tiny spikes on them which you attach to the bottom of your rubber feet/spurs. For smooth surfaces, KBrakes offer an additional smooth surface anchor to which the KBrake can be attached.

6. Bass Drum Anchor

These anchors have been around forever and can be a pretty effective hardware solution to stop drum creep. A bass drum anchor is a bracket that is affixed to the front hoop of the bass drum and has both rubber and spiked feet that protrude out the front

Much like other solutions I’ve listed here, these anchors definitely necessitate the use of a drum rug in conjunction with the anchor.

7. Kick Strap

Kick Strap a simple yet potentially gig-saving accessory, consists of an adjustable cargo strap with a couple of specialized hooks on each end. One end is attached to the base plate of your bass drum pedal, while the other end hooks onto the centre post of your drum throne.

These can also be used for hi-hat stands and double bass drum pedals. Kick Straps amount to a very effective solution to bass drum creep.

8. Kick Block

A kick block is a large red block of shock-absorbing foam that stops your kick drum from moving forward with every kick. On the underside of the kick block are Ultra Grip hooks (like Velcro) that latch into your carpet.

9. DIY (your local hardware)

Your creativity can go wild, you are really only limited by your imagination, here are some examples. Your local hardware is a good place to start, with what you have there and your imagination you will come up with some good ideas.