# Longboard pedals vs. regular ones?



## Whitechapel7

Hello, I have been debating taking up drums again and the guy I talked to said he was looking at longboard pedals, but I am not sure what longboards are for/do in terms of speed, smoothness, and all that jazz. I am also wondering what might be suggested for the genre which is what I can best describe as Meshuggah but more melodic. I apologize if I posted in the wrong forum. Thank you for your insight!


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## Weimat01

Depends on your foot technique and personal preference. Generally speaking if you play heel up, then I would go with longboards and if you play heel down I would go for the short board. I play heel up with bigfoot trick pedals (longboards), but thats just me. I would recommend trying both and see which one feels better for you. The speed and smoothness would depend on what brand/model you are comparing, but I think longboards are designed for more power due the angle between the base plate and the foot plate being more acute (i.e. greater downwards force if my physics serves me correctly), but I wouldn't say this would have a huge impact on playing. Hope that helps


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## Transmissions

All i know about peddals is that cameron losche said he liked demon drivers vs axis long boards when he gave my friend a drum lesson at warped tour.


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## Bretton

I play Axis longboards, they feel good. Longboards seem to be a "metal" thing. Easier heel-toe as well.

^ Demon Drives can be switched between longboard and short-board by attaching the heel plate backwards so the hinge is farther back and there's a rigid connection between what was the heel plate and the rest of the board, so Losche may have been using them in longboard mode.

+1 everything Weimat01 said, I hope to upgrade to Trick Bigfoots one day.


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## ShadowFactoryX

you dont need to go spending 400-600 bucks on pedals right off the bat.
get comfortable with playing before delving into high end pedals

even at that, its a matter of preference


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## ZEBOV

If you try out longboard vs shortboard, adjust them to your liking.
Me personally, I like my Pearl Demon Drives in longboard configuration.


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## Sepultorture

just like guitars and amps, try out pedals if you can

the most flexible pedal i believe to be the Demon Drive

the trick v-1's look good, axis are also pretty good, a little stiffer and heavy in feel to the trick or demon drive, but again it's all down to how the pedal works for you


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## MrMcSick

I thought long boards benifited heel toe playing not heel up. I used to have Iron Cobras but sold them for some speed cobras and don't like them as much. I play heel up and since the pivot point is further back on the long boards I find the ball of my foot is almost halfway down the board now. If you play heel up I suggest short boards.


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## Bretton

MrMcSick said:


> I thought long boards benifited heel toe playing not heel up. I used to have Iron Cobras but sold them for some speed cobras and don't like them as much. I play heel up and since the pivot point is further back on the long boards I find the ball of my foot is almost halfway down the board now. If you play heel up I suggest short boards.



Longboards benefit both. having the ball of your foot closer to the back of the footboard gives more leverage, just like having a wrench with a longer handle, so heel up gets a boost there.

Heel-toe playing doesn't involve playing heel toe 100% of the time, if you're playing slow, you won't be using heel-toe, as it just doesn't work below a certain tempo, so you'll use regular single strokes, probably heel up.

But to each their own, if short boards feel good, use 'em. And heel toe is very possible with short boards, in fact your heel doesn't even need to touch the footboard section, you can do the rolling motion, and get more of a ball of the foot - toe double stroke motion. I saw a video on that once but I can't find it now


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## GSingleton

on a perspective of differing genres...

Like for metal and etc, typically people want more force on the head for the pulse sound. So they do a stroke where the beater hits the head and it stays on it kinda like a dampener.
For jazz and etc, they allow the beater to come off the head. It allows the drum to speak and give more of an actual tone. Like when I play jazz or country, I play it completely different from rock or metal. 

Now to the pedal, honestly it is opinion. I have tried both. The longboard is more comfy for me because I wear a size 15 in shoes! I mean honestly, I can do both and typically play on a shortboard because those are obviously more popular with normal musicians.

Either one works basically, you just adapt your body to them. Like tomorrow I have a concert tomorrow where I am playing some afro cuban and caribbean music. I will pull my big my big ass foot back on the short board pedal so I am a little over halfway so the bass head can speak and resonate. 

Hope this helps.


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## TheWarAgainstTime

My brother and I collectively own a set of Axis AL-2 longboards and a pair of Trick Pro 1-V's which are shortboards. I personally prefer the Tricks, but the fact that they're shortboards doesn't have as much to do with my preference as how smooth and responsive they are.

Really, as long as you've got a decent quality set of pedals and can adjust them to your liking, that's all that matters. A lot of stuff is all just personal preference, so try what you can and make your decision based on what you thought worked best for you.


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