Flex Beater Review

Rich Farago from Dynamic Drum beaters sent me a few prototype Flex Beaters to try out and review. The concept behind Flex Beater is to give the metal shaft of the bass drum beater the same amount of flex as a drumstick naturally has. It may not seem like it, but wooden drumsticks actually bend a lot more than you probably think. “Stick tone” is the sound of the vibration of the stick, and that vibration is a function of the stick’s flex.

The action of the pedal is determined by the bass drum batter head tension, which acts like a trampoline. The beater itself is the person jumping on the trampoline. Spring tension, in this example, would act like anti-gravity – a constant force pulling the beater away from the head. The cam, bearings etc all impact the efficiency and nature of the stroke but in this case is mostly irrelevant. The force applied by you counteracts the spring tension to drive the beater into the head, while the spring tension and drumhead tension push the beater back out. The FlexBeater adds to this by adding more rebound to the beater itself. This is generally a good thing because it allows more of the energy put into each stroke to go into pulling the beater back out, preparing it for the next stroke.

If you feel like you’re getting enough rebound already, then adding mechanical rebound to the beater would allow you to reduce spring tension or batter head tension and maintain the same feel. Adjusting the spring tension lowers the amount of energy you have to put into the pedal, thus enabling faster speeds. Adjusting the head tension will change the sound of the drum.

The next reason to add rebound to the beater is that it aids playing open tones. Constantly pressing the beater into the head squashes this rebound, and prevents the head from vibrating freely (affecting tone). To play with an open tone, you need to hit the drum in such a way that the beater is “thrown” towards the head. Having a flexible beater would allow the beater to be pushed away from the drum head more easily. You clearly don’t need a flexible beater for this, but in theory, it ought to help.

Third, the flex should act like shock absorption, reducing the stress on the foot from playing drums. This would be especially important for those playing into the head. With these ideas in mind, I tried out the Flex Beater. To test them out, I put them on the pedals in my teaching studio. I used them myself and also had my students play them without letting them know that anything had changed. I did not notice a large change in facility, by myself or any of my students.

I did, however, notice a big change in tone, for the better. Many of my students started getting open tones from the bass drum, without physically doing anything different. This is great news for the technique I teach because at first, it is hard to get the beater out of the head. I have my students learn what I call the drop stroke first – where they simply drop their leg onto the pedal. I teach this way because it is the easiest, most effective, most sustainable way to play loud strokes on the bass drum, and through doing this way students build rest into each stroke. However, learning this way sacrifices tone at first. In an effort to develop efficient movement powered by gravity, I encourage my students to not guide how the foot lands. It isn’t until later on that we refine the stroke, set up the pedal, etc. The Flex Beater allowed my students to get an open tone even when they were just using unpowered, uncontrolled drop strokes. I noticed this in my own playing, too. Using the Flex Beater allowed me to use much less effort to play out of the drum head. In other words, I could get great tone with less work than with a normal beater.

Regarding the health factor – it is my feeling that for most of us, a little extra shock absorption in the bass drum pedal is pretty meaningless. The amount of shock that passes through the foot while simply walking normally blows the amount of wear and tear from drumming out of the water. Unlike the hand, the foot is designed to handle far more stress than you get from playing the pedal with good technique. If you are encountering problems from the shock, then you ought to look first at your technique: fixing the problem that leads to extra shock will also lead you to faster, easier, more powerful playing. However, for some people, the extra shock absorption might prove to be very useful. Those with arthritis in the ankle come to mind because every little bit of extra shock absorption helps.

Disclaimer: 
This information is for your information only. It is not intended to be medical advice and should not be taken as such. The idea here is that the more you know, the healthier and more effective you will be. While there are common injuries and causes, there is no way that I can know about your particular situation, so if you suspect you have a problem that requires medical attention, please see a reputable doctor who is knowledgeable about your problem.