Butterfly Double Bass

01 — GROUNDING

Everything begins with the ground.

Butterfly is based on a natural three-point balance: the seat and both heels.

The ground is the most reliable reference point there is.

By repeatedly reconnecting with it through the heels, the body no longer has to spend energy maintaining its balance above the pedals.

Balance issues fall away, leaving you free to focus on what really matters.

Note: This should not be confused with heel-down technique.

Grounding does not hold you down — it lets you take off.

03 — ACTIVE PASSIVITY

Active passivity is the ability to relax into the space between the strokes and recognize where no further effort is needed.

That space is not empty. It is filled with relaxation.

This relaxation is already there in our grounded state — the way we sit at the instrument when we are not playing. After each stroke, we can return to that state and let it fill the time until the next impulse.

The more clearly you can feel this state at slower speeds, the more naturally you can carry it into faster playing.

THE ORIGIN OF BUTTERFLY

Butterfly began with a very real challenge.

Through my lessons with Cloy Petersen at drummer's focus, and later through the teacher training there, I discovered a completely new way of understanding drumming:

To become sensitive to what is already happening.
To receive movement instead of always creating it.
To let go.

With my hands, this understanding had already begun to change my playing.

With my feet — especially with double bass — it was different.

I could play the tempos and the parts. But my approach was still highly active and force-based.

It worked. But the amount of effort it required never felt truly satisfying.

In 2000, I joined Rhapsody only a few weeks before their European tour with Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica.

Playing demanding double bass parts once was one thing.
Playing them night after night was another.

After the first show, one thing became clear:

I can’t play like this night after night. There has to be another way — a way that feels easier, more natural, and simply better to play.

The next day backstage, I began experimenting with the seat, the floor, and the relationship between balance and flow.

That was not yet Butterfly.

It was the beginning of the discovery.

BUTTERFLY DOUBLE BASS

UNDERSTANDING DOUBLE BASS TECHNIQUES

Explore different approaches to movement and pedal use.