Double bass drum

Double bass drum

In many forms of heavy metal and hard rock, as well as some forms of jazz, fusion, and punk, two bass drums are used, or alternatively two pedals on one bass drum. If two drums are used, that is often to give a more impressive appearance on large stages, but sometimes, the second drum is pitched differently to provide some variety in the notes, thus creating a more nuanced sound. The first person to use and popularize the double bass drum setup was jazz drummer Louie Bellson, who came up with the idea when he was still in high school. Ray McKinley was, by 1941, using this setup as well. Double bass drums were popularized in the 1960s by rock drummers Ginger Baker of Cream, Keith Moon of The Who, Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. After 1970, Billy Cobham and Narada Michael Walden used double kick drum with the jazz fusion project Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chester Thompson with Frank Zappa and Weather Report, Barriemore Barlow with Jethro Tull, and Terry Bozzio with Frank Zappa. For these genres the focus was 'odd-meter grooves and mind blowing solos'. Double bass drumming later became an integral part of heavy metal, as pioneered by the likes of Les Binks, Carmine Appice, Ian Paice, Cozy Powell, Phil Taylor and Tommy Aldridge. American thrash metal band Slayer's former drummer Dave Lombardo was named "the godfather of double bass" by the magazine Drummerworld. Later metal genres including death metal use double kick drumming extensively often with blast beat techniques, whilst focusing on precision, 'endurance', 'speed' and 'rapid footwork'.