A Brief, Mostly Factual History Of The Bass Drum

The bass drum has a long and colourful history. When not being used to send long distance messages or intimidate an enemy, it's long been used to keep things moving along in time. Dancers can feel its low tones, the troops can hear its pulse from quite a distance, and everyone enjoys the gut-churning boom-boom-boom of a parade. For contemporary music, the bass drum continues to serve the time keeping function, but its role has evolved to include bombs, shots, counter-rhythms, musical statements, and even gun fire.

The orchestral bass drum was taken into the combo format in the mid-to-late 1800s, with early drum-set pioneers often making their own bass drum pedals as an alternative to double drumming*. A major turning point came in 1909, when drummer–entrepreneurs William and Theobald Ludwig introduced a compact, reliable and affordable bass drum pedal. The impact of this game changer can be heard on recordings starting in the 1920s.

Except during Buddy Rich's early vaudeville career**, bass drums have tended toward smaller. The original field bass drums -- perhaps a 16" head and 18" depth to as large as 24" x 24" -- were impractical for combo use, whereas concert bass drums were quite large and rather shallow. A compact, deeper drum seemed to be the right configuration and so the 32" x 10" gave way to the 22" and then 20” diameter, and 12 or 14 inch depth.

The trend toward smaller bass drums was driven as much by portability as sound. Elvin Jones settled on an 18" bass drum because it fit into a cab nicely (so I’ve heard). Many drummers go a step further and use a 16" drum. The smaller drums yield a more tom-like voice, which is perfect for contemporary jazz.

The '70s introduced a more aggressive style of music, and to facilitate the more aggressive drumming and volume needs, companies began introducing 'power toms' and then 'canon toms'. Bass drums also gained depth. The standard depth went from 14" to 16" and beyond. There are even bass drums with 'square' dimensions (e.g.  22 x 22). Over-large drums -- 26" and 28" -- sometimes make a brief appearance

The word on the street today is that the 20" x 14" may be the ideal general purpose drum. It can provide a whack equal to a 22" drum, and can sound much like an 18" drum when tuned up. The 22” drum has become the standard for most situations, and the 18” is no longer reserved for jazz -- Neil Peart used 18” bass drums for a time

Bass drum choices today cover the entire spectrum, from pancake drums to “super-ultra cannon” monsters. But for the most part, that standard off-the-shelf drum should give you everything that you're looking for.

 

* Double Drumming: In the early days of the drum set’s evolution, players would often play the bass drum with sticks for a tom or double bass effect.

** Buddy's manager–father kept getting bigger bass drums as Buddy grew. He wanted the bass drum to look enormous next to the no-longer-little boy prodigy.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia