Double Bass Legends: A Short History

Pioneers

It started with jazz legend Louie Bellson, a gifted musical school kid of 15 in 1939, who sketched out a double bass drum kit for an art class. The sketch earned him an “A” grade, and served as a vision of what he would become: The most famous, and arguably the first, double bass drummer. Gretsch made the first kit for Bellson, a bold and innovative move considering that other companies had rejected Bellson and his outlandish concept.

Over the years and through long affiliations with several drum manufacturers, Bellson’s double bass kits varied in configuration. His main ax has become a classic: two kicks, one tom, two floors. But that first Gretsch kit in 1946 consisted of two 20” x 20” bass drums, an 18” x 26” center tom (!), two 13” x 9” toms, two 11” x 7” toms, and 16” x 16” and 18” x 16” floor toms. By the way, Bellson did lots of cymbal stacking on his stands, too. Very Mike Portnoy, but just a little bit earlier.

Rock Stakes A Claim

The ’60s were an incredibly fertile time for popular music, with much creative ground broken in many different styles, all at more or less the same stime. This exponential growth of creative freedom, along with the growth of the television and radio stations that spread it, made using two bass drums a logical bit of experimentation.Ginger Baker of the band Cream was one of the first and most famous rock double dabblers. Notably, he actually used his two bass drums, in alternating left/right fashion, not just in solos but in beats of songs such as “White Room.” Some say he also played the two bass drums simultaneously to get more volume and power onstage, hoping to match the mountainous amps of bandmates Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce.

Drummers like Mitch Mitchell of Jimi Hendrix Experience experimented with two kick drums for a while. The Who’s Keith Moon, tipped off to the idea by Ginger Baker, ordered and then employed two Premier bass drums in his wild onstage delivery, including standing on them (they were reinforced with braces for this). Though Moon’s best double bass recordings came in the ’70s, he did popularize the use of large double bass kits.