kick drum

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why is this term in currency? before i got into 'dance' music it really confused me, reading dj magazine and the like, i couldnt work out what noise it was talking about. then i realised: oh, the BASS drum. as a drummer, i never understood where the word 'kick drum' comes from, cos asa far as i am concerned, the thing that makes that sort of sound, or rather plays that role in a beat, is a bass drum.

is it an american name?

― ambrose, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Do you play Moe Tucker style, whacking everything with a mallet, the bass head facing the ceiling? I mean, unless you do that, it's a kick drum cause - you kick it (with a pedal) to get a sound. Right?

― Tracer and, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It's more like you stomp the pedal which then hits the skin of the drum. Hmm, "stomp drum" anyone?

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Kick drum? I've never heard that word - ever. Sounds appropriate but silly. Bassdrum.

― Simon, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Kick, hi hat, snare, crash. I can't believe this is an American thing. But then there are no real drummers in England anymore anyway.

― Kris, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ah, but the pedal kicks the drum, hence the name.

― Mickey Black Eyes, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

obviously, it's because you use your foot to work the pedal...

― g, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"kick, snare, kick-snare-hi-HAT"

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I wasn't implying a rhythm.

― Kris, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

but you WERE because you made me think of whatever the Tribe Called Quest song is which features very line I quoted. i was hoping someone would throw me a frickin bone.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yes, Michael, but "kick" implies a foot, and I'd be hard-pressed to call the little mallet head that strikes the drum skin a foot. (Jesus, this is ridiculous! ;-)

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I believe the term originates in live sound engineering. When soundchecking a band, you call out the names of the instruments you need to set levels for. If you were to shout out "BASS!!!!", the bass player would start playing, which wouldn't do at all oh no.

― Norman Phay, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't think it's a US term or an exclusively dance-music term, I think that free rock-oriented music magazine you see in gear shops here has used it for as long as I've been reading it. Why is it in currency? I guess just because it's quicker to say and shorter to type/write/label equipment with, unless you abbreviate "bass drum" to bd, which I'd imagine isn't a good idea if you're expecting other people to read what you're writing.

But I am not a drummer, sadly, so I don't know. (What do you call double kicking if you're not calling it a kick?)

― Rebecca, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Now that's funny; I've never heard the term "double-kicking" before. If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, I've always heard it as "double-bass".

― Kris, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I call it a bass drum, and I are being a (very out-of-practice) drummer. Kick drum is what people who read Drummer magazine and stuff call it. However this quibbling over terms does not stop me from searching for THE MOST PERFECT BASS/KICK DRUM SOUND EVER, which I have so far failed to do. Damn my manky old drum kit.

― DG, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

GATED SNARE DRUMS! Oops.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ned, have you been listening to 'Hysteria' too much?

― Clarke B., Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

F-f-f-f-foooooolin'!

― Sean Carruthers, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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