Metal and Hard Rock Drummers Who Use Single Kick Pedals

strikefast

New Member
I've searched around for threads on this subject (which I find interesting), but most of the results were already obvious.

Iron Maiden's drummers (e.g. Clive Burr, Nicko McBrain, Thunderstick) stuck with a single kick pedal, Led Zeppelin's John Bonham only touched double bass very early on in his career, Deep Purple's Ian Paice only played with two kick pedals for the song "Fireball", and Loudness' Munetaka Higuchi could play ridiculously fast and technical (thanks to his fast-moving hands) without needing "more".

Are there any others to add to the list?

In my fifteen years of drumming (mostly as a hobby because the local scene sucks), I've been on and off with playing two kick pedals, and even that didn't stop me from keeping my left foot on the hi-hat pedal. I get you could always switch between both pedals, but I find it's just simpler to stick with one method and do it right.

It's possible to play stuff like thrash metal and death metal without needing two kick pedals, but this gets frowned by people who think it's "weak". On the other hand, pretty sure lots of "double bass" drummers rely on triggers to compensate for having weak limbs. I always felt that hitting hard and fast with very little effort is a rarity among drummers.
 
pretty sure lots of "double bass" drummers rely on triggers to compensate for having weak limbs.
'91 or '92 was about the time when double kicks stopped actually driving the beat in any way in metal and just became a fluttering whir underneath the music. I would pinpoint it to Death's Human album. That album was a landmark in increasing technicality over any actual feeling.
 
Pushing your playing forward over the years will involve doing things you are not immediately comfortable with.

Further, assessing your own playing independent of passive aggressive morons who think they are 'harder' than you because they use specific hardware is manditory.

Develop yourself as a musician not as a sonic/visual decoration.
 
It's all about preference. I'm just curious about some other notable metal or hard rock drummers who mostly stick to playing a single bass drum (including single kick pedal) setup. It's to be expected younger drummers are more into having two kick pedals. One example of a famous drummer who's not THAT old is Dave Grohl...

I've heard that lots of 1970s and 1980s punk drummers (not including hardcore, grindcore, etc. offshoots) used one kick pedal. Probably because of budget, so they couldn't afford a second bass drum? I know double kick pedals weren't circulated just yet, and hauling two bass drum wasn't ideal for underground bands with no label help.
 
I am a metal/thrash/punk drummer who only just recently started really trying to take double bass beyond "groove use"...

I am not famous by any stretch, but I am still the only guy in our scene who doesn't roll in with double bass. Nicko and Clive were huge influences on me, so that sort of explains it. Most of the drummers of the early 80's punk scenes were also not using double bass, but were still relatively fast, so that was an influence as well...

I have been spending the past 5-7 years tryign to get my left foot to catch up to my right
 
I like trying to play intricate patterns and fast doubles and triplets on single -trying to emulate the double kick sound. I really like to get busy on kick-to a fault at times. I don’t play metal but I really like double kick accents- so I’ve been working on trying some with single pedal-that and use my floor tom with kick
 
Mike Bordin - Faith No More, Ozzy
Brann Dailor - Mastodon
Brian "Brain" Mantia - Guns n' Roses, Buckethead
Frank Ferrer - Guns n' Roses
Unknown Ghoul - Ghost
Tre' Cool - Green Day
John Otto - Limp Bizkit
Brad Wilk - Rage Against the Machine
Thomas Pridgen - Mars Volta
Chad Smith - Red Hot Chil Peppers
 
Derek Roddy comes to mind. Although he has 2 bass drums, a few blast beats he does with just a single pedal.
 
Mike Bordin - Faith No More, Ozzy
Brann Dailor - Mastodon
Brian "Brain" Mantia - Guns n' Roses, Buckethead
Frank Ferrer - Guns n' Roses
Unknown Ghoul - Ghost
Tre' Cool - Green Day
John Otto - Limp Bizkit
Brad Wilk - Rage Against the Machine
Thomas Pridgen - Mars Volta
Chad Smith - Red Hot Chil Peppers
Mike Bordin used a double pedal with Ozzy, because the music demanded it.

Brann Dailor uses a double pedal.

John Otto uses a double pedal.
 
Inspired by a recent post by @Andy , I’d like to throw Mickey Curry into the pot…his playing on Into The Fire (Bryan Adams), Sonic Temple (The Cult), Ceremony (The Cult) and Hey Stoopid (Alice Cooper) is hard rock perfection IMO… :unsure:
 
Denny Carmassi had a pretty good single technique.
Trying to emulate Montrose's Rock Candy used to drive me nuts.
 
I've been working hard over the last year or two to get my double kick going. I think you have to find the balance. When your new at it (like myself) it's tempting to throw it at everything when having some hi-hat detail would sound cooler. At the same time, there are linear fills and stuff that can't really be matched without the double pedal. Plus the continuous 16th thing which is perfect sometimes and when used in moderation.

The ideal IMO is to get proficient at going back and forth within a song to get the double going when needed but get back on the HH otherwise. I think of Neal Peart this way; great hi-hat stuff, then over to the double bass for fills and sections. Todd Sucherman appears to operate this way too.

BTW, I'm skeptical about the Derek Roddy as a non-double bass guy. I've watched Drumeo lessons of his that are all about fast double bass. I kind of thought that was his specialty.
 
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