The Drum Kit

Multiple percussion instruments being used at once

1865

In the lathe 1860s, percussion instruments were being used for in-theater music. At this time a drum kit was not invented yet so the band would have lots of different people all playing different instruments to fill in the percussion parts. To save money on shows, conductors learned to use all of their limbs and had people start playing multiple percussion instruments with just their limbs, hence creating the first-ever use of the drum kit.

William Ludwig designed first spring-action bass pedal

May 25, 1909

in 1909, William Ludwig saw that there was a big hindrance on the drum kit and it was the bass pedal. To fix this he designed the first-ever spring-action bass pedal to make it much easier to play the bass drum with just your foot.

First ever Drum Kit invented

1918

In 1920, Ludwig invented and finalized the first-ever drum kit. It was small and was nothing like the drum kits we have today. It had only 3-4 drums on it and played most of them with your foot.

Drum Sets get mics

1925

Around this time, drums were starting to become more and more popularized in modern-day music in this time. This led to drums being mic'd up for bigger audiences to hear and better for recording.

First Hi-Hat is introduced and put into the drum kit

1930

Drum Technology created the first ever hi-hat. This was big in the drum kit community whereas drummers could now play and keep time with not only their foot but with their hands as well.

First tunable tom drums invented

1938

In the late 1930s, a man by the name of Gene Krupa would design the first tunable toms. This was good because drummers could now change the pitch and frequency of how they wanted their drums to sound.

First ride cymbal starts to be utilized

1940

in the 1940s, a new style of music was introduced... "Bepop". With this new style of music, a new cymbal began is to be utilized. A ride cymbal was used for doing swing and ragtime and other various grooves involved in this genre.

First double bass is invented

1943

In the early 1940s, drummers invented the first double bass. They would play two bass drums at the same time so they could play more faster and advanced grooves.

More advanced drum sticks

1958

In 1958, drummers started experimenting with different drumsticks and what worked and sounded better. They decided to put a nylon tip on the tips of the sticks and this ultimately increased their quality and longevity of them.

More modernized drum sets

1960

With the advancement of technology and everything else in the 60s, drum sets started becoming more and more popular and this led to drum sets becoming modernized into the drum sets that we can see today.

First electronic drum set is finalized and used in the music industry

1976

A man by the name of Graeme Edge took the drumming industry to a whole new level when he invented the first-ever electronic drum set. This was huge for the drumming community because you no longer had to deal with all o the hassle of the acoustic drum sets.

Drum kits are digitalized and used in song for hip-hop and R&B

1980

Around the 80s is when rap first started getting big. At this same time, producers started digitalizing drum kits and forming them into different sounds so they could match the vibe and beat of the song they were creating.

modern drum sets start to get even larger

1990

In the 90s, drummers had the desire to grow the acoustic drum set even more. They would add even more toms, more cymbals, and maybe even more snares and another hi-hat.

Modern electric drums

1997

These drums came with everything that a normal drum set would have. These things included better-sounding cymbals, better-quality drum heads, and overall higher quality f the set.

Computer generated drums

2000

In the early 2000s, bands and other musicians evolved their ideas into computer-generated drums. This was good for some people because they had the convenience of having a drum set player anywhere they went.