Tom Sawada
A little bit of history
Back in the 1940’s Louie Bellson was one of the first drummers to use a double bass drum set. We don’t know for sure if he was the first, but for sure he was the one who made it famous.
Louie Bellson, a pioneer in double bass.
But something happened. For the next 25 years double bass drum kits were - to say the least - a rarity. Rock and Roll had displaced Jazz, the Swing Bands were a thing of the past, and then The Beatles showed up; and every drummer in the world wanted a Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl three-piece drum kit.
Fast-forward to 1968. We have bands like The Who, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. A different type of British invasion. With Keith Moon, Ian Paice and Bill Ward setting the pace for the new era, double bass drum kits were making a comeback.
Enter Don
In this context, an inventor shows up: Don Sleishman. Don is the founder of the Sleishman Drum Company, and the inventor of the “Twin Pedal”.
The original Twin Pedal, 1968
The Twin Pedal is quite different from the double pedal most of us are used to playing. Since when you play double kick, you’re centered between both bass drums, it was natural for Don to place the drummer at the center of the pedals, and therefore the kit.
For Don Sleishman it was key to place the drummer at the center
But sadly, this model didn’t pick up a lot of steam at the time. Not many drummers were keen on using the Twin Pedal, but it was only a matter of time.
Enter the second Don
In 1972 Don Lombardi founded DW drums. Although in their first years they were focused on drum lessons and instructional materials, they slowly started to create hardware. That’s how in 1980 they came up with the now famous DW 5000. This was just in time for the Hair and Progressive Metal revolution that came up at that time.
DW’s double pedal became the benchmark, and the rest of the hardware companies followed their design principles.
The Twin Pedal never left
But what happened to Sleishman’s Twin Pedal? Well, it was also during the 1980’s and 1990’s that the model picked up some steam. For many drummers it made sense to have a double pedal centered to the kit.
One of these drummers is Will Calhoun, of Living Colour. Will still uses the twin pedal today.
Will Calhoun - Living Colour
It’s still being produced and comes in 2 versions: the silver classic, called “Symmetry” and a black pedal called “Balance”. 
Have you played a Twin Pedal? Let us know! We want to know your experience and insights about it. You can leave us a comment below.
