bass drum
noun
plural bass drums
: a large drum that has two heads and produces a booming sound of low indefinite pitch
[The Beatles'] 18-year-old engineer Geoff Emerick transformed their sound by stuffing a sweater in Ringo's bass drum.—
Rob Sheffield
Rob SheffieldThunderous bass drums and tom-toms predominate, delivering an oscillating groove over which the composer's voice floats …—Tom Huizenga
see drum illustration
Tom HuizengaExamples of bass drum in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And their childhood friend Wesley Backer is on traps, banging on a 55-gallon rain barrel for a bass drum, buckets for the snare and toms, and sheet metal for cymbals.
—Jessica Meszaros, Miami Herald, 8 Apr. 2026
Diehard fans banged bass drums, songs emanated from the supporters’ wall and a packed stadium of 7,211 buzzed all the way through stoppage time of a tense game.
—Idaho Statesman, 5 Apr. 2026
Sound design—the particular timbre of a bass drum or a synth sweep—often defines the identity of a track.
—Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Set done, Allan and his bass player leave the stage and make a speedy exit from the room, but Gary Husband lingers behind, fiddling around with his drum kit, tightening cymbals, testing the hi-hat, adding treble to his bass drum, making adjustments to the positioning of the tom toms.
—Literary Hub, 9 Mar. 2026
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Jessica Meszaros, Miami Herald, 8 Apr. 2026
Diehard fans banged bass drums, songs emanated from the supporters’ wall and a packed stadium of 7,211 buzzed all the way through stoppage time of a tense game.
—Idaho Statesman, 5 Apr. 2026
Sound design—the particular timbre of a bass drum or a synth sweep—often defines the identity of a track.
—Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Set done, Allan and his bass player leave the stage and make a speedy exit from the room, but Gary Husband lingers behind, fiddling around with his drum kit, tightening cymbals, testing the hi-hat, adding treble to his bass drum, making adjustments to the positioning of the tom toms.
—Literary Hub, 9 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for bass drum
Cite this Entry
“Bass drum.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bass%20drum. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.
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