The bass drum is commonly played by pressing a pedal usually using the right foot.
There are two main styles of bass drumming; heel up and heel down. Now most drummers have heard of both of these, yet they choose to only practice one. The key to a successful drummer is knowing how to play both. Heel down playing is where you have your ball of your heel pressed down on the bass drum pedal. Your pivot point on your foot becomes your heel as you play with your whole foot, and not your legs. This is a very important style to learn because you can feel the pedal a lot easier than heel up. You can play a lot lighter by feathering the bass drum with more control. This is usually used for jazz and other softer styles of music. However, even if you play rock, you should still practice this method. Developing control and a feel for the bass drum pedal will increase your overall speed and control of the bass drum in general.
The second style of bass drumming is heel up. This is totally different to heel down, since you use your whole leg to power the bass pedal. Instead of resting your heel on the pedal, lift it up and rest your toe on the tip of the bass drum pedal. This takes a little more energy since you have to kick with your whole leg to hit the bass drum. However, this method is great for power bass drumming. Since you are using your whole leg, you can get a lot of power from your kick drum. When you build enough control, you can also play faster with heel up since you can use your toes only to kick the drum. Most rock and heavy drummers use this method, however practice both.
To learn more Bass Drum Technique, see LearnToPlayDrums.com.
Check out these 5 Tips That Will Change The Way You Practice Drums at Drumeo Edge.