Scott Joplin was the one that pioneered classical ragtime music.
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist that lived during the second half of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century. He became famous for pioneering classical ragtime music, which has a syncopated rhythm. During his whole life, he wrote 44 ragtime pieces. Moreover, he became so popular for these compositions that he began to be called the King of Ragtime. The typical instruments of this musical style are piano, banjo and guitar.