How to tune drums

The ability to tune drums is absolutely necessary if you want to get the best sound from your drum kit. Even if you’re just a beginner drummer, a well-tuned drum kit will help you stand head and shoulders above the rest. This is a snare tuning guide, however, it can be adapted for other types of drums.

Steps

1. Disconnect the drum strings with a special lever located on the side.
2. Take a drum key (available at any music store) and loosen the bolts that are located on the sides of the drum. Do not completely unscrew each bolt individually. The bolts should be unscrewed gradually each half a turn in a circle. Continue unscrewing the bolts in a circle until you can begin to unscrew them by hand.
3. Unscrew the bolts to the end with your fingers.
4. Remove the bezel and bolts from the drum.
5. Remove the old plastic from the drum.
6. Install the new head on top of the drum.
7. Install the rim and bolts on the drum.
8. Gradually begin to tighten the bolts with your fingers (first without a key). Tighten the bolts with your fingers as far as they will go.
9. Check the drum for strength. Apply a few hard blows to the center of the plastic. Don’t worry, you won’t be able to break it. And if you do succeed, take the drum back to the hardware store where you bought it and try a different brand of drum. You must apply enough force to pierce the drum. We do this for the same reasons that guitarists pluck their guitar strings. This is a kind of warm-up of the drum before we start playing it. If this is not done, the drum will be constantly out of tune during the first week. As a result, its new setting will take a lot of time.
10. Make sure all bolts are still tight.
11. Tighten the bolts with a wrench.Start with the bolt closest to you. Tighten the bolt half a turn with a wrench. Next, do not tighten the bolt closest to it, but go to the bolt that is farthest away from you (the opposite of the one you just tightened) and tighten it with a wrench half a turn. The next bolt to tighten is to the left of the first bolt you started with. Then go to the opposite bolt and continue twisting according to this pattern. Continue twisting until 1) all the bolts are equally tightened 2) you achieve the sound you want. You may need to repeat the twist 4-8 times until you get the sound you want. If the head is new, turn up the volume higher than you want and push the head harder in the center. You will hear the sound become lower. It’s a piece of plastic.
12. Walk around the drum and tap the plastic with the drumstick about an inch from each bolt. Listen to the pitch, it should be the same around each bolt. To muffle extraneous sounds or rattles coming from the drum, you can use a gel for silencing such as MoonGel, DrumGum or silencing rings. You should not think that muting will solve the problems of bad drum tuning, but it can improve the sound if it is well tuned.
13. Do the same with the bottom (resonant) head.
14. Depending on your preference, the pitch of the bottom head should be the same as the pitch of the impact head, or slightly lower or higher.
15. However, when tuning the snare, if you want to get a loud, staccato drum sound, pull the top (percussion) head slightly tighter than the bottom head.
16. Drum strings are also a very important element. Keep them in perfect condition and try to tension them so that they lie flat against the surface of the drum. If the strings are too tight, they will bend in the middle, and if they are too loose, they will not touch the drum at all. A good rule of thumb for stretching strings is to tighten them exactly until they stop rattling.

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