What is the note of your snare and toms ?

[Softwaremaker]

All,

I am curious and I believe there are 2 camps of people. One who tune to notes and one who tune to their ears.

How many people actually tune their snare and toms to a note ? A, D#, E, for example.

I believe the purists do and some more so than the others. Do you ?

One of the technical reasons why people want to (or should) do this is to reduce the sypathetic pitch problem that happens when you tune your toms (high-tom, in particular) to be close or the same note to that of the snare and what happens is the usual unwanted snare vibration. (I wish I had paid more attention in physics class ). I am not referring to snare resonance or ringiness. That is a different thing altogether.

For those people in this category, toms are usually quite subjective BUT most people do tune their snares to a note. Another question I have is: What note do you usually tune your snare to ?

I tend to tune my snare to A. What about you guys ?

 

[plainsman]

I went through a phase where I tuned every tom and snare to a particular note.

floor to to E
2nd tom to A
1st tom to D
snare to G

thus emulating the first 4 open strings of guitar or a 4-string bass.


i got hooked on playing "basslines" with my drum groove. my bassists kept giving me this WTF/stunned look ... haha

i realised that they didn't find it that happening at all the drummer was duplicating / eating up musical space.

nowadays i tone down on that.

once in awhile, i still throw in a little bit of musical feeling into some grooves, fills or solos. my intent is to throw an idea, kickstart a fellow member in the band, not to replace them.

if i get a question like "bro, was that an E you were playing?" i will just smile and say maybe




i saw what terry bozzio did for his solo works, which he has 2 - 3 rows of shallow depth toms with roughly 2 octaves worth, plus sharps and flats. i guess he took the concept to the extreme.

if i do my own solo works in future, i might dig this up and explore further. i thought of an idea of an entire octaves worth of chinas. but terry did that too. sigh lol


its great to explore, you may end up with different experiences/conclusions. do share them!

cheers

 

[Softwaremaker]

Geez - No one else tune their drums to actual musical notes besides plainsman ?

 

[lester_music]

I tuned Low I guess though sometimes I may change.....also depends on your tom sizes..


16" Floor B(F#)
13" Tom E(B)
12" Tom A(E) in bracket are alternate tunings

Snare...I go by feel..see which sounds good..change pitch from time to time too

actually people who tune by ears is also tuning to a note cause I also tuned by ear but those pitch that I come up with is what I have listed...they are a fourth apart interval from the floor......the other way round will be a fifth a part, pretty easy to do it by ear...


maybe u should say tuned by feeling instead......hehe

 

[Softwaremaker]

cool. I guess I am not asking what note you tuned your drums too, more like do you tune yours to a note or by ear. Unlike strings or keys, it is a little bit difficult to tune drums to a note so most people I know tune by ears but that can only be so-accurate.

By ear, it is theoretically possible to tune all toms to the same note, just different highs and lows. While the drums by itself may sound fine, it wont sound nice musically on a recording or like what plainsman mentioned earlier - you may either eat into other's space or leave a huge whitespace.

Makes sense ?

 

[2dmax]

Shouldn't this thread be about intervals rather than the actual pitches ?

As far as intervals go, perfect 5th always sounds good. Power chords are beyond reproach! My snare is tuned like that. The batter is middle G# and reso is D# higher when I first tuned but the pitch probably dropped since then.

I might be off topic since everyone added a lil something along the way =S

So far the most common interval I've seen for a three/four tom kit is the 'race course' (the four-note jingle stereotyped as music played at a horse race). Chad Smith also mentions tuning his drums this way. The intervals are, starting from the largest tom, 4th tom <-perfect 4th-> 3rd tom <-major 3rd-> 2nd tom <-minor 3rd-> 1st tom. It's just four notes of a major chord but the toms sound tasty when you run up, run down, or hit any two toms simultaneously. If you have a third arm you could hit three toms and it will sound pleasing too

 

[lester_music]

oh...maybe i misread your question..hehe

anyway, I feel that

A pitch is a pitch....I guess hearing a pitch on a guitar and on the drums are the same, at least to me...


If its easy to fine tune a guitar or piano to a certain note, then tuner will not have exist...hehe...

 

[lester_music]

yes...thats the thing........but just couldn't dig it out of my mind...

the main thing is the interval...

the effect of the relationship between the notes

 

[JazzCat_88]

For 22''/16''/12'',

Jazz:

22" - E
16" - E
12" - B

Pop/Rock:

22'' - C#
16" - C#
12" - G#

For 20"/14"/12"/(10")

Jazz:

20" - C
14" - C
12" - F

Pop/Rock:

20" - F#
14" - F#
12" - B
10" - E

Snare 14"

General: C (Batter), A (Reso)
Jazz: Eb to G (Batter), C to E (Reso)

Just my 2 cents

Good luck!

 

[YargTah]

wah, didnt know there is so much theory involved in tuning drums

 

[Softwaremaker]

@JazzCat_88: Good information. I see you keep to the "general guidelines" of tuning your bass drum to that of the next smallest floor tom - just one octave lower ?

 

[JazzCat_88]

Thanks Softwaremaker! I've been experimenting with drum tuning for 3 years almost everyday. I was from Singapore Polytechnic Jazz Band - bassist btw. I used to skip my morning classes to tune drums in the band room. It makes me happy when drums blend with the music.

 

[Softwaremaker]

...It makes me happy when drums blend with the music.

Aye. It is really the little, simplest things that creates the enjoyment.

 

[Composer of Requiems]

I used to skip my morning classes to tune drums in the band room. It makes me happy when drums blend with the music.

Probably makes your drummer happy too =P

 

[lester_music]

Jazz Cat: nice info...

just check with you, your C on the snare is a middle C(C4) or higher(C5)?


your B on the 12" is it a B2 or B3?


thks

 

[JazzCat_88]

Lester: Snare would be a high C, 12" the B immediately below that.