Snare Drum Tuning: A Basic How-To Tutorial That Works (Nearly) Every Time

Whenever I test a new snare, I always start with this tuning, which has the bottom head tight (G) and the top head a 4th lower (D). The wires are tightened just below the point where they choke at low dynamics. Hopefully this helps you get your drums dialed in. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

[Drum]

How does this have so few views? This is the quickest, easiest tuning tutorial on YouTube and the snare sounds killer!

[christianrooversmusic]

Very cool video. Can’t wait to try this. 👍

[mdomme]

Excellent video Mike...you always get a great sound with every snare drum you play and nice to see where you start.

[jimreinking]

Thanks a lot for this awesome video Mike! Brings to life the science involved. I once got to hang with Art Blakey for a day or two and he told me just to mess around until it sounded good, but I like your precision even better than Art’s suggestion!

[mikeevangelista]

Ya baby wow !!!! That snare sounds great btw. I do very similar bottom head g or f# I favour and d batter for almost all my snares and up or down from there. Awesome video took me many years to figure this out so this video can save some young drummers years of frustration lol thanks again keep em coming

[johndiraimo]

Thanks Mike ... well done, great video.

[ToddTheJoker]

thanks Mike...always wondered how you always get a great snare sound..by the way in regards to tuning, I get neurotic too...you have no idea

[viktorm]

I would like to hear about low tuning. In that case I would lower the reso head. This bass drum sounds simply amazing.

[tbone]

great sound!! i've never tuned by notes or intervals, but rather totally by ear & pretty sure my tunings come very close to this.

[MikeKeaneDrums]

I just used these settings with the tune bot and I can’t bet how good my snare sounds. It’s a Yamaha RC Aluminium 14x5.5 and even though I liked how it sounded before I absolutely love it now.
Do you use the tune bot when doing your bass drums? Would be great to see this videos format on bass drum tuning.
Cheers!

[mk]

This was extremely helpful....my Pearl SensTone Elite, with Ambassador coated batter and Evans Genera Reso Level 360 sounds great. Thank you for posting this video. Would you recommend the same for a Pork Pie 8x13?

[WarrenDrivel]

So...aim for "D" batter, "G" snare-side for ALL snare drums, regardless of drum depth, shell material, or heads?

[ShakingTwoTrees]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Tune Bot just give you the overall note of the head but not the exact consistent tension at each rod that you'd get with a drum dial going lug-to-lug? I use a Tama Tension Watch to get the heads tensioned identically at each lug and then fine-tune by ear to dial in the relationship between the top and bottom heads. I find that, beyond a certain resonant head tension, there's nothing to be gained going beyond that pitch which generally works for low/medium/high batter head tensions.

[bonzomio]

Hi Mike. Best snare drum tuning video IMHO. What's the brand of the base drum? Thanks!

[texxhexxmm]

what are the Hz Settings on the heads?

[drummercpa]

Do you have a preferred reference note for the reso heads of 13" or 15" snares?

[zigjefferson]

D over G is Damn Good! So you don't ever check the note lug by lug? How crucial is it to get each lug to the identical tension, versus being close, within a few Hz?