Snare Drum Tuning Lesson - Basics

We've been asked more than a few times to demonstrate how we tune our snare drums, so here is our response. While we believe there are no set in stone rules to how you tune drums, there are some basics that will help you on your way to better sounds.

We also believe that tuning is 100% subjective and to always find your own path to great sounding drums. Experimentation is how you learn for yourself, and it doesn't need to be a big, scary undertaking.

So, with that said let's jump into a few answers to some potential "questions from the future." Yes, the snare drum at the end of this video is a fairly high pitched sound. In no way are we suggesting your particular snare has to sound like that. In fact, recorded drums can reveal all kinds of things that you don't hear in person. So, adjust accordingly to your recording or performing needs. Tuning for the room is definitely a thing too.

We're well aware that a well known, highly respected drum related YouTube channel prefers loose resnant heads for snare drums. That is 100% a valid opinion, and works well in many situations. However, here at West Coast Drum Shop we prefer much tighter reso heads for increased projection, and snappier snare response. So take that for what it is. Keep in mind we've tuned thousands of drums and recorded with dozens.

We did not go over how to set up snares in this video, as it would have become long-winded. We may decide to cover that in future videos if requested.

"One size fits all" tuning rules should be abolished. The subjective nature of drum sound, microphones, rooms, recording/mixing/live sound engineers and audience all have different opinions. Another thing to add is mods (gel, tape, tampering with snares etc.) are suggested to be used after the drum sounds great.

"Blatty" is not a real word. It's an onomatopoeia that sometimes gets tossed around by instrument repair technicians to describe the attack of the instrument, so don't @ us

TuneBots and Drum Dials work to help guide you to get even tension around drum heads if you can't do it with your ears, and they're perfectly OK to use. What's also great about them is they provide a numeric value the tension at a particular point in the drum head. These values can be recorded and then utilized as needed to allow for consistent tuning at any time, for example having the same tone take to take in the studio. Tuning drums to actual pitches is a mostly futile and confusing mess unless you absolutely have to, which usually never if you're a drum set player. Tuning devices do not replace tuning knowledge and experimentation. Understanding how drum tuning works without them will benefit your experience with them.

Feel free to post any additional questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer. We hope this helps and thanks for checking it out.

[KingKoalafied]

this is def the best tutorial for snare tuning out there

[Chiroman]

Will, I'm a relative beginner at drum Tuning. I'm a 71 YO, retired Guy, who resurrected playing Drums after 50 YEARS [1969]. I play for recreation / hobby about 1 hour a day to My Music. Since recommencing in 2019 after my wife of 44 years at that time (now 48 years) gifted me a cheapo Kit for Xmasa in 2018. I since upgraded that kit to a PDP Concept Maple 6 Drum kit and also Purchased a DW Design series Nickel over Brass 14 X 6.5 Snare (the PDP snare is 14 X 5.5). Back in my old days, I knew nothing of Drum heads and Drum Tuning. I am learning now. This is one of the best Videos, showing step by step adjustments of snare drum tuning. When the drum is lying on the table, it sounds like crap to my ear, improving as you tuned it High (on both heads). When you lift it, it sounds so much better? I'm using HD Dry Batter heads, on both snares. The DW snare was purchased Used and came with the Hd dry batter head. It played fantastically out of the delivery box! The previous owner had it tuned perfectly to my liking. I replaced that batter head and I just can't get there? And here's a weird thing to run past you : When I placed the DW snare on top of my 16 inch Floor tom to get it out of the way in a playing session, I hit it doing a fill. Bingo - it was the perfect Sound - like a Ludwig Supraphonic, like a John Bonham sound. Take it off the Tom and it's Not the Same? Any ideas? One poster on a Drum Forum said jokingly that I may have invented a new Snare Stand! THX so Much for your feedback.

[rodrigozuniga]

Excellent video! Totally explained the "strategy" behind snare drum tuning

[ttboadd]

Great turorial. Going around the drum using the rod tension definetly cleaned up the sound, but I think the resonant head work and snare wire tension was the biggest key to getting the right sound overall. Nice work!

[orthodrummer]

What a great 👍 no nonsense practical tuning video. Well explained and properly struck to extract the sound ‘out’ of the drum.
Good stuff 😎

[jerrymckenzie]

I appreciate these tuning videos. It's obvious that you have a lot of skill and experience in this area!

[jetmanjason]

Well done. No pretentious bullski, just right to the meat and potatoes. Helped me out, I'mma retune my snare... Thanks dude!

[jacobc]

You helped me save 2 snare drums!!!! Thanks so much for clarifying what needs to be done!

[bonkeydollocks]

Always learning, I like the picking up a little snare wire sensitivity on the edge that builds in the middle, thank you.

[williewhite]

Just from listening to you I would bet anything that you are an awesome drummer in your own right. Anyway thank you very much sir.

[pdwarrior]

thank you, that was indeed very helpfull. Straight to the point

[scrolldier]

Skill unlocked! Thanks for the lesson!

[jamescox]

Nice work. I'll look forward to the next videos.

[thejman]

Excellent tutorial on snare drum tuning, thanks for putting out these videos! Just subscribed to your channel.

[davidwiezner]

Very cool informative video.. just got myself my ever dream snare.. unfortunately tuning isn't my strenght unfortunately but this video will definitely help me a lot. Might take longer but if i follow every step of the way, what bad can happen? Thank you very much.🎉😊

[asimplenickel]

Nice video! Got my snare sounding good again!

[matthewthoren]

Dude, that's awesome, sounds great!

[vacharasakpechkul]

Thank you so much for your helpful tutorial. 😊🙏🏼

I can play drums a bit and I have a kind of hybrid drum set : real snare, hi-hat, crash cymbal and an electric drum pad with bass drum trigger.

I had bought those components mentioned above one by one and for the snare drum, I haven't tuned it because I don't know how to do. 🤣

The sound of this snare drum is very too treble and some kind of resonated sound that not pleased for me, I tried to put a snare muffler on the batter head but it doesn't help.

I will try to tune this snare drum as your recommendations, this will help me getting the sound I want for sure. 😊👍🏼

[drummer_zay]

Awesome vid and awesome hair man. I watched Rob Brown and now I’m just watching others for their style of tuning, I can say yall are pretty close in technique except that he uses two drum keys to speed up the process. Cheers.

[davidmcaninch]

The snare side head, you *HAVE* to tune it up really high, table top tight, to coin the phrase. If your snare side head isn’t cranked up tight, you’re not gonna have a good snare sound. I know they say that there’s no rules when it comes to tuning drums, but I’d say this is a really important rule: crank the bottom head of your snare drum up tight, and do so *WITHOUT* breaking one or two of your tension rods. It happened to me once.