Tom Tuning for Jazz, Bebop, and more | Season 2 - Episode 3

Tuning your whole kit up high isn’t necessarily just for jazz but it’s certainly an approach that takes its fair share of influence bebop, big band, and more. But how high are we really talking and how do the toms relate to the rest of the kit? All this and more in the latest episode!

Drums: Precision Drum Company - Maple
Bass Drum: 18x14”
Rack Tom: 12x8"
Floor Tom: 14x14"
Batter: Evans Calftone
Reso: Evans G1 Coated

Snare Drum: Noble & Cooley 14x6.5"
Batter: Evans Calftone

Presenting Sponsor: Promark by D’Addario
Production Partners: Evans Drumheads
Hosted by: Cody Rahn
Production: Ben O'Brien Smith @ Cadence Independent Media

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*NOTE: Troll comments will be deleted. You're welcome to disagree with whatever you like but let's keep the conversation civilized and focused on drums.
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Sounds Like a Drum is a CADENCE INDEPENDENT MEDIA production

[farshimelt]

In the late 50's, early 60's I tuned my drums Max Roach high. One night a good Jazz drummer sat in and after word said, "You're drums feel like marble slabs." I've played with your first tuning ever since then. BTW, even with synthetic heads, Max tuned real high. Blakey tuned much lower, Elvin high, Philly Joe a bit lower, Roy Haynes, high. Peter Erskine & Jeff Hamilton tune beautifully. The main thing is that the intervals between the drums sound musical. Frank Butler's drums sounded and felt like cardboard boxes but he was a great player. One night Chico Hamilton sat in on Frank's drums and after the first tune, stood up and said, "Frank Butler, you must be a genius to be able play on these drums." Frank was a musical genius. Check out the Fox by Harold Land. I said all that to say this; excellent demo, thank you.

[Onyxaxe]

Just bought my first drumset. A budget Jazz kit. The stock heads had no life in lower tunings, so I applied this videos advice. My lil kit sounds awesome now. Thank You!

[sungjindrums]

One of my favorite videos so far. Higher drums with smaller groups and lower with bigger, just great advice.

[Brickeh]

Just want to say that you're channel is ridiculous (good ridiculous). You have such good info and it seems like every time I need help with something you end up posting a video about it the next day lol. I've learned a ton from you guys, keep it up!!

[nested_King]

Perfect explanation of the concept for those who aren't fans of the sound.

[Rogersdrumvideos]

My favorite video yet.
That first tuning is my tuning so this was near and dear to my heart.
Those drums sound great

[PanicMachine]

I adore this channel. Informative, relaxed, clear and concise. I am not a jazz guy - nobody ever wants to hear me butcher a basic jazz shuffle believe me - but every one of your videos irrespective of subject matter contains something I can use to improve my understanding of the kit. Thank you!!!

[yharnamhoonter]

I’m a rock and jazz drummer and that kit sounds incredible. Thanks for the video it helped a lot!

[kirkmcconnor]

Who Thumbs Downed this video? Seriously. Great job Cody and Ben. You guys have helped me learn and enjoy my drums and drumming even more than I already did. I hadn't ever tuned my kit this high. The sound is great. Sure put my shortcomings as a player in the spotlight though!

[alejandrobustos]

Billy Higgins drum set is perfect exemple of high tunning and beautiful sound.

[davidsuprenant]

Cody, up until about a year ago I always tunned my toms kinda low. 10, 12, 14, and 16 inch.with 18x22 kick.I bought a gretsch USA bop kit and my whole tunning process changed for my larger kit.I tried tunning the larger kit up and man what a great sound, not to mention the rebound factor.These small sizes really sing, I am hooked.I tune all my batter heads about a quarter turn higher than the reso. Gotta love these small kits.They really project like much larger drums.I wish I would have discovered them years ago.Could have saved my back.!!!

[miles-]

and ... finally somebody who put the coated heads as the rezo/bottom heads!!!! that´s why they sing nice !!!!

[filiperebello]

Amazing as always. I'm into Jamaican jazz (traditional ska), rocksteady and ska jazz, and I used to play gigs with a Pearl Rhythm Traveller kit, no reso heads, Remo Encore Drumheads. Really small drums, and the result was kind of the big band approach tunning. I think its totally usable sound even if it's not the way it "suppose to sound" a ska gig. One more time thanks for the incredible amount of information you guys are the best.

[videobrains]

I've tuned on the high side since an old jazz drummer taught me how back in the 80s. I used this very high tuning in church once. It was old skool 1960s semi open, no airconditioning, , with lots of concrete, and weird reverb. The resident kit was maintained by the teenagers playing the praise and worship services, tuned thuddy low, sounded like a muddy mess. Elders complained about it being noisy, and put it behind a plexiglass cage, making it sound even worse. I ended up bringing my own kit (22, 16, 12, 14) and tuning it bop high for articulation. Nobody complained, and I actually got compliments for the sound.

[whatskraken]

as someone who plays some jazz piano, guitar, and bass, who has gotten into recording and production a lot recently, this is honestly amazing. a comprehensive look not only at _what_ the common techniques are but _why_ they are and how that might change depending on the situation makes it so much easier to understand what the final goal should be depending on the specific arrangement. i generally had a feel for what jazz drums generally should sound like just from listening to a lot of jazz but this reaffirmed the things i got right and corrected the things i got wrong. genuinely a great video.

[pbensonfran]

Very nice that you know the history of playing drums in Jazz. I am sure this has helped you a lot.

[SpittinSquirell]

Great video! I come from a rock background and recently bought a Tama Club-JAM for practice. I am not use to the smaller sized drums and have had a hard time tuning them right. After watching this I realize I've been trying to tune them like I tune my big rock kit. Thanks Cody!

[henryrdesouza]

I particularly liked this episode. I wasn't really aware of lower bottoms. Anyway I've never played this turning and everything I did so far is on the pop/rock tuning. Great channel and info.

[ianmuessig]

I've really taken to the higher tuning approach even for non jazz settings. I prefer smaller drums so the higher pitch gives them a bit more attack, the Stewart Copeland concept. Please do a video on up-tempo ride technique. Would be a great companion video.

[jazztoad]

Fantastic useful information! I play in a band which plays different genres of music. I enjoy listening to Jazz both old and new. So recently I've been playing a smaller kit, tuned up a little higher than my rockish drum kit. I wanted to use the articulation of the tunings and experiment how the higher tuning would fit the songs we do. So far, I love playing the drums tuned that way and our sound guy loves them too! You can always make a small, higher tuned kit sound larger, but not the other way around. I'm definitely going to experiment with the lower reso tuning and the batter higher. !! Thanks so much for the great video!!