Can You Tune Your Drum Heads? If you play the drums, and have spent some money on a kit, it is imperative that you take care of your drum heads. This is the white surface that is stretched across the drum. It is the part of the instrument that you hit, and is largely responsible for the sound that you get. When many people think about the drums, they don’t usually think about tuning. When we think about tuning we think about a guitar, or a piano, or another string instrument. We all know that strings will stretch when we play them and change tone. That is why guitars have tuning bolts so you can adjust the tension of the string. But guess what? Drums have a very similar system. Drum heads are made of different material and will stretch due to heat and use. You need to tune your drums to make sure that they fit your playing style. This is most apparent in timpani drums. These drums have a large face and can be stretched and tuned to different notes. For your typical drum set, you might not be able to tune your drum to a G or to a C, but you can change the pitch of the drum. You can make it tighter and more responsive, or you can make it loose, and sloppy sounding. Your drum heads will last a long time, depending on how hard you play, but eventually they are going to need to be replaced. You do not have to buy a whole new drum. You just have to buy the material that stretches across its face. Learning how to adjust your drums is a very important part of any drummers skill set. You need to take care of your heads, and make sure that they are the right tightness for your playing style. For a good guide to tuning your drum heads, you will see 4 or 6 lugs on the drum rim, place a spirit level over the rim. Next take your drum key and turn the lug to tighten the head. You want to end up with the same tone when hit with a drum stick at each lug point. The tone of the drum is a personal choice but for mounted tom toms and floor tom toms try and have a distinguished tone for each drum. Your snare drum is tuned basically the same but again depending on how crisp a sound you want. A little tip :Drums made from Maple or Birch wood give a fantastic sound. The drums are heavier than the modern drums of today. My Trixon Drums have Calf skin heads for the tom toms and bass drum. My snare drum is a steel shell Ludwig snare with plastic heads on , again a great sound. Want to get started on your drumming experience click on the image below.
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