Drummyjoey said:
I just can't get it. I want to do it by ear, but I feel like whenever I turn one lug, the rest all change in pitch as well. I can make it so one is all the way loose and the rest very tight and there is minimal difference in pitch. What gives? Any help is appreciated.
Oh, and PLEASE don't refer me to the drum tuning bible...I found that to be no help at all.
Take both heads off.
Place the drum top down & start with the bottom head.
Place the head onto the drum, line it up how you want if you're that picky (I am!)
Put the rim on top of the head, and tension each lug as tight as you can with your fingers....I only use one hand to tighten, so I know they'll be as close as I can possibly keep them. Also, make sure you follow the correct pattern around the drum, to keep tension even.
Next, take your drum key & tighten all the lugs....start by going around the drum, tightening each lug 180 degrees....do that twice.
If the head isn't near the pitch you want it to be at this point, go around the lugs turning each one only 90 degrees, until the pitch is close to what you're looking for....remember, keep using that pattern around the drum to keep the tension even.
Once you have the overall pitch of the drum close to what you're looking for, hit the head with the drum key about 1" from the rim at each lug. Make sure you muffle the head with your other hand right after you hit it, so you only get the main note (pitch) the head puts out...not all the overtones.
Go around the drum a couple of times, and see which lugs are lower in pitch. It's easier to bring them up to the pitch of other lugs, than it is to tune down....I'm not sure why this is, just my experience & opinion of a few people I've read from.
Once you've identified the lower-pitched (flat) lugs, start tightening them in VERY SMALL increments, one at a time. I'm talking 1/16th of a turn at a time, until it gets up to the pitch it needs to be at to match the other lug. Keep in mind, THIS WILL raise the pitch of all of your lugs slightly, as the entire head is being tightened as you do this. It should still be close to the pitch you reached after the 90 degree turns mentioned above.
Because of this, you may get one lug in tune, and go to the next one to find that putting it in tune places your last lug back out of tune.....that's expected. That's why small incremements, and patience pay off....the bigger turn you take on the lugs at this stage, the more you effect the entire drum. To combat this, I try to tune at this stage using the same pattern I used when tightening the head the rest of the time. Get one lug tuned, go to the next, etc....and back to #1 again....pretty soon, it'll just narrow itself down and everything will be good to go.
For the top head....repeat this same procedure, making sure that the bottom head is completely muffled so you only hear the top head while you're tuning it. The cool thing about the top head, is how its relationship with the bottom head will affect the drum's sound. Personally, I tune my top head about a third in pitch lower than my bottom head, so the sound of the drum will bend down in pitch to the next drum.....I tune each drum a fourth in pitch apart.
There are a TON of different things you can do with the relationship between the heads and drums....probably better to put that in another thread if it's needed!
Someone let me know if I left anything out....
