Drum Tuning « Drumatic Innovation Drum Circles

All About Drums

Give your Drum A Tune Up

Will I need to tune my hand drum?

If the head of your hand drum is made from goat skin, the pitch will change with changes in humidity. I don’t think these slight changes in pitch should cause you to tune up the drum. Your drum should maintain its pitch without you needing to constantly tune it. As you advance and develop an ear or preference for a particular, you may want to experiment with different tunings.

How do I know when my drum is in tune? What should I listen for?

Listen for open, deep bass tones and a nice sharp crack when slapped. Look for a drum that’s easy for you to play. You should not have to use a full force blow to extract a nice tone. The drum should sound good or respond at all volume levels. The tone should have a nice sustain without strange overtones or pitch shifts/bends. If you do encounter these symptoms, they can usually be corrected with tuning. They can also be the result of a poor quality head or an uneven bearing edge. If it’s just a tuning issue, you can test this by placing the drum on the floor, holding it down with one hand, striking the drum and pulling up on the lacing. If the pitch evens out or improves, it’s likely just out of tune.

Should I get a drum with a rope or a mechanical tuning system?

Some drums are tuned with rope and others with mechanical systems. I prefer drums with rope tuning systems. Rope tuning systems are more authentic and tend to sound richer and more full bodied. Mechanical systems are easy to tune but often sound thinner.

Rope systems are usually associated with goat skin heads while mechanical systems are associated with plastic heads.

It’s not hard to tune a drum but it does require some strength. A rope puller is a great device!

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Possibly one of the best tools ever made for tuning your drum

Rope Puller
The best ever tool for tightening the ropes on your Djembe only $20

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Pulling "Diamonds" to the Right

Moving UP A Row

Pulling "Diamonds" to the Left

Moving UP A Row

“The spirit of the drum is something that you feel but cannot put your hands on,
It does something to you from the inside out.
It hits people in so many different ways.
But the feeling is one that is satisfying and joyful.
It is a feeling that makes you say to yourself,
I’m glad to be alive today! I’m glad to be part of this world!”
—Babatunde Olatunji— 1927-2003