Tom tuning idea

KenDoken

KenDoken

Junior Member
I have finally thought of a reason to play a 5 piece kit

If Floor tom-Rack tom-Snare were tuned to make a major chord ( for instance A-C#-E )

could you have a second rack tom tuned down a semitone ( i.e A-C-E )

This way you use the high tom for happy songs and low tom for the sad ones. I this a good idea or just a slippery slopes to a Bozzio sized kit?
 
"This next one....is really sad....so I need you to tune your drums to B-minor."
Mr. Ken..it's the little nuances that can make the difference. So..it might be really good.
One more minor key tom coming. "dern....this throne is slippery.....and sloped."
 
That’s more of a studio detail than a live detail to me. Plus your method assumes all songs will be in A or A minor, and they won’t. You have to tune to something and an A chord is as good as anything. I do it myself. But I think it’s pointless to have a half step interval when the pitch isn’t going to be relevant to all keys anyway.
 
I’ve always felt best playing a 5 piece kit. I can play a 4 piece no problem and even a 6 piece sometimes.. But 5 is my magic number. It has to do with the sweet spot of pulling off all the sounds I need and the minimum amount of loading/ setup.
 
KenDoken said:
I have finally thought of a reason to play a 5 piece kit

If Floor tom-Rack tom-Snare were tuned to make a major chord ( for instance A-C#-E )

could you have a second rack tom tuned down a semitone ( i.e A-C-E )

This way you use the high tom for happy songs and low tom for the sad ones. I this a good idea or just a slippery slopes to a Bozzio sized kit?
Click to expand...
I say it's heading to a Bozio sized kit if you get the bug and want to have all the notes in the scale..
I personally never tuned to a note because I found that every time I tried that, I was off from the sound I like, as if there was something missing, it just didn't sound right to me.
 
KenDoken said:
I have finally thought of a reason to play a 5 piece kit

If Floor tom-Rack tom-Snare were tuned to make a major chord ( for instance A-C#-E )

could you have a second rack tom tuned down a semitone ( i.e A-C-E )

This way you use the high tom for happy songs and low tom for the sad ones. I this a good idea or just a slippery slopes to a Bozzio sized kit?
Click to expand...

If you play that second rack tom during a song in a major key and everyone turns around and scowls, please let me know. :ROFLMAO:

If you want to hear something really complex when it comes to tuning, here's mine:

  • If there are 2 rack toms and 1 floor tom, then then I tune to "3 Blind Mice."
  • If there's only a rack tom and a floor tom, I tune to "George of the Jungle."
  • If I have 1 rack and 2 floors, I still tune to "George of the Jungle." That last tom? I tune it so low that when I hit it, I automatically do a stank face and nod to myself. That's when I know it's good.
 
In Jazz two toms (Mounted and a floor) is
"My Mamma Done Told Me"

or equally
"salt-pea-nuts salt pea-nuts"

5 piece two mounted one floor 10,12,14, etc
is Oregon's "Icarus".
 
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JimmyM said:
That’s more of a studio detail than a live detail to me. Plus your method assumes all songs will be in A or A minor, and they won’t. You have to tune to something and an A chord is as good as anything. I do it myself. But I think it’s pointless to have a half step interval when the pitch isn’t going to be relevant to all keys anyway
Click to expand...
Don't think I explained myself very well. I'm a bit of an infant when it comes to harmony. I guess it's more about soloing than mixing with the band. This guy expresses it better
 
KenDoken said:
Don't think I explained myself very well. I'm a bit of an infant when it comes to harmony. I guess it's more about soloing than mixing with the band. This guy expresses it better
Click to expand...
Well then give it a shot for a while and make up your own mind about it. Worst that happens is you try something else.
 
Rack and first floor, the two accent notes at the beginning (ish) of 2001 a space oddity ; dun duh. Or the first two notes of George of the jungle.

Second floor to first floor, jaws

Adjust for taste.
 
Square said:
Rack and first floor, the two accent notes at the beginning (ish) of 2001 a space oddity ; dun duh. Or the first two notes of George of the jungle.

Second floor to first floor, jaws

Adjust for taste.
Click to expand...
That's a perfect 4th, right? Are both heads on each drum tuned to the same pitch as well?
 
Isn't this sort of the reasoning behind Hal Blaine's recording setup in the 70s, with a bazillion single-head toms? The idea being that he didn't actually use them all, he just wanted the available options to select which 1-3 toms were the "perfect" choice for that particular tune without having to waste time re-tuning everything all day to find out.

So in theory it's fine enough of an idea. Sometimes you want one of the toms just a little higher or lower, and adding toms allows that option in the moment. If musicians are allowed to be picky enough about woodblock pitches to have a rack with 6 woodblocks, they're allowed to be picky about precise drum intervals.

The only limiting factor is the inconvenience of space that comes from adding more toms, which is the real issue, and a big one. Big enough that the "4- or 5-piece" debate even exists at all.
 
I like two toms but I like the idea-so I'd have a 12in and 14 in toms with coated heads tuned a major chord like 2A and 2F, then a 13 and 16 in toms with clear heads-maybe dots and tune them to major thirds so 2G# and 2 C lower end tuning. I don't know how they'd sound together but my idea is play in pairs.
 
Thirds, fourths, fifths, 7-ths, George-of-the-Jungle. You folks are killin' me!

They're drums, dang it! Tune 'em so they sound good to you and serve the rest of the band. If you're a basement dweller like me, who would know or even care?!?

I'm gonna tune mine to the Gilligan's Island theme song. ;)
 
Introvert Holiday said:
That's a perfect 4th, right? Are both heads on each drum tuned to the same pitch as well?
Click to expand...
I tune the reso side higher than the batter. I don’t have a set interval between the two that I shoot for. I start with the reso pretty tight and then use the batter to find my notes/tones.

With small adjustments to the reso if required,
I just set the difference to get the tone quality that I want. No basket ball overtones, and I try to minimize the rising or falling overtones.
 
Smoke said:
Thirds, fourths, fifths, 7-ths, George-of-the-Jungle. You folks are killin' me!

They're drums, dang it! Tune 'em so they sound good to you and serve the rest of the band. If you're a basement dweller like me, who would know or even care?!?

I'm gonna tune mine to the Gilligan's Island theme song. ;)
Click to expand...
(The answer is Mary Ann.)
 
Smoke said:
Thirds, fourths, fifths, 7-ths, George-of-the-Jungle. You folks are killin' me!

They're drums, dang it! Tune 'em so they sound good to you and serve the rest of the band. If you're a basement dweller like me, who would know or even care?!?

I'm gonna tune mine to the Gilligan's Island theme song. ;)
Click to expand...
Not much of a spread.

;)

I’ll tell you why I tune in chords…I can’t not do it. Your way of doing it is fine as long as you’re happy, but I can’t unhear pitches and I don’t like hitting drums with clashing notes on the heads. They get the out of tune wibbly wobbles.
 
Smoke said:
Thirds, fourths, fifths, 7-ths, George-of-the-Jungle. You folks are killin' me!

They're drums, dang it! Tune 'em so they sound good to you and serve the rest of the band. If you're a basement dweller like me, who would know or even care?!?
Click to expand...

I wish it was that easy. 😄

I posted about this in another thread today, but I just don't have the ear for tuning. When I started playing, I thought I was making the drums sound "good"...but then I'd play them at a show and realize that they definitely did not. The advice I could find in magazines and online at the time was always vague, so I felt lost.

Nowadays, I use a TuneBot consistently and tweak tunings based on intervals. While the kit sound isn't exactly where I want yet, it's so much easier to get in the ballpark of "good" using interval-based tuning.
 
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