The Ultimate Drum Tuning Guide

Ten steps to better drum tuning

1. It’s not hard

The first hurdle to overcome in obtaining a good drum sound is that tuning a drum is not hard. Many books, articles, and videos have been written about it over the years, but instead of giving you something else to learn, this guide will let you apply what you already know to tuning your drums, and you will soon agree that tuning your instrument is not hard.

2. Like tuning a guitar

Can you tune a guitar? Even most "non-musicians" can recognize pitch differential. Tuning a drum is all about recognizing pitch differential. I strongly suggest getting any instrument, like a guitar, and spending some time listening to the pitches between strings. Practice until you can hear not only if two strings are close, but if there is any wavering in pitch as both strings sustain. Listen until you can tell which string is high and low while both strings are resonating.

I recommend a few weeks of practice, not on a drum. I know it may be hard to have the patience to wait, but getting a good sense of pitches and their relationships, is crucial to simplifying your drum tuning. You will learn through this process that very small adjustments made to a string will cause a major adjustment in tuning. All of these practices carry over directly to the drum

See steps 3-10 in the full PDF article here.