Have you ever thought that drums have to be tuned? As a matter of fact they do, but not in the same way as guitars or basses. There is not a tune you have to reach in tuning drums. However, the drum has to sound good and even more important, that this sound satisfies your expectations. I will mainly explain the way to tune tom-toms of the regular drum-set.

The first step is to remove both drumheads and wipe off the hoops and edges of the drum. After doing so, put back in the bottom drumhead and with your fingers, tighten up each rod until it reaches the counter hoop. This has to be done in a "star-like" sequence in order to have the same amount of tension in every lug. Start with any lug. Then, go to the one that is right in front of the lug you have already tightened. Afterwards, skip one lug (right or left) and tighten up the next lug in the same way you did with the first one. Repeat the steps until you have finished with all the lugs of the drum.

The second step is to get your drum key and tension each rod by ¼ turn increments until the head can actually sounds. Follow the same "star-like" sequence as before. Repeat this procedure two or three times depending on the sound you would like to get. If you would like to have a higher pitch, repeat the procedure more times. It is recommended to have a higher pitch here than in the upper drumhead.

If you are done with the bottom head, go to the third step: move on with the upper drumhead. Apply the same method, except that you do not have to tighten up this head as much as the lower head. Repeat the ¼ increments until you get the sound you want. If the drum has too many harmonics, you can muffle one or both head with dampers.

Keep in mind that in order to get a tuned sound out of your toms you will have to do this process in all of your toms. The goal is to have a descendent interval from the smallest tom to the largest tom. However, remember that you are not tuning them according to a specific scale. Follow this method and you will have no problems in tuning your tom-toms.

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