How to Tune Your Snare Drum

Introduction: Ah, the snare drum! The snare drum is the true centerpiece of a versatile drum kit and is the one defining characteristic of most any drummer. This brief guide will instruct you on how to properly and correctly tune your special snare drum to your tastes.

Preparation: First, you should be realistic with what you are working with. A small, shallow snare cannot have the sound of a quite big, deep snare and vice versa.

Step One: Turn off your snares, which are the strips of metal located underneath your drum on the clear coated skin.

Step Two: Loosen the lugs on both sides of your drum.

Step Three: It is now time to tune. However, it is important that you tune your lugs in the correct order. Starting at your 12 o' clock lug, you turn it using your drum key about a quarter of a turn. Then, you should hit the skin near the lug and keep tuning until you get a feel and resonance which sounds correct to you. Now, you should tune your lug at the 6 o' clock position. You will want the feel and tone at the 6 o' clock lug to match the 12 o' clock lug. Next, you should repeat this process for all the lugs, whilst keeping in mind to keep criss crossing from each lug to maintain an uniform feel.

Repeat this process for the bottom of the snare drum. In general, the resonant(the bottom side you don't hit) skin is more loose than the batter(the side you hit) skin. As far as specific tunings go, it's all up to you. I have a preference for keeping the bottom skin tuned to G and the top tuned to A. It makes for a very nice relationship between the skins and a solid sounding snare drum.

Step Four: Turn your snares back on. The tautness of your snares can effect your snare drum heavily. More than a few newcomers to drumming keep the snare very tight, choking the resonant head. This may sound excellent to you as you are right above the drum, however keep in mind how others will perceive this tone. From far away, there's a fair chance that the snare drum will sound very weak and scrawny. Try to hear your snare drum objectively and from different distances. A small but fair amount of tightening goes a long way.

Final: Enjoy your new found snare sound!