How the Pros Tune Their Drums (Feat. Gregg Bissonette) 

This is fascinating. Never seen anyone tune a drum. I could watch Greg all day.

Absolutely blown away at how good the kit sound mic'd up. Was not expecting that.

I love how Gregg expressed exactly what sound he was going for... Fantastic!

Gregg is the kinda guy you could hang with and talk about anything...oatmeal, wallpaper paste, medical equipment...I don't care, he's just so down to earth and fun.

Gregg is not only super talented, he's also super informative -- and super NICE! I always look forward to your presentations with him Rick, and I hope there's plenty more to come in 2024. Happy New Year!

Gregg is one of my favorite drummers. Such a versatile player. I met Gregg one time at Berklee in 1993. He was so down to earth and nice. He gave me a pair of his Vic Firth signature sticks.

Greg, you didn't drop your tuning key and have it land right under your bass pedal. Thats what separates the pros from the rest. 😀

Gregg, I’m 52, almost 53, and I still have my Stubbs from seeing you with David Lee Roth in 1986 & ‘88, you guys were the best concert I ever saw, especially in ‘86, for the “Eat em and smile” tour, damn … nothing more that needs to be said. 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

Greg is one of most supportive guys you will ever meet aside from a hell of a drummer.

Remember, Gregg has been tuning drums for a long time. It may take a while to develop your ear to be able to tune as quick as him. Also, love the gaff tape tents! Really great for helping to control the sustain of the drum. Met Gregg many years ago. Such a beacon of energy and positivity. Glad he's being featured on this channel.

I have never heard anyone mention tuning to the pitch of the shell! That's brilliant.

Greg was my favourite drummer at the Buddy Rich Memorial concert back in the day. Cool drummer but also the coolest dude! Legend!

Very informative. I have watched lots of videos on this topic and I don’t recall hitting the side of the drum to get a pitch range.i will be trying it out very soon.

Cool vid! The first rule of drums is that there *are no rules.* That’s what’s unique about drums. Whatever sounds best to you personally for tuning, heads, setup, muffling, etc. is what you should do.

This is one of the better tuning explanations I’ve seen. I’ve always been a little uncertain about the best approach. I like his organic and simple approach. I’ve been guilty of tuning out too much tone and natural character of the shell. His way gives you choices with a more natural starting point without the brain surgery.

Years ago when I still lived in Portland, Oregon, I was acquainted with Brian Willis, then the drummer of Quarterflash. His drums sounded very musical. When I asked him how he tuned his drums, he told me that he started with the snare and tuned them in descending fourths, beginning with the top head of the snare. So top of snare was a specific tone, bottom of the snare a fourth below, then first rack Tom, a fourth below bottom snare, then bottom head of first rack Tom, a fourth below the top head, continuing that way for the rest of the kit. Then he used powder puffs as bottom head mutes to control, at will, the resonance of the bottom head like a mechanical gate. Very elaborate, but his drums had a very uniquely musical sound.

For me another fascinating thing about this is that he just makes the sound with his voice to communicate to the audience the idea of how he tunes his drums. He says "toom! toom!", "boing", etc. Using technical terms (if any) won't really help less-informed audiences (like myself 😅) to understand the idea of what he's trying to communicate. Just making the sound with his voice made me understand immediately. Awesome.

I’ve always wondered how to tune drums. This is actually fun to watch, coming from a guitar! I find myself being more and more interested in understanding other instruments lately. I think it makes for a better guitar player when you can understand where other musicians and their instruments are coming from.

Gregg is full of joy

Very well explained! I have seen drummers spend an hour or more tuning their kit, this is so fast and efficient, with excellent results!

Doesn’t get any cooler than Gregg, i remember playing his Vic Firth signature stick. AMAZING talented drummer and all around nice guy for the win!

This is the best drum tuning video I’ve seen in years. Really useful stuff. Thank you Gregg!

Gregg Bissonette is a world class drum teacher. This is a fantastic tutorial on how to tune a kit.

Fascinating! Drums sound great! Thank you all!

Greg has always been a great influence I remember being 13yo and drumming a long to a flexi disc I got from Modern Drummer with him playing I’m 50yo now I love he’s still at it

So good. I could watch him play all day. Such natural flow.

⭐️ REMO Ambassador heads forever, baby! ⭐️ Always worked for me recording drums.

Beautiful sound!! Love Gregg, a real PRO and always sharing stories about the greats.

This is how summoning the tone of the Drumming Gods looks like.

He mentions it from 1:59 to 2:35 - Find the Natural resonance of the shell, and tune the top and bottom heads to that pitch - for a straight cannon tom sound. NOTE: Tune the bottom head a minor third lower, for the classic 'drop tone' tom sound. (LPT: to find the natural resonance, take the skins and hoops off the drum, tape down the spring loaded nuts with painter's tape so they don't rattle. then hold the drum sideways from the inside with your thumb, and strike the drum with the heel of your hand - a tuning app helps here) The pitch the shell makes (natural resonance pitch) is the pitch you shoot for when tuning your drum. I marked the pitch inside each of the shells with a sharpie... have used that technique for decades, never fails.

Clearly Gregg knows his drums and the sounds they make superbly well and can take short cuts that most can't - kit sounds great at the end. I was a live sound engineer a lifetime ago and after learning a lot from a fine drummer early on I often taught and then collaborated with drummers on how to tune their drums better - it makes such a difference. Once I had one part of the head tuned to match the body as desired I would go to the opposite side tuning peg, get them the same and then go round one tuning peg and then back to its opposite, and repeat until we'd got back to the beginning. Always found that quicker and more consistent than going round the circle. One percussionist I worked with told a story of one of his tutors at music school listening to him tuning his kit, asking him to hit certain drums in order and then declared "A Minor" before walking off looking very satisfied!

Your Video Is So Awesome, I’ve Been Playing Drums For 57 Years, And I Tune My Drums, And My Drums Sound Exactly Like Yours, And I Was Unsure If I Was Tuning Them Right, But After Watching Your Video I Knew Then I Doing It Right, Thank You So Much, I Tune By Ear Too. You Rock Brother

Gregg is one of my favorites, an amazing drummer.

Greg is such an amazingly great drummer

Deep fried crispy snare Awesome!

Fascinating to watch! 👍🏻 I‘ve seen my son‘s drum teacher tuning his kit once but I had absolutely no idea what his approach was 😂

Gregg is a legend!

I just met Gregg at my friends birthday party and he is the nicest guy you will ever meet ! We had the best time with Fred Coury of Cinderella !! What a night !!!

I just got a new KIT and this helped me SO much. Thank you BOTH!

This is fantastic! My classroom drum set has been sounding rough for a while now, and I will DEFINITELY be applying this to it on Monday morning! Thank you guys so much!

drums sound killer ! What a legend !

Bissonette... ALL TIME GREAT

The best drum educator out there. Such a fun guy to be around. And plays like a God.

holy crap that kit sounds amazing.

Classic Bob Gatzen tuning system ;) Greg ain't messing around!

Greg is taking over for Dom as The Drumming Ambassador.

The Biss,. the gig taker, the hit maker.. This is Gold.

I have no clue what Gregg is talking about for the most part, and I don't care...he is so engaging! Love him.

Awesome Seeing The Wooden Hoops On The Acrylic Shell To Warm Up The Sound 👍

This was awesome! More content with him please!

I just found my picture of me with Greg from decades ago when he did a clinic in Detroit during his David Lee Roth days. Thankfully he spared us the Bodyglove outfit that day, but I've long been a fan of this dude for just being so damn cool. If you happen to speak with him again I'd love to here him talk about our mutual percussion tutor Myron McDonald from way back when.

beautiful rythm, sound, explaining and playing

When he first started ringing them and tuning them while he was talking to you, I was not confident he was going to have a great sounding kit. But that little riff he does at the end proved me wrong. Especially the snare. The snare sounds amazing. That's why he's a pro!

He’s a god. Seriously one of the best.

Interesting! This is precisely how I tune my drums!!!👍

I just bought that Dixon Bissonette signature snare. Incredible sound for a reasonable price. Gregg is one of my favorite drummers!

All I can think when I see Greg is Drum Channel but I always go back to Summer song.

love this fella he a gift to the drumming world

Greg, great video. Time to ditch tape on the heads and get yourself some SnareWeight leather muffles. They work and look fantastic.

Those Dixons coming out now look great.

❤😊 Checking if you tube will not glitch on my third try at sending this for some reason only on this video. Gotta love this!

Man is this where you track stuff remotely? Great gear 👌🏼

Whinnie the Pooh plays drums… who knew? Seriously though watching Mr. Bissonette tune by ear is amazing.

Learning from the best. Sometimes this channel is magic.

Agree Gregg, coated heads so good for rock and metal 👌 Gregg you are an inspiration for all drummers and smarter musicians. ✌️💛🤘🥁🏴🇦🇺

He starts playing. I just say out loud... holy shi7

I love Gregg

Nice to hear someone who likes to tune top and bottom heads to the same pitch.

I really like the floor tom with boing.

what an awesome drummer/musician

Simple set ups my fav set up salute Greg B

What snare was Gregg playing in the clip at the end?! Sounded great!

Wow that's awesome sounding kit micd up, he's a amazing drummer.

At last! I bought this drum bot, new to drums... Bought a nice set of Tama drums from somebody's kid, all outa-tune... Drum-bot has several tuning options... And, here I am , just starting out with drums.... Which tuning??? So confused. Tune to the shell. Thank you!!!

We've been tuning the drums to the key of the song we are recording. It really sounds great. Wonder if anyone else does that.

Greg is awesome , love it thank you so much sir drummer Greg

Amazing. Thank you.

Man, that kit sounded good at the end!

very useful and cool. Plus i now think every drumkit have at least 2 snares

this is the best explanation i ever watched

technically, in the physics of sound and frequency. If you tune both heads equal, the probability of not getting a good tone is greater because is too difficult to achieve. Mostly you need to tune the drums in fifths, fourths or even in mayor thirds. Also you can control the sustain by that relation of freqs.

What a pretty kit.

Love it. I just wish he'd gone into depth on tuning his snare. Does he also tune top and bottom head to the shell? Or does he does he run that reso head up tight? I'd love to know.

Dr. Grove back at it ! Alway a welcomed video

I am extremely upset that this channel isn't called Rick Beatwo

I didn’t even know that Dixon was still in business! Some of the first hardware I bought in my teens was Dixon; I bought it because I was broke and it was affordable…. and it was crap. Absolute crap. Apparently, Dixon has raised their game since 1988; Gregg Bissonette just declared it’s his favourite brand 😮🤯 very interesting! But, nothing will ever replace my ‘61 Camco Ambassadors.

Gregg is so good, he makes this look easy …

A truly great drummer. A cool Canadian.

Greg is a Very underated drummer😊

Awesome. This goes to show that you don't have to tune high for jazz!

Special dude... great drummer.

Cool, i have the dixon cornerstone purple titanium snare, the 6,5x14. Killer snare

The Come Together tea towel thing was too cool.

Last bit sounded like Bob Gullotti from The Fringe (w/ George Garzone & John Lockwood)

Imteresting and helpful.

Awesome interview!!

Un tipo extraordinario.

Such a talented friendly guy 👌

Great Guy and great player!

I'm not a wood hoop guy, but I really dig that acrylic snare. And she's a 12 lug 😍🥰