@@DavidOakesMusicWell put. I think they could give us a taste in how it sounds naturally. By the other hand, if they work in studio or live performances, there will be microphones everywhere 😂
You need to acoustically hear a real drum kit tuned the way drums were intended to sound. Because without mics and enablers, this kit sounds like hollow cans with over tightened drum heads.
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.
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. 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
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.
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.
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.
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.
having had the pleasure of spending time with Gregg in an intimate setting, I can confirm he's down to earth and fun. Lovely guy, super inspiring and great to chat to.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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 !!!
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!
😆 Best thing I've read all day. I was marveling that his key stayed where he set it and didn't have it move to another drum, or other part of the room. He has such amazing control.
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!
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!
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.
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.
I agree as tuning the heads to the same exact pitch. But I disagree with using any kind of tape for sustain or dampening. All you have to do is get them heads, exactly the same pitch top and bottom and loosen the farthest lug away from you where you’re playing on the Batter head (AKE) top head where you’re sitting. Loosen that far away Lug (AKE) Tension Rod slowly to get to amount of sustain you want to ring out. Forget about that towel stuff, Gel and tape. Your controlling how much the drum is sustain by just loosening that one farthest Lug from you on your Tom’s. Drummers that try this method is going to be amazed, and I’ve been playing for 64 years. As far as the Bass drum, I totally agree with him with having a pillow to adjust sustain on that and tuning it as low as possible with no wrinkles.
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.
I"ve never cared too much about that. But sometimes very tonally accurate drums can be great. My favorite example is the snare on NIN's We're In this Together Now. Just would not have nearly the same effect without that *PANG* of the snare ring being tuned just so.
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!!!
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.
I love how Gregg expressed exactly what sound he was going for... Fantastic!
Absolutely blown away at how good the kit sound mic'd up. Was not expecting that.
The kit plus a lot of microphones, gating, compression, EG, reverb etc etc.
@@DavidOakesMusicWell put. I think they could give us a taste in how it sounds naturally. By the other hand, if they work in studio or live performances, there will be microphones everywhere 😂
You need to acoustically hear a real drum kit tuned the way drums were intended to sound. Because without mics and enablers, this kit sounds like hollow cans with over tightened drum heads.
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.
I see what you did there.
Greg is one of most supportive guys you will ever meet aside from a hell of a drummer.
This is fascinating. Never seen anyone tune a drum. I could watch Greg all day.
You can tune a drum but you can't tune a fish.
First day on UA-cam? Welcome
Greg made that look far easier than it is!
@@klchu but you can fish a tuna...
Don't know that I could listen to him talk all day though.😫😁
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. 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
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.
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.
⭐️ REMO Ambassador heads forever, baby! ⭐️
Always worked for me recording drums.
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.
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.
having had the pleasure of spending time with Gregg in an intimate setting, I can confirm he's down to earth and fun. Lovely guy, super inspiring and great to chat to.
I have never heard anyone mention tuning to the pitch of the shell! That's brilliant.
Back in the day, DW used to rubber stamp their shells with the "note" at which it rang. Don't know if they still do that.
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.
Greg was my favourite drummer at the Buddy Rich Memorial concert back in the day. Cool drummer but also the coolest dude! Legend!
Very well explained! I have seen drummers spend an hour or more tuning their kit, this is so fast and efficient, with excellent results!
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.
You Tune From The Resonant Head. It's Not That Challenging And You Will HEAR IT Immediately!
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.
Gregg Bissonette is a world class drum teacher. This is a fantastic tutorial on how to tune a kit.
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.
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
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 full of joy
This is the best drum tuning video I’ve seen in years. Really useful stuff. Thank you Gregg!
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!
Fascinating! Drums sound great! Thank you all!
So good. I could watch him play all day. Such natural flow.
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 !!!
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!
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. 😀
😂
😆 Best thing I've read all day. I was marveling that his key stayed where he set it and didn't have it move to another drum, or other part of the room. He has such amazing control.
Lol, I swear bass drum pedals have a magnetic field around them
Beautiful sound!! Love Gregg, a real PRO and always sharing stories about the greats.
this is the best explanation i ever watched
The best drum educator out there. Such a fun guy to be around. And plays like a God.
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!
I have no clue what Gregg is talking about for the most part, and I don't care...he is so engaging! Love him.
Gregg is one of my favorites, an amazing drummer.
The Biss,. the gig taker, the hit maker.. This is Gold.
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 😂
❤😊 Checking if you tube will not glitch on my third try at sending this for some reason only on this video. Gotta love this!
Greg is such an amazingly great drummer
Awesome Seeing The Wooden Hoops On The Acrylic Shell To Warm Up The Sound 👍
Never had the makings of a triple flange athlete
Classic Bob Gatzen tuning system ;) Greg ain't messing around!
Rip Bob :(
When you play his session load, ain't got time to mess around. Lol! ❤
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!
Well... I hear them now. My ears are pleased! @mothflap
If you like dead thuddy sound without much sustain or pitch bend then yeah it sounds good
holy crap that kit sounds amazing.
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.
Gregg is a legend!
What snare was Gregg playing in the clip at the end?! Sounded great!
I just bought that Dixon Bissonette signature snare. Incredible sound for a reasonable price. Gregg is one of my favorite drummers!
I don't think he tuned it on this clip, though! But, it sounds amazing!
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.
love this fella he a gift to the drumming world
Wow that's awesome sounding kit micd up, he's a amazing drummer.
drums sound killer ! What a legend !
Bissonette... ALL TIME GREAT
Interesting! This is precisely how I tune my drums!!!👍
All I can think when I see Greg is Drum Channel but I always go back to Summer song.
Deep fried crispy snare Awesome!
Greg is taking over for Dom as The Drumming Ambassador.
My thought exactly.
Dom was a great drummer, teacher and drum ambassdor.
RIP Dom
❤
This was awesome! More content with him please!
Agree Gregg, coated heads so good for rock and metal 👌 Gregg you are an inspiration for all drummers and smarter musicians. ✌️💛🤘🥁🏴🇦🇺
Man, that kit sounded good at the end!
Greg is awesome , love it
thank you so much sir drummer Greg
I really like the floor tom with boing.
Learning from the best. Sometimes this channel is magic.
what an awesome drummer/musician
Dr. Grove back at it ! Alway a welcomed video
Nice to hear someone who likes to tune top and bottom heads to the same pitch.
I agree as tuning the heads to the same exact pitch. But I disagree with using any kind of tape for sustain or dampening. All you have to do is get them heads, exactly the same pitch top and bottom and loosen the farthest lug away from you where you’re playing on the Batter head (AKE) top head where you’re sitting. Loosen that far away Lug (AKE) Tension Rod slowly to get to amount of sustain you want to ring out. Forget about that towel stuff, Gel and tape. Your controlling how much the drum is sustain by just loosening that one farthest Lug from you on your Tom’s. Drummers that try this method is going to be amazed, and I’ve been playing for 64 years. As far as the Bass drum, I totally agree with him with having a pillow to adjust sustain on that and tuning it as low as possible with no wrinkles.
He’s a god. Seriously one of the best.
Cool, i have the dixon cornerstone purple titanium snare, the 6,5x14. Killer snare
Gregg is so good, he makes this look easy …
Awesome interview!!
Greg, great video. Time to ditch tape on the heads and get yourself some SnareWeight leather muffles. They work and look fantastic.
Simple set ups my fav set up salute Greg B
Last bit sounded like Bob Gullotti from The Fringe (w/ George Garzone & John Lockwood)
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.
I play Gretsch Catalina Maple, seated on a Dixon Throne. It's a practice rig, really.
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.
Of course!
I"ve never cared too much about that. But sometimes very tonally accurate drums can be great. My favorite example is the snare on NIN's We're In this Together Now. Just would not have nearly the same effect without that *PANG* of the snare ring being tuned just so.
Great Guy and great player!
Man is this where you track stuff remotely? Great gear 👌🏼
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!!!
Greg is a Very underated drummer😊
Special dude... great drummer.
The Come Together tea towel thing was too cool.
very useful and cool. Plus i now think every drumkit have at least 2 snares
Amazing. Thank you.
Beato was “like that” ing, when he did the gaff tape. 😄
Whinnie the Pooh plays drums… who knew? Seriously though watching Mr. Bissonette tune by ear is amazing.
nice reference!
Any tips on tuning the snare? It was the only thing he didn't tune in this video, unless I missed it...
Mind blown for 11 mins and 26 secs.
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.
My question what is some of the microphones are that Greg likes to use both in the studio as well as live?
What a pretty kit.
This is great... but what about tuning the snare???
Awesome. This goes to show that you don't have to tune high for jazz!
I am extremely upset that this channel isn't called Rick Beatwo
Those Dixons coming out now look great.
Such a talented friendly guy 👌
A truly great drummer.
A cool Canadian.