Tuning the Snare Drum

You'll follow a different procedure when tuning the snare drum than you did for the other drums in the drum kit. When tuning the toms or the bass drum, you want both the top and the bottom heads of the drum to be at more or less the same the snare drum, you should tighten the bottom head as tight as you can within reason. There's no need to tighten the head so much that the drum implodes, but the tighter the bottom head, the better the snare response.So, tighten that bottom snare head as much as you can without making a strength test out of it, and you should be good to go. To tune the top head of the snare drum, follow the same procedure that you did to tune the top head of any of the toms. Remember to always tighten the rods from one side to the other, just like with the toms. To get a nice, crisp snare drum sound, you can tighten each rod somewhat past the point where the wrinkles on the head disappear.Experimentation is the key to finding the snare drum sound that you like. Some drummers like a very high-pitched sound from their snare drum, while other drummers prefer a lower, tubbier sound or anywhere in between these extremes. It's really a matter of personal preference when it comes to snare sounds. A good way for you to determine what kind of snare sound you might be looking for is to listen closely to the sound of the snare drum in the music that you like to listen to. Is it medium-pitched? High-pitched or low? This will at least give you a snare sound to shoot for.