Choosing Drum Sounds for a Style: Tuning, Cymbals, Sticks
How tuning, damping, cymbal weight and stick choice point the same kit at jazz, funk, rock or metal, and how to match them to the room.
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How to Set Up Your Drum Kit (and Tune It)
Set up your drum kit around your body, in the right order, then tune each drum so it has a clear note. A step-by-step guide for new drummers.
The same kit can play jazz, funk, rock or metal. What changes is how you tune it, which cymbals you put on it and what you hold in your hands. Get those right and the style is half there before you play a note.
None of what follows is a rule. These are the usual choices, taken from the sound of the records. Use them as a starting point and let your ears and the room decide.
Tuning for a style
Higher and tighter suits jazz and funk. A tight snare cracks quickly, and toms tuned up sing with a clear pitch. Jazz drummers often leave the drums open, with little or no damping, so they ring.
Lower and fatter suits rock and pop. The snare drops in pitch and gets a bigger, deeper crack, and the toms thud rather than sing. The bass/kick is tuned low, often with the resonant head damped for a short, punchy note.
A ringing high tom sounds right in a jazz trio and wrong under a heavy guitar. Tune for the song you’re about to play.
If you’re new to tuning, start with how to set up and tune your kit, so every drum has a clear note before you move it higher or lower.
Damping and snare wires
Damping soaks up overtones, so the note is shorter and drier. From light to heavy:
- a small gel pad stuck near the edge of the head
- a plastic ring laid round the edge of the head
- a wallet or folded cloth on the head, the old studio trick
More gel, less ring. Add a little at a time and listen.
The snare wires have their own tension knob. Tighter wires are crisp and choked; looser wires are buzzy and sensitive. If the snare buzzes every time you play the bass/kick, the wires are probably too loose, and a small turn tighter usually cures it.
Cymbals for a style
Two things decide most of a cymbal’s character: its weight and its finish.
Thin cymbals tend to be darker and lower, respond quickly, and wash out when you hit them hard. Heavy cymbals tend to be brighter and louder, cut through a loud band, and give clear stick definition. Lathed, shiny cymbals tend to sound brighter; raw or hammered ones darker and drier.
Each type has its own job:
- Ride: keeps time. You want to hear each stroke.
- Crash: hit for accents. It explodes and fades.
- China: an upturned edge gives a trashy, aggressive crash.
- Splash: a small cymbal for short, quick accents.
- Hi-hat: two cymbals, opened and closed by the foot.
And what each style tends to reach for:
- Jazz: thin, dark, washy rides and hi-hats, with the ride as the main voice, played quietly and all the way through.
- Rock and pop: medium weights, bright enough to cut, and crashes that speak fast.
- Metal: heavy, bright, loud cymbals, big chinas and stacks, and hi-hats that stay crisp at speed.
A ride can be crashed and a crash can be ridden, and plenty of drummers do both. Try the same ride pattern on a thin ride and then a heavy one. The notes are identical and the music changes completely.
Sticks and other implements
Your stick changes your sound before you play a note.
- 7A: thin and light. Quick and quiet, for jazz, acoustic sets and anywhere you need control over volume.
- 5A: the all-rounder. Light enough for pop, strong enough for rock. If in doubt, start here.
- 5B: thicker and heavier than 5A, with more weight behind each stroke. A common rock choice.
- 2B: thick and heavy. Rock, metal and marching, and some players practise with them to build strength.
Beyond sticks:
- Brushes: wire or nylon strands that fan out. Swept across the snare they give the continuous swish of a jazz ballad; tapped, a soft, airy attack.
- Rods: a bundle of thin dowels bound together. Quieter than sticks, louder than brushes, and ideal for acoustic gigs and small rooms.
- Mallets: soft felt heads, for cymbal swells and tom rolls with no stick attack at all.
Match it to the room
The style is only half the decision. A loud rock band in a pub wants 5Bs; the same band playing an acoustic set might want rods and a damped snare. Before a gig, tune for the songs, pick the cymbals and sticks for the volume, then play a groove in the room and listen. The band and the room will tell you if it’s right.
Now play it
Knowing the kit is the start. GrooveIQ takes you from here to playing it, building the 2&4 backbeat a step at a time, and FillIQ does the same for fills. If you already play, Find My Level is free, needs no account, and tells you exactly where you are on a groove or a fill in about five minutes.
