7/22/2023 0 Comments Using a drum tuner![]() I’ll get to some specifics here in a bit, but just know that these techniques can not only improve your sound, but save your drumheads from damage. Now, when we get down to it, there are actually ways to tune that can be dangerous for your bongo drums. Dandy tuned his bongos about a 4th apart (and an octave), while Alex Acuña (another famous percussionist) tunes his bongos almost simply an octave apart. If you want some ideas, you can refer to the chart I made above. What happens if you tune it to F#, or D#? Well, nothing, that probably would sound just fine! It again depends on you, the style of music, the band you’re with, and the particular song. Some rules of thumb that you’ll see as you research bongo tuning is to tune the drums a 5th apart, or a 4th apart, or sometimes just an octave apart.įor example, if you were to choose to tune your macho to G6, then some common tunings would be to tune your hembra to G5, D5, or C5. ( Unfortunately as of this writing, the iPhone version of this app does not support accurate tuning of bongo and conga drums.) Check back later in 2022-2023 as the developer of the app is working on an iPhone version that supports conga and bongo drums.Īnother app option is Drum Tuning Calculator aka Tunebot ( Android) ( iPhone) What’s the Proper Interval Between the Macho and Hembra? The bongo is a particularly high-pitched drum so some say that they have to strike the bongo multiple times to get the tone to register–this can help save some time and guesswork. Bongo Tuning AppĪnother option for tuning your bongo drums is to use an app specifically for tuning drums.ĭrumtunePro ( Android) is one such app that is made for tuning drumkits. ![]() Bongos aren’t like violins and it’s difficult to know the exact pitch but you can definitely hear the note come out in the resonance of the drum. If you don’t know what those notes sound like you can use an online tool like the Online Tone Generator which can help give you a feel or where the note should be. The hembra is 4 notes lower (and an octave). This is an extremely common tuning–as you can hear, the macho is tuned very tightly with minimal ringing resonance. Here’s the video of Dandy that I listened to as an example. I decided to listen to several professional bongo players and figure out what pitches they tuned their bongo drums to: BongoceroĪs you can see, many bongoceros that I listened to hang out in that 6th octave around G6. Ultimately, your bongos are probably so different from theirs that it won’t sound the same, but it will get you in the same ballpark and you can tweak it to what you like from there.Įvery drumhead is different (particularly animal skins), so a pitch that works well on one pair of bongos may not work as well on another. I can’t recommend enough to go listen to a bongocero (bongo player) you admire or a song with bongos that you like and just try and imitate the same tuning. Finding Your Target Soundīefore I give you the data, I think the best thing to do is to not worry about exact pitches, and instead focus on what sounds good on your particular bongo drums. You can see my findings in the table, below. I sought to fix the problem by listening to several songs and bongo soloists to get a more exact target pitch for you. It’s not that simple, since bongo drums have a complex sound (timbre) and it can be difficult to be tuned to an exact pitch, however, I’ve been bothered that there are so many opinions out there on the internet, without much data. It’s only logical to wonder, what notes should you tune the bongos to? When you’re tuning a trumpet or a viola you adjust the pitch to a reference note–with many drums you do the same. I go over tuning briefly in my video on the subject here as well: This can extend the life of your drumhead. ![]() Once you are done playing, detuning the drum is a common practice.Make any fine-tuning adjustments until you reach your target pitch.You can check evenness also by striking the drum directly over the tuning lugs all around the drum.Periodically flip the bongos over and examine the bongos to make sure you are applying even pressure across the drum.Once you feel a decent amount of resistance (or the drumhead starts to creak or crack), tighten the tuning lugs a 1/4 turn at a time.You can use the criss-cross pattern or you can try tightening two lugs diagonal to each other at once (see below for details).Get your tuning wrench ready and go around one drum the same amount for each tuning lug.You can also use a drum tuning app (read on for more details) Whistle it or put on a digital pitchpipe to help give you a reference to your target.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |