Welcome to the 9 Lives of Peter Criss

Ok, I've tuned the floor and ride toms, and the bass drum is next on the list, but I haven't done my snare yet. I'm afraid I'll never get it back together again or just break it somehow. Even now, thinking about it makes my palms go sweaty.

Any ideas, suggestions, words of comfort, etc.?

Are you taking the snares off the drum to do the tuning?

No. Should I? Is it the same as tuning the toms?

Yep. Turning the snares off will help you to get the pitch right for the drum. It should be somewhere between 1st and 2nd tom for the pitch. (but that is just my preference)

Keep in mind that when you flip the snares back on it will change the overall sound, so you may need to adjust.

Alright, I'll try it. Thanks.

Let me know how that worked out for you.

I will, as soon as I get off my lazy bum and do it. lol

One question: Do I realllly, absolutely, positively need to tune my snare?

No. I haven't done it yet. Yes. I'm trying to get out of it.

No you dont need to. However it all depends on the sound you want out of it. If you like a crisp pop crack sound to it (Think drums from the band YES-In particular-Owner Of A Lonely Heart) then the heads need to be tighter. If you want your drum to sound more thunderous (Think I Love It Loud) then the heads should be a little more loose.

Wow. Six months... I'm such a lazy coward. LOL!

Ok, I tweaked the snare a bit, got an irritating buzz, fixed that, tweaked the small tom a bit which made the snare buzz annoyingly again, fixed that, tweaked the snare just a b i t more (seems I couldn't stop myself) and now it sounds not quite as 'crisp pop crack' as it used to... and I'm happy with it. Not that the YES sound was bad... rather I just wanted it different.

Thank you for the help. ^_^