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!

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.

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.

@DavidOakesMusic

4 ай бұрын

The kit plus a lot of microphones, gating, compression, EG, reverb etc etc.

@Nothing-db1zy

4 ай бұрын

​@@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 😂

This is fascinating. Never seen anyone tune a drum. I could watch Greg all day.

@klchu

4 ай бұрын

You can tune a drum but you can't tune a fish.

@taekwanlew

4 ай бұрын

First day on KZread? Welcome

@t.sewell1513

4 ай бұрын

Greg made that look far easier than it is!

@isihernandez9752

4 ай бұрын

​@@klchu but you can fish a tuna...

@danielelise7348

4 ай бұрын

Don't know that I could listen to him talk all day though.😫😁

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.

@BongoBill

4 ай бұрын

I see what you did there.

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. 😀

@DaGretschguy

4 ай бұрын

😂

@kcampbell3045

Ай бұрын

😆 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.

Greg is one of most supportive guys you will ever meet aside from a hell of a drummer.

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. 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

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.

@byCampo

4 ай бұрын

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.

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.

Greg was my favourite drummer at the Buddy Rich Memorial concert back in the day. Cool drummer but also the coolest dude! Legend!

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 full of joy

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.

This is how summoning the tone of the Drumming Gods looks like.

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

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

Fascinating! Drums sound great! Thank you all!

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!

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!

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.

@SopranoPizzaJMFNJ

4 ай бұрын

You Tune From The Resonant Head. It's Not That Challenging And You Will HEAR IT Immediately!

Very well explained! I have seen drummers spend an hour or more tuning their kit, this is so fast and efficient, with excellent results!

Beautiful sound!! Love Gregg, a real PRO and always sharing stories about the greats.

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.

I have never heard anyone mention tuning to the pitch of the shell! That's brilliant.

@JohnSmith-fj5ew

24 күн бұрын

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.

Gregg is one of my favorites, an amazing drummer.

So good. I could watch him play all day. Such natural flow.

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 😂

I just got a new KIT and this helped me SO much. Thank you BOTH!

This was awesome! More content with him please!

beautiful rythm, sound, explaining and playing

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!

This is the best drum tuning video I’ve seen in years. Really useful stuff. Thank you Gregg!

The best drum educator out there. Such a fun guy to be around. And plays like a God.

Awesome interview!!

Gregg Bissonette is a world class drum teacher. This is a fantastic tutorial on how to tune a kit.

holy crap that kit sounds amazing.

Learning from the best. Sometimes this channel is magic.

I just found my picture of me with Greg from decades ago when he did a clinic in Detroit during his David Lee Roth days. Thankfully he spared us the Bodyglove outfit that day, but I've long been a fan of this dude for just being so damn cool. If you happen to speak with him again I'd love to here him talk about our mutual percussion tutor Myron McDonald from way back when.

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 !!!

what an awesome drummer/musician

Greg is taking over for Dom as The Drumming Ambassador.

@rick3747

4 ай бұрын

My thought exactly. Dom was a great drummer, teacher and drum ambassdor. RIP Dom ❤

Awesome Seeing The Wooden Hoops On The Acrylic Shell To Warm Up The Sound 👍

@drinkinouttacups2665

4 ай бұрын

Never had the makings of a triple flange athlete

Bissonette... ALL TIME GREAT

The Biss,. the gig taker, the hit maker.. This is Gold.

Cool, i have the dixon cornerstone purple titanium snare, the 6,5x14. Killer snare

Man, that kit sounded good at the end!

Great Guy and great player!

Classic Bob Gatzen tuning system ;) Greg ain't messing around!

@drinkinouttacups2665

4 ай бұрын

Rip Bob :(

@RaincloudmusicTFS6

3 ай бұрын

When you play his session load, ain't got time to mess around. Lol! ❤

love this fella he a gift to the drumming world

Simple set ups my fav set up salute Greg B

This is gold.

The Come Together tea towel thing was too cool.

Imteresting and helpful.

Wow that's awesome sounding kit micd up, he's a amazing drummer.

Gregg is a legend!

Special dude... great drummer.

Awesome !!

Nice sound!

Greg is awesome , love it thank you so much sir drummer Greg

this is the best explanation i ever watched

Deep fried crispy snare Awesome!

Last bit sounded like Bob Gullotti from The Fringe (w/ George Garzone & John Lockwood)

He’s a god. Seriously one of the best.

I just bought that Dixon Bissonette signature snare. Incredible sound for a reasonable price. Gregg is one of my favorite drummers!

@RaincloudmusicTFS6

3 ай бұрын

I don't think he tuned it on this clip, though! But, it sounds amazing!

Dr. Grove back at it ! Alway a welcomed video

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!

@Incredible3D

4 ай бұрын

Well... I hear them now. My ears are pleased! @@mothflap

@benking9160

4 ай бұрын

If you like dead thuddy sound without much sustain or pitch bend then yeah it sounds good

I really like the floor tom with boing.

Interesting! This is precisely how I tune my drums!!!👍

Such a talented friendly guy 👌

❤😊 Checking if you tube will not glitch on my third try at sending this for some reason only on this video. Gotta love this!

Amazing

Gregg is so good, he makes this look easy …

What snare was Gregg playing in the clip at the end?! Sounded great!

Love it❤

A truly great drummer. A cool Canadian.

I do the same with the gaffer tape, but only one loop. I gotta try the three loops like Greg did here!

@RaincloudmusicTFS6

3 ай бұрын

He got that from Jeff P!!! Jeff was a BEAST!

All I can think when I see Greg is Drum Channel but I always go back to Summer song.

After seeing this video it's good to know that after playing drums on and off for most of my life that I have been tuning my drums the same way Gregg has been doing it. It really is about "the ear" in music. Sure, you can use technology and fancy gadgets. But I bet the same people that do also fail to understand what it takes, or what makes a "good" song in music.

I love Gregg

I have no clue what Gregg is talking about for the most part, and I don't care...he is so engaging! Love him.

He makes it look easy

EXCELLENT!!

Whinnie the Pooh plays drums… who knew? Seriously though watching Mr. Bissonette tune by ear is amazing.

@byCampo

4 ай бұрын

nice reference!

Un tipo extraordinario.

Those Dixons coming out now look great.

My question what is some of the microphones are that Greg likes to use both in the studio as well as live?

Nice to hear someone who likes to tune top and bottom heads to the same pitch.

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.

@mirkomarkovic3438

4 ай бұрын

Of course!

@AndrewBeveridge461

4 ай бұрын

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.

Beato was “like that” ing, when he did the gaff tape. 😄

Any tips on tuning the snare? It was the only thing he didn't tune in this video, unless I missed it...

This is awesome! My wife has drums and I never knew how they were properly tuned.

@einarabelc5

4 ай бұрын

Hundreds of takes and approaches. Remember that a head sits like a hat.

@richboshart1201

4 ай бұрын

There is not just one way to skin a cat. Greg prefers his kick to be thuddy and dead. That setup with the pillow is devoid of tone and boom. A very acceptable tuning choice, but there are other, and to my ears better, approaches to setting up a kick drum for most styles of popular music.

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.

@RaincloudmusicTFS6

3 ай бұрын

I play Gretsch Catalina Maple, seated on a Dixon Throne. It's a practice rig, really.

Agree Gregg, coated heads so good for rock and metal 👌 Gregg you are an inspiration for all drummers and smarter musicians. ✌️💛🤘🥁🏴🇦🇺

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.

Greg, great video. Time to ditch tape on the heads and get yourself some SnareWeight leather muffles. They work and look fantastic.

He starts playing. I just say out loud... holy shi7