With the holiday season now behind us, many people are turning their attention to their New Years Resolutions. While most of these promises will be broken before January has gone, some beg for a little more attention than most of us give to our waistlines. If you are one of the countless people who received a new instrument over the 2014 holiday season this could be the realization of a life long goal, or it could be a spur of the moment gift idea. Either way, if you want to learn to play this new instrument, regardless of what it is, there are a few things you need to do first.

When planning this post my first thought was to talk about setting up lessons and getting to know your instructor, while making sure all the details fit with your needs. And while this is a very important step, I thought we’d go with something a little simpler. Getting right down to the nitty-gritty, when you first opened your new instrument, whether it was a guitar, a drum, or a violin, what was your very first impulse? I bet it wasn’t to go online and find lessons. I bet your first impulse was to play, even if you didn’t have the slightest idea what you were doing. So with that in mind, today we’re going to talk about how to tune a few of the more popular holiday season gifts: the guitar, and drums.

Guitar

Let’s start out with what is probably the most popular holiday season instrument gift: the guitar. No instrument begs to be played right out of the packaging quite like a guitar, but tuning it can be difficult and intimidating if you don’t know what you are doing. Tuning is vital to producing good sound, so here are some simple instructions for guitar tuning basics. The open strings of a guitar, from thickest to thinnest, are:

– E – The thickest, and lowest sounding, is called the 6th string.

– A – 5th

– D – 4th

– G – 3rd

– B – 2nd

– E – The thinnest, and highest sounding, is the 1st string.

With that in mind, tuning a guitar is a fairly simple 6 step process.

Step 1: Bottom E

Start off by tuning the bottom E as accurately as you can. It’s best to start with this one because chances are it’s already in tune. Being the thickest string, it’ll stay in tune much longer than the others. Most people use a hand held electronic tuner or another instrument, like a piano, to make this initial adjustment. If you don’t have a device or another instrument to help, have no fear; all that is really important is that the guitar is in tune to itself and any other instruments you might be playing with.

Step 2: A

The next step is to tune the A string. Place the first finger of your left hand just behind the fifth fret on the bottom E string. This produces an A note. Keeping your fingers on that fret and pick the fifth and sixth strings in turn, gently adjusting the fifth string tuning peg until both notes are identical.

Step 3: D

Moving to the D string. Placing your fingers just behind the fifth fret on the A string. This makes a D note. Tune the 4th string to that.

Step 4: G

Again, moving to the next string, you place your fingers behind the fifth fret on the D string, making a G note. Tune your G string to this note.

Step 5: B

Now here’s the tricky part. On this step you place your finger behind the 4th fret, NOT THE 5th! This is the only time you use a different fret.

Step 6: E

Once again, place your fingers behind the fifth fret on the B string. This is your final E, so tune your last string to this note.

And that’s pretty much it for tuning your new guitar. As you become more experienced in playing and listen to your instrument you will also become better at tuning by ear, but this simple tutorial will have you jamming right away.

Drums

One of my closest friends is an avid drummer, and he’ll be the first to tell you, if you ask 10 drummers advice on how to tune your drum, you’ll get 11 different answers. As funny as that sounds, it’s really because there’s really no right or wrong way to tune a drum, with no right or wrong pitches to tune to, but most methods include four basic steps.

Step 1: Preparation

The very first step, regardless of the kind of drum you have, is to start by removing all the tension on one side of the drum, then remove the head and counterhoop. Check the fit of the head in the counterhoop. It should fit snugly or with a little bit of wiggle room. If it fits too tight it may be difficult to tune. From here, place the head on the drum and centre it squarely on the shell. The head should fit loosely. If it is too tight, the sound may be choked. Mount the counterhoop and make sure the head and counterhoop aren’t lopsided to the drum. Tighten the tension rods in a criss-cross pattern to make sure the head stays square. Every once in a while tap the head near each tension rod to hear your progress. Continue this process until all the wrinkles disappear and the pitch is a tad bit higher than you would prefer.

Step 2: Seating the Head

Tap the head again, this time memorizing the pitch. Press down on the centre of the head with the palm of your hand, then tap the head again. Do you notice a drop in the pitch this time? Are there new wrinkles in the head that weren’t there before? If you answered yes to either of these, then your head needs seating.

Re-tighten the head to get rid of the new wrinkles, and press the centre of the head and compare the pitch again. Rinse and repeat until the wrinkles no longer appear and the pitch doesn’t change noticeably.

It is important to know your own strength when doing this, because pushing too hard on the head and cause damage to either the head or the drum. Only apply enough light pressure to do the job.

Step 3: Tune the Head to Itself

Once you’ve got your head properly seated, it’s time to set about tuning it to itself. The end goal for this step is to make sure you get the same pitch all around the head of the drum to achieve a clean tone with little to no overtones.

A basic method for this is sometimes called “tuning in opposites.” Essentially it works by lowering the pitches that are too “high” and raising the pitches that are too “low,” trying to meet in the middle at a common pitch. Tap the head at each rod and listen for the pitch. Loosen or tighten the tension rods by about an eight of a turn accordingly until you can find that common middle pitch.

Step 4: Fine-Tuning

The final step in really any tuning process is the fine-tuning. Over time your ear will become more experienced and you will be able to fine-tune your instrument to your own exacting preferences.