When you think of drumming mistakes, you might think of botching a backbeat, flubbing a fill, or dropping a drumstick. Those are mistakes every drummer makes from time to time while playing. But drummers often make mistakes with their drumheads, too. These are the types of mistakes that can make drummers sound worse, waste money, or even lead to broken drum parts.
We put together a list of common drumhead mistakes drummers make. If you’re an experienced drummer, maybe you’ve been making one or two of these for years without even thinking about it. If you’re just getting into drumming, these might help you know what to avoid in the future. No matter what your situation, hopefully this list can help you get the most out of your drumheads.
Here are 4 common drumhead mistakes drummers make.
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1. Not Changing Bottom Heads
We get it. Nobody wants to spend money on bottom heads. You don’t hit them, they don’t show any wear, and there are so many other things you can spend your gear money on. But having good bottom heads is the only way your drums will reach their full potential.
Every head slightly degrades when you play the drum it’s on, whether it’s a batter head or a resonant head. The head vibrates and loses a tiny bit of life with each note. While the degradation of bottom heads happens at a slower pace than batter heads, it’s still unavoidable.
That slow pace is the main reason many drummers don’t change their bottom heads. If the tone got worse suddenly, it would be obvious. Instead, it often goes unnoticed. Over time, the tone diminishes to a point where the drum can only reach a fraction of its potential. This is particularly true of toms, where tone and resonance make up such a big part of the sound.
A common scenario
A common scenario is this: a drummer has worn out tom heads, both top and bottom. They change the batter heads, and the sound improves. The drummer plays with those heads for a while, and buys another set of batter heads. Every time they change the batter heads, they hear improvement, even with worn out bottom heads.
This process can go on for many years. Unfortunately, drummers who only change batter heads don’t realize what they’re missing. If they would occasionally change their resonant heads, their drums would come to life.
There aren’t steadfast rules about the lifespan of bottom heads. One good sign that your bottom tom heads need changing is having difficulty tuning. No matter what you do, a drum isn’t cooperating like you think it should. A simpler rule of thumb is that bottom tom heads last about 2-3 times longer than batter heads. That’s a good rough estimate that can keep you on a schedule.
Snare and bass drum resonant heads typically last longer than resonant tom heads. Still, all bottom heads should be changed from time to time.
Which bottom heads to buy?
If you’re not sure which bottom heads to buy, there’s good news. You really can’t really go wrong with standard options. The two most popular options for toms are the Remo Clear Ambassador and the Evans Clear G1. Aquarian also makes a head with the same specs called the Classic Clear. Any of those should work great for almost all styles of music on all types of toms.
For snares bottoms, the standards are the Remo Hazy Ambassador, the Evans Snare Side 300, and the Aquarian Classic Clear Snare Side.
2. Not Considering Drum Specs
When drummers buy drumheads, they tend to do a pretty good job of considering the head specs. They think about overall thickness, number of plies, surface coatings, built-in dampening, etc. All of those characteristics go into the final sound. However, it’s equally important to understand your drum specs. That’s something many drummer don’t do quite as well.
A drum and drumhead work together to create a resulting sound. Along with the head specs, the drum’s shell material, diameter, depth, quality level, and even hoop type, all go into the mix. This should influence your drumhead buying decisions.
Say you’re looking for a bright sound. You might just buy a really bright head, right? That may be a great purchase, but maybe not. It depends on the drum it’s going on.
You might not need much help achieving a bright sound if that head is going on a 14×5 brass snare drum with die-cast hoops. A head more towards the middle of the sound spectrum will sound quite bright on that drum, so there may be heads that can give you the brightness you’re looking for, without being overly obnoxious. You may also get other added benefits, like some extra durability.
On the other hand, if you have a budget 14×6.5 basswood snare with lightweight hoops, you’ll have different head requirements to get a bright sound. That snare is naturally dark and inarticulate. In order to hear any bright frequencies from that drum, a super-bright head is probably needed.
We often link to DrumheadSelector.com because it’s a simple resource that can help drummers with this issue. It factors in the tonal characteristics of drumheads, along with a drum’s specs and the durability needs of a player. We recommend checking that site out, especially if you haven’t tried many drum-drumhead combinations.
Beyond using that website, the best thing to do is learn a bit about how certain drum specs impact sound. By combining that with some knowledge about head specs, you’ll be able to better predict what your drum will sound like with different types of heads installed.
3. Buying Heads That Don’t Fit
Buying heads that don’t fit mainly applies to 16”, 18”, and 20” drum diameters. Some models of heads have two different versions in those sizes – a tom version and a bass drum version. This is something many players don’t realize.
Drummers often do a Google search for something like ‘Remo 18” heads’. The results will include both tom and bass drum versions of heads, the least expensive of which are usually tom heads. Sometimes the version isn’t clearly described in an online listing. Of course, why not buy the head that can save you 10 or 15 bucks? They’re the same size, right? Well, if you’re buying for a bass drum, a tom head probably won’t work.
Why is that? Bass drum heads have a wide metal rim where a wooden bass drum hoop can comfortably rest. Tom heads, on the other hand, have a narrow metal rim, designed to fit inside a tom counter hoop. When using the correct version of a head, you’ll be able to tune the drum without a problem.
Using the wrong version will almost definitely lead to problems. If you try to use an 18” tom head on an 18” bass drum, for example, it will probably fit onto the shell just fine. However, after placing the bass drum hoop on to start tensioning, the hoop will slip off. There’s not enough area built into the drumhead for the hoop to lay on.
If you tried to do the opposite – putting an 18” bass drum head onto an 18” tom – the tom hoop wouldn’t even fit over the head. This scenario is less common because most people who make this mistake are buying based on price. They’re buying cheaper tom heads for their bass drums, rather than the other way around.
Either way, if you’re buying a head for a 16”-20” diameter drum, just be sure it’s designed for your type of drum!
4. Using Heads That Can Do Damage
This mistake can be particularly costly and pertains to players using lightweight snare drums. Snares that have light hoops and lugs (like many vintage and budget snares) do not mix well with very thick drumheads. First of all, the combination normally doesn’t sound very good. But worse, it can lead to damaged parts. The reason is the amount of tension super-thick heads require.
Heads like the Remo Emperor X, the Evans Heavyweight, and the Aquarian Triple Threat need a lot more tension to get to pitch than other heads. On most drums, they’ll be fine. You can crank up the tension to your desired pitch and the drum can handle the stress. However, the results can be very bad on lightweight drums. We’re talking bent hoops, cracked lug casings, or even lugs getting pulled out from the shell!
The only safe way to use a super-thick head on a lightweight snare is with low tension. Just be aware of what that combination usually sounds like – very dark, very inarticulate, and very low-pitched. With so many other great head options out there, there’s usually a better choice for lightweight snares. Heads with an overall thickness of 14-mil or less usually sound better on lightweight drums. Plus, you won’t have to worry about damaging parts if you want to tune to a higher pitch.
Wrap-Up
Those are our 4 picks for common drumhead mistakes. Hopefully something we mentioned can help you save some money, sound better, or keep you from breaking a drum part. Drumheads can be a complicated subject, so we’re also happy to just help you learn something new!
By Peter Treuden – About the Author