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Thread: Intervals for the John Bonham tuning style

  1. #1

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    Exclamation Intervals for the John Bonham tuning style

    Everytime I search "how to tune like john bonham", I always get the "find your own sound" responce, or "tune what sounds good to you".
    No one ever seems to know the intervals, or the exact pitches the drums are tuned to.. And im pretty sure no one know the exact pitches John Bonham tuned his drums to. Well ive been messing around my drums for about 2 years, trying to get as close as possible to the Bonham sound. I've actually have written down 2 different ways to sound like JB.
    My drum sizes are 13, 16, and 22, and ive realized. even if your drums are a bit undersized, you can still get a similar sound to Bonhams big drums, and it helps if your batter heads are 2 ply coated.

    (note: the resonant heads are tighter than the batterheads)

    List 1: not as tight.
    Rack Tom: Batter- G /Reso- C
    Floor Tom: Batter- D /Reso- G
    Bassdrum: Batter- B /Reso- E

    List 2: tighter feel, and its closer to JB imo.
    Rack Tom: Batter- A /Reso- C
    Floor Tom: Batter- E /Reso- G
    Bassdrum: Batter- C /Reso- E

    Hope this is of help to the fanatics, and the drummers. Any feedback would be helpful and nice.
    ..also, sound may vary depending on drum sizes, type of woods, drumheads, etc.

    *I got these tunings so it would sound like the drums in 'Since I've Been Loving You,"*
    Last edited by Juanbonham; 11-02-2011 at 03:18 PM.
    Percussion Plus kit Bonham Setup,
    13x11 on bass
    16x16
    16x16
    22x16
    14x6.5 Ludwig ??? aluminum Snare
    coated G2 batter
    ebony Ambassador resonant
    Powerstroke 3 coated on bass batter, Ebony ambassador on front
    coated g2 over hazy ambassador w/ starclassic 20 strand.
    14" Dream Bliss Hi hats
    20" Sabian B8 ride used as a long brilliant crash
    22" Sabian ride,??? Series
    20" Solar ride used as fast crash
    Pearl Horacio Hernandez cowbell

  2. #2

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    Default Re: Intervals for the John Bonham tuning style

    That is because John had is own way of tuning his drums. I read somewhere that he understood the science behind his snare and getting the sound that he wanted. To be able to tune like John first you have to have the same identical drum kit and heads that he used and from there it is tweeting around till you find that John Bonham sound. He also ha his batters tighter than his reso so this could be the reason for his sound. Hope this helps. Good luck.
    Last edited by Pearl MCX Man; 11-03-2011 at 08:11 AM.

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Intervals for the John Bonham tuning style

    Jeff Ocheltree explaining the tuning of John Bonham's Kit



    Last edited by Olimpass; 11-03-2011 at 11:11 AM.

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