Dropping the Pitch of Your Darbuka (Without Adjusting the Tuning Bolts)

Darbuka skins often sound best when tuned to a particular tension-level. But the pitch your drum sounds best at may not be ideal for all the songs you want to play.
For example, Gawharet el Fan Sombaty drums, in my experience, usually sound best tuned to around A#. That's not great if the song you're playing is in A or D. In this video, I give you a work-around for instantly dropping the pitch of your drum a half or whole step.
For tuning your doumbek, I recommend getting a good tuner with a 'mic' setting, like the red Snarks I use in this video. They only cost about $12.

[@HumanLiberty]

Great tip! You can also use the same principal to create a cool wah-wah effect with one hand while playing.

[@bernardinelermite1133]

Wow, soooo cool !! Thank you for sharing !

[@conniefi]

Genius

[@nathanielreichert4638]

No kidding! Hahaha, I realized my Darbuka was tuned to B flat (super African), but my Djembe is tuned to A, and I've been wondering if I could play them together without messing with the bolts. A beer bottle of all things! That might be more genius than chucking a wallet on a snare..

[@root123]

My friend do you have a tuning video? I need to know the process of replacing the skin, some people use heat, then afterwards release the tension of the screws after a couple of days, Its confusing, I don't know what to do. You seem knowledgable. Thanks in advanced

[@geoffchilders]

Sorry, I don't have a tuning video, but I've seen others on KZbin. When I put on a new skin, I usually like to over-tighten it a bit to stretch it out and then release the tension on the screws after a couple days. You want the pitch to be the same everywhere, so once it's stretched and you're tuning it, rotate the drum in your lap and do teks next to each tuning bolt. Adjust them until all the teks are the same pitch and they're a pitch you're happy with. It can take quite a bit of trail and error. I have used heat, but I'm not sure whether it's actually effective or not.

[@afi6061]

Brilliant. 👍

[@itsthatwutangguy]

Genius 🤙

[@eliusamarus]

Fantastic! Great idea!

[@Ramzeen8822]

Thank you

[@PacmanRocks100]

Clever!

[@lakshyashrivastava9752]

HI Geoff Childers Thank you for this tutorial. i have a question! i am a beginner in darbuak. when i play live in a show my darbuka sounds off!. my guitaist and singers sounds perfect. i have very less knowledge with pitch and i dont know how to properly tune darbuka. my point is for every other song do individual has to tune for that song ??

[@geoffchilders]

It's important that your instrument at least be in tune with itself, or it's not going to sound good. You can find some videos on KZbin on how to tune it. I don't think I've ever seen a darbuka player tune in the middle of a show. My usual approach is to bring two darbukas to the show, in different tunings. And each of those has a bottle velcroed to the inside that can be removed to change the pitch. Generally, I want the doum to be either the same as the root note of the song, or an interval that sounds good, like a perfect 5th or perfect 4th. Nearly all my band's songs are in A, D or G, so it works out pretty well. Then again, a lot of guys just bring one drum and hope nobody notices that it's not in tune with every song.

[@PyrosRubberDuck]

Hey there i have a darbuka that got a bad dent in it due to an accident and the pitch went waaaaaay down. Do you know if theres a fix for it or would i have to mess with the bolts?

[@geoffchilders]

I don't have any experience with dented drums, so I couldn't say.

[@dkgoodman]

What tuner are you using?

[@geoffchilders]

+Dave Goodman It's a Snark.

[@chrisw5742]

I was thinking a piece of foam bent into there would also work.

[@geoffchilders]

If you try it, let me know how the results go!