Common Tubular Bells Mistakes to Avoid

Tubular bells look simple — a row of metal tubes and a mallet, what's to get wrong? Quite a bit, actually, and most of it comes down to physics and habit rather than clumsiness. The good news is that once you understand why each mistake happens, it's genuinely easy to stop making it, whether you're the one holding the mallet, the one maintaining the instrument, or the one deciding where a mic goes. Here's what catches people out most often, grouped by where it actually goes wrong.

Technique Mistakes

Striking Too Far Down the Tube

Every tube has a point near the top, close to the cap, where a strike excites its resonance most efficiently. Hit further down and you're striking closer to a node in the tube's vibration pattern, which is why the sound goes dull and unfocused instead of ringing clearly. It's not a matter of hitting harder to compensate — it's about location. Aim high, every time.

Swinging Too Hard

Because the instrument sustains so strongly, a gentle strike already carries a long way in a hall. Newcomers often compensate for nerves by hitting harder, which just adds a harsh, clattering attack on top of the tone rather than more volume that matters. Trust the sustain to do the work; save real force for genuine fortissimo moments in a score.

Ignoring the Damping Pedal Until It's Needed

Treating the pedal as an emergency stop rather than part of the phrasing is a common early mistake. Because most instruments share one pedal across every tube, a badly timed press can cut off a note you wanted to keep ringing, or let an unwanted one bleed into the next phrase. Plan pedal changes as part of learning the passage, not as a reaction once it sounds wrong.

Care and Maintenance Mistakes

Storing the Instrument Somewhere Damp

Brass tubes and damp storage do not mix well over time. Moisture encourages corrosion on the tube surface and can gum up the pedal linkage, both of which affect tone and reliability. If a set has to live in a shared store room, a breathable cover and a dry corner make a real difference over its working life.

Never Checking the Suspension

Each tube should hang freely from its rail so it can vibrate without obstruction. Over years of use, felt or cord suspension can wear, shift, or let a tube sit slightly against the frame — producing a buzz or rattle that's easy to blame on the tube itself when it's actually a maintenance issue. A quick visual and listening check now and then catches this early.

Leaving Mallets in Poor Condition

A worn, chipped or misshapen mallet head changes the attack unpredictably, and players often blame the instrument rather than the mallet. Rawhide and plastic heads wear with use like any consumable; replacing them isn't a luxury, it's basic upkeep.

Buying and Setup Mistakes

Confusing Tubular Bells With Other "Chimes"

The word "chimes" gets applied loosely to several different instruments — glockenspiels, wind chimes, even some digital sample packs. Buying, borrowing or booking the wrong one for a score or a session because of a vague description is a genuinely common and entirely avoidable mistake. If it matters, confirm exactly which instrument is meant before committing to anything.

Underestimating the Space and Weight Involved

A full concert set is tall, heavy, and needs a stable, level surface with room to move safely on its castors. Assuming it'll simply "fit somewhere" in a rehearsal room or stage plan, without checking dimensions and floor conditions in advance, causes entirely preventable last-minute problems.

Recording and Performance Mistakes

Placing a Microphone Too Close

Tubular bells produce most of their character in the decay, not just the initial attack, and a mic placed right up against the tube captures mostly clatter and not much of the actual bell tone. Pulling back far enough to catch the full resonance, and pairing a close mic with a room or overhead mic if the balance needs it, gives a far more accurate picture of how the instrument really sounds.

Overusing Them in an Arrangement

Because a single note can dominate a mix or a mix of instruments for several seconds, using tubular bells too often in a score or arrangement blunts their impact fast. Composers and arrangers who reach for them sparingly, at genuine moments of weight or arrival, get far more dramatic mileage out of the instrument than those who use it as a constant colour.

The Bottom Line

Almost every mistake on this list comes from not quite understanding why the instrument behaves the way it does — where to strike, how sustain works, why storage matters, why a mic position changes everything. Once that clicks, avoiding these problems stops requiring any real effort at all, and what's left is just enjoying how good a correctly struck note actually sounds.

If you'd like the full picture of how the instrument actually works, our guide to tubular bells covers the mechanics behind most of these mistakes in more depth. Just starting out yourself? Our beginner's guide is the gentler, step-by-step route in. And if you're about to buy, our buyer's guide and roundup of the best options for the money will help you avoid a costly mismatch before you commit.

Frequently Asked Questions