Using a combination of experimental techniques and discrete particle method simulations, we investigate the resonant behaviour of a dense, vibrated granular system. We demonstrate that a bed of particles driven by a vibrating plate may exhibit marked differences in its internal energy dependent on the specific frequency at which it is driven, even if the energy corresponding to the oscillations driving the system is held constant and the acceleration provided by the base remains consistently significantly higher than the gravitational acceleration, g. We show that these differences in the efficiency of energy transfer to the granular system can be explained by the existence of resonances between the bed's bulk motion and that of the oscillating plate driving the system. We systematically study the dependency of the observed resonant behaviour on the system's main, controllable parameters and, based on the results obtained, propose a simple empirical model capable of determining, for a given system, the points in parameter space for which optimal energy transfer may be achieved. been demonstrated [15] that, for relatively shallow, strongly fluidized systems, this assumption does not necessarily hold true; rather, the dynamic properties of a vertically vibrated granulate are additionally sensitive to the specific combinations of f and A used to produce a given v, S or Γ. In other words, two systems vibrated with the same input energy achieved using two differing combinations of f and A may exhibit strongly disparate properties. Similarly, it is found that two systems driven with markedly different S and/or Γ values may possess near-identical internal energies, in direct contradiction of the monotonic relations one might expect.Specifically, for dilute systems such as those described in [15], it was found that an increase in A at fixed S resulted in an increase in the total energy possessed by the excited granulate. This greater energy transfer from the vibrating system to the granular bed at large driving amplitudes was attributed to the observed increase in the particle-base collision rate with increasing A. In other words, the lack of a simple, monotonic relationship between a granulate's kinetic and/or potential energy and any of the individual parameters v S , or Γ can be explained by the fact that such parameters do not provide sufficient information regarding certain key variables, in this case the particle-base collision rate within the system. As such, in order to accurately characterize the steady-state of such a system, one requires a pair of driving variables, f and A-in addition, of course, to a knowledge of the system's depth and dissipative properties.Recent works by Pugnaloni et al [16,17] have similarly challenged the assumption that a system's steady state may be adequately defined by a single parameter, in this instance for the case of a granular bed excited by a series of discrete taps, as opposed to continuous vibration. Specifically, it was, until recently, a generally held belief [18,19] that ...