Practice Pads

Drummers and percussionists t use a type of percussion “instrument” called a practice pad to aid in the development of good technique.  Designed to play and feel like a drum, practice pads are basically imitation drums and produce lower-volume sounds than a regular drum.

 

 

A high-quality practice pad should be forgiving and flex like a drumhead.  The response of a typical snare drum is a good example to judge by. The models with firm but pliable rubber simulate this natural feel are the most popular pads.  How realistic and “drumhead like” the response depends on the thickness and quality of the rubber.  It’s very important that the pad sound and feel “real” at a normal stick velocity.  If you dislike the unnatural surface and sound that some pads have, it won’t inspire you to practice.

Although made of rubber, the Gladstone style pad is the worst type of drum practice pad available.  It has a terrible feel land sound.  The Remo RT5 is the next worst type.  Many music stores sell them because they are tunable and cheap but they suffer from the same affliction as the Gladstone pad; they sound horrible and feel bad.

 

Constructed in a variety of shapes and sizes, practice pads are by design are thin and lightweight for ease of transport.

Variations include:

  • Harder of softer playing surfaces
  • Non-skid bases that can also double as muted playing surfaces
  • Threaded nut affixed to or embedded into the base for attachment to a cymbal stand
  • Special base and straps for attaching the pad to the player’s knee
  • Simulation of snare drum sounds via various hardware features
  • Digital models can incorporate a”coach” to analyze your playing and give you results
  • Built-in metronomes and the ability to “tune” are features of many electronic drums
  • Full drumset practice pad sets
  • Pads designed specifically for brush practice
  • Rudiments printed on the surface of the pad

 

Placing the pad directly on the batter head of an actual snare drum will activate the drums’ snare-side response while severely muting the sound of the drum itself.

 

Pre-Purchase Checklist:

  • How natural and giving is the surface?
  • Is stick rebound similar to a drumhead?
  • Does easy portability matter?
  • What diameter feels comfortable?
  • Is a full set including the bass drum needed?
  • Will a metronome or “computer coach” be required?
  • Is mounting on the pad on a cymbal stand important?
  • Will it be used on a snare stand?
  • What is my budget?

 

Practice pads are very useful and offer many advantages.  One big benefit to using the practice pad is it is very unforgiving.  You will be able to hear and see where you are weak, and where you need improvement. Having a lot quieter tone, it allows you to hear a lot more of your drumming, and you can hear the metronome louder than your playing surface – making it harder to cover up your mistakes by the sound of the drum.

 

Another big advantage to using the practice pad is the ability to track your progress.  This is what will allow you to improve much faster.    Having only one drum sound will force you to focus on the essentials, like grip and stroke technique, rudiments and stick control.

 

All in all the practice pad is a must for drummers.  Dividing your time between a snare or drum set and the practice pad will turn you into a well-rounded drummer, ready to take on any style of music!

 

 

Hardwired

Drumming is hardwired into our primal brain.  Long before the first human sang a song or whistled a tune he or she thumped out a rhythmic pattern.  He or she was drumming!  Probably for no other reason than the sheer joy of doing it.  If rhythm is hardwired in each of us then drums and drumming are a natural extension of the human condition and that must be why everyone loves drums and drumming.  Mankind has been creating rhythm by banging on things for a very long time.

 

Early hardwired percussion instruments (drums)

Percussion Instruments [165,000 years old] smashinglists.com

I believe that rhythm, and therefore drumming is hardwired into the human DNA.

The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture.  Most early instruments were made in the Upper Paleolithic age.

A percussion instrument (a drum is a percussion instrument) is defined as any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. The human voice was although the first discovered musical instrument, but percussion instruments such as stones, sticks, rocks, and logs were almost certainly the next steps in the evolution of music especially the stones, they were cut in different shapes and designs to change quality and pitch of sound.

Give a child a pencil or a wooden spoon and 9 times out of 10 he or she will start banging something with it.  Where does that come from?  It’s hardwired into the brain that hitting things together will make some kind of sound.  And does the child stop after one stroke?  Not usually.  They keep going until they wear out or you take the stick away.  Why?  Beause it’s fun! Drumming makes you happy!

Which is of course why I always say:

Drums Good… Make Happy!!