Best Drum Practice Pads
If you’re a drummer and have not used a practice pad yet, you’re missing something. When it comes to artistic skills like drumming, practice is what we all need.
Drumming has the same consequences, and you need to practice regularly to become a skilled drummer. It’s also great looking into the benefits of drum playing. If you are in the market, whether it’s an eCommerce store or a local market, you will find several drum practice pads.First, choosing the practice pad that suits your requirements can take a lot of research. From quality to durability and sound, there are several aspects to consider. I have been into drumming from college days. In the meantime, I have used several practicing pads and found the ideal pads.
To share my choices here’s what I did, I researched for the best drumming pads, tested them, and crafted a list. This list will help you in choosing a practice pad that suits your requirements in no time:
Best Drum Practice Pads Reviewed and Compared
| Picture | Name | My Verdict | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evans 2-Sided Practice Pad | ery affordable and quality remains great | Check Price |
| Remo Tunable Practice Pad | Highly affordable | Check Price |
| Vic Firth Heavy Hitter Slim Practice Pad | Double-sided | Check Price |
| Vater Chop Builder Practice Pad | Durability | Check Price |
| Drumeo P4 Practice Pad | Made in the USA | Check Price |
| Movement Drum Co Double-Sided Practice Pad | Portable due to its standard size | Check Price |
1. Evans 2-Sided Practice Pad
- Excellent portability due to its size and fits finely in a snare drum stand
- Very affordable and quality remains great
- Both sides differ by their texture, helping the drummer with all types of practices.
- Substitute for acoustic drums as essential practices like rudiments, and paradiddles can be performed.
- Some pads may have gluing issues as some users reported
- Evans pad is a bit heavy to be specific, not a massive concern for most drummers
- The pad is manufactured at an industrial level, makes use of glue chemicals often resulting in a bad smell
- The texture on both sides gets messy, sometimes producing different results
No matter whether you are a beginner or a skilled drummer, Evans practicing pad is a great choice. The pad is two-sided and is available in 3 sizes (6’’,7’’, and 12’’ respectively). Being manufactured in the US, drummers call it the most stringent quality drumming pad. Variety in sizes makes it portable, and you can take it around and practice anywhere.
The two-sided pad gives you options for the type of practice you’re up to. One side is a textured gum rubber for practicing with sticks. The other side features a more substantial and recycled rubber for a real practice workout.
2. Remo Tunable Practice Pad
- The pad’s drumhead is tunable
- Easy to mount on a stand and fits nicely on a desk, table, or anywhere (rubber bottom is there)
- Perfect for professional practices
- Highly affordable
- Pad’s area is very small
- Very outdated and old design
- Not good for beginner usage
- No instruction manual
The Tunable Practice Pad Gray is an excellent choice for beginning and advanced drummers. Remo’s pad features an ambassador coated drumhead (which is replaceable and) provides the bounce and feel of a real drum. The pad has options to get fixed on a stand for upright play. It also features a protective rubber bottom for non-scratch tabletop use. Remo’s pad comes in a variety of sizes (6,8, and 10 inches) to choose from.
After trying Remo’s tunable pad, I noticed the actual practice pad is tiny. But that’s not a big deal, and it helps you become a better drummer when you practice on a small pad. So if you choose the tunable practice pad, you will see a considerable improvement inaccuracy.
3. Vic Firth Heavy Hitter Slim Practice Pad
- The pad’s drumhead is tunable
- Easy to mount on a stand and fits nicely on a desk, table, or anywhere (rubber bottom is there)
- Perfect for professional practices
- Highly affordable
- Pad’s area is very small
- Very outdated and old design
- Not good for beginner usage
- No instruction manual
Vic Firth has been serving with excellent instruments, and absolutely, their Heavy Hitter is great for drum corps players and groups. The pad is surprisingly light and portable.
If you love learning DCI chops and licks, this pad is an ideal choice.
On one side, there’s a soft gummer rubber that is quieter and gives a better rebound. The other side features a hard rubber that is extremely articulate.
4. Vater Chop Builder Practice Pad
- Durability
- Design is up to the mark
- Double-sided
- Sound quality is excellent
- Design is similar to many practice pads
- A bit expensive
- Not a good choice for professional players
- A bit heavy, a bad choice for travel
Drummers recommend Vater pads as they manufacture durable products. Same for their Chop Builder, I have been using it for years, and it’s still working great. The build quality is not bad, either; it’s a beautiful experience to play and practice.
I have a collection of practice pads, but mostly I practice on this Chop Builder due to the quality sound it produces.
Similar to Evans Reelfeel drum pad, it has the same design. This too is double-sided and has identical materials for the build. If you’ve got enough savings for a drum pad, Vaters’s chop builder is a perfect choice.
5. Drumeo P4 Practice Pad
- Features four different playing areas that cover different pieces of the kit
- Fits perfectly on any standard snare drum stand
- Made in the USA
- Meets the traditional drummer requirements
- A bit expensive
- Made for professionals only, as it’s entirely different to practice on a full drum set
- The pad is not shipped with good packaging
- Edges are soft, often issues with durability
If you’re an all-rounder and perform different sorts of drummings, Drumeo’s P4 is worth a try. P4 features four different textures producing the same results as a traditional drum.
When practicing, you are interested in trying out different surfaces like the cymbals or the rim. Why is there a need to change surfaces every time during practice?
Drumeo addresses this issue entirely. Not only you enjoy practicing your rudiments and chops, but also you get four different textures of a play area.
6. Movement Drum Co Double-Sided Practice Pad
- Comes with additional inserts for different playing styles
- Portable due to its standard size
- Comes with plastic rims to produce rim shots and clicks
- Durable
- Expensive than its competitors
- A bit louder than usual
- Weights too much to carry around
- Suitable for beginners only
Firstly, I’ll endorse the Movement team as they replaced the pad with a new one as the older one had slight build issues.
The double-sided practice pad is a quality pad featuring three different textures for playing area. The pad is packed with a rigid rim, concerning all durability issues. Rims are plastic-made, and you get a perfect practice pad for most of the needs. The sound produced is bright and deafening. So if you are excited to take full advantage of it, be mindful of neighbors.
Choosing the Best Drum Practice Pad
As we’ve gone through some of the top-rated and quality pads, the need for a buyer’s guide is still there. A guide that will help you choose the ideal pad matching your requirements. So, here are a few things to consider while choosing a perfect practice pad:
1. Size and surfaces:
We came across pads with different sizes and surfaces to practice drummings. Some pads have dull surfaces producing different results in comparison to actual drums. Those surfaces are a nightmare to you; they’ll destroy the overall accuracy and sound leveling as this is what drumming is all about. Talking about size, if you choose a small-sized pad; accuracy improvement will be a plus point.
So, come up with the size and surfaces that your actual drum has. The surface should be the same while you can choose any size.
2. Portability
Why you require a practice pad when you’ve got a drumming setup? The answer is simple: you’re looking for a portable solution. With a practicing pad, you have the choice to practice anytime, anywhere. Thus, consider the ‘portability thing’ when choosing a practice pad. Make sure it fits in your backpack and not much heavy to carry around.
3. Sound
As you practice, you synchronize your force with the music received. In a sense, you use the practicing pad the same way you use the actual drum. In concern of this, always choose the pad that produces the same results about sound. This matters a lot when you’re into drumming professionally.
4. Durability
Beginners want pads that look beautiful and fancy. But that choice doesn’t help in the long run. I see beginners buying another pad after a few months of usage as the old one stops working correctly. As they don’t take durability seriously, the choices they make don’t last long. I have got such pads that are years old and still work correctly. So, always choose durability over fancy designs.
Last but not least, choose drums with plastic rims as they are rigid and take care of surfaces effectively.
The Bottom Line
The choices I shared were based on practicality. I tested all of them and listed them according to their features. If you have still made your choice, you’re not serious about drumming; I guess. 😀 You can visit Yamaha DTX that matched with other electronic drum kit’s.
If you’ve any queries or suggestions regarding drum practice pads, share your thoughts below, Happy Drumming!