Practice Pad Excercises

[Pretzel Logic]

So I'm in a situation right now where I can't have a drum set where I live and I'm looking for good practice pad exercises. So far I've just been practicing all the rudiments and trying to make them sound clean/make my right hand and left hand sound as even as possible. Is there anything else I can do to improve my drum set playing with just a practice pad?

 

[Wavelength]

To emulate different playing surfaces, try playing your exercises on the pad and a pillow; for instance, double stroke rolls with the right hand on the pillow and the left hand on the pad, and vice versa.

 

[Isaac Lee]

So I'm in a situation right now where I can't have a drum set where I live and I'm looking for good practice pad exercises. So far I've just been practicing all the rudiments and trying to make them sound clean/make my right hand and left hand sound as even as possible. Is there anything else I can do to improve my drum set playing with just a practice pad?

Hey man. You can do so much with a pad. I really like having the double pedal practice pad and my HQ pad on a snare stand. With that setup you can really get into some great excercises. Same goes for single pedal.

Aside from rudiments you could check out some snare drum solo's. Wilcoxon's 150 is a great book. The pad is a great place to work on hand technique. For example; Moeller Method, Push/Pull, Finger/Wrist Isolation to name a few. Get creative with it. Work on varying your metronome interpretation (hear the clicks as &'s or E's and A's). For more of a workout you can layer towels on top of your pad. Start with one and see how it feels to add more ect.

Hope that gives you a few ideas. Pads are great. Just remember to relax that grip and try not to absorb the shock of the stick into your hand. You can damage your wrists with bad technique that way (on most pads).

 

[Boomka]

You don't even need a pad for a pedal, you can simply tap your foot on the floor. While it isn't working all the muscluature required to play a bass drum pedal, you are still sending messages to the same limbs to make similar motions. You can do a fair amount of work on coordination and independence that way.

A pad is also useful for working on your time and sense of subdivisions, because you can really hear the attack of the sticks and the metronome. Start working the Table of Time - even just as single strokes - starting around 35-40 BPM. Spend a few minutes on each subdivision, more on the asymmetric ones (5s,7s.11s) until you can really feel the spacing in each of them.

 

[Spreggy]

This thread isn't complete without a reference to Stick Control.

 

[BrutalKid]

Hey man. You can do so much with a pad. I really like having the double pedal practice pad and my HQ pad on a snare stand. With that setup you can really get into some great excercises. Same goes for single pedal.

Aside from rudiments you could check out some snare drum solo's. Wilcoxon's 150 is a great book. The pad is a great place to work on hand technique. For example; Moeller Method, Push/Pull, Finger/Wrist Isolation to name a few. Get creative with it. Work on varying your metronome interpretation (hear the clicks as &'s or E's and A's). For more of a workout you can layer towels on top of your pad. Start with one and see how it feels to add more ect.

Hope that gives you a few ideas. Pads are great. Just remember to relax that grip and try not to absorb the shock of the stick into your hand. You can damage your wrists with bad technique that way (on most pads).

What is the double pedal practice pad?