Comparing 11 Best-Rated Drum Practice Pads For All Budgets

RTOM DBS – 7″ Moongel Practice Pad: Overview

RTOM recently sent us their newest practice pad, the DBS Pad. The top features a similar feeling material to that of the Moongel workout pad, which we’ve listed below.

It’s two-sided, featuring a Moongel surface that builds strength and a soft rubber surface that’s perfect for refining technique and form. Both sides of the pad are super quiet, especially when compared to your standard Evans RealFeel-type practice pad.

Performance

The workout side does what its name implies. It absorbs most, if not all rebound while you play, making you work harder for doubles. Instead of bouncing the sticks, you need to use wrist strokes to make the “bounce” happen.

Novice drummers will often perform double and triple strokes using only the fulcrum of the stick, where the thumb and index finger meet the stick (it’s really apparent when you see drummers playing rolls with their pinkies out and not resting on the sticks).

This poor technique leads to inconsistencies and sloppy playing. The workout side of the pad forces you to learn how to properly play doubles, at the same time, building your wrist chops.

When I was learning drums early on, I remember using a pillow to build wrist strength—certainly would have been nice to have a pad like this one.

Build Quality & Design

The pad feels nice, it's made well. I did notice that it is surprisingly easy to get fingerprint smudges on the Moongel side—just wipe down with a damp rag and a little water.

Ideally, I’d like to see this pad in a larger 12″ or 14″ size, but for now, the 7″ pad works well. It is fairly expensive, coming in at around double the cost of similarly sized practice pads available. Out of all practice pads I own, this one is by far the lightest and most portable—it easily fits in any backpack and weighs only about a pound and a half.

RTOM will soon be launching the PADGRIP Mount, which securely mounts the DBS and 7″ Moongel workout pads to any standard cymbal stand.

The RTOM DBS practice pad is ideal for drummers on the go who want to work their chops and improve hand stamina. Recommended for more experienced drummers.

Tama True Touch Snare Pad: Overview

Tama’s True Touch Training AAD Snare Pad offers a new standard in dynamic expression and articulation for practice pads. This 10-inch pad features a tunable 2-ply mesh layer with a raised hoop, so you can play both regular hits and rim shots.

It also has a unique construction that feels almost like you’re playing a real snare drum. As a result, the Tama True Touch Training AAD Snare Pad is an amazing practice pad that offers a realistic playing experience.

The Tama True Touch is the best practice pad for drummers who want a great feel, along with a realistic snare wire sound.

Zildjian Reflexx Practice Pad: Overview

This is one of the best pads I’ve used to date. I’d had my eye on the Zildjian Reflexx practice pad for a while, and it’s definitely on the pricey side. I figured we needed to include it on this list for a few reasons.

The pad is incredibly silent on the Reflexx side. It’s by far the quietest pad I’ve ever used. My girlfriend tends to get annoyed by my tapping and will use her AirPods. She didn’t notice me playing while I was evaluating.

The FLEXX surface has a medium rebound and feels like a regular practice pad, albeit, with a little less rebound than a traditional silicone practice pad.

The WORKK surface has a much higher resistance and far less rebound. It feels somewhat dead, but forces you to use good technique when playing at elevated tempos. You’ll notice a big improvement by playing doubles with a metronome on your arms, wrists, and finger muscles.

Zildjian’s Reflexx is the best practice pad for drummers living in apartments or shared living spaces who cannot make a lot of noise and want to build their chops.

Innovative Percussion Practice Pad (CP1R): Overview

This snare drum practice pad from Innovative Percussion is a fantastic pick. I used to use mine all the time in college when I was practicing marching snare drum parts for our drumline. The pad measures 11.5″ in diameter and features two sides, one being a harder playing surface than the other.

You probably won’t want to play on the softer side, but it’s possible to use it for a quieter experience.

In addition to just being a practice pad, it features plastic rims, which really simulate that of a marching snare drum. The pad is lacking beads, that make some marching snares emulate the sound of the drum, but it does feel like a Kevlar drum head while playing, making it perfect for practicing marching percussion parts.

The CP-1R is perfect for drummers who want to practice on a pad emulating a marching snare drum.

Evans RealFeel: Overview

Evans’ double-sided practice pad has long been a great choice for all drummers. The pad is affordable and feels great while playing.

Like many drum practice pads we will see in this article, the Evans 2-Sided Practice Pad fits perfectly into any snare drum stand, so you can stand while you play or remove your snare drum from your kit to practice. You can also rest it on top of your snare drum for quick shed sessions while your band is tuning up.

Performance

This practice pad has a large playing surface and a nice grey finish. It’s durable to any kind of weathering and will last for years to come. This side of the practice pad seems to be suited more to a marching snare drum as far as rebound feels. It’s very bouncy.

When you flip the practice pad over, there is a hard, rubber black pad that is good for practicing rebound strokes. This material doesn’t rebound quite as well. It’s great for practicing licks that would be suited for a loosely tuned snare drum or tom.

Using this side of the practice pad can help build arm strength and endurance.

The Evans RealFeel is the best practice pad for beginner drummers on a budget.

Drumeo P4 Practice Pad: Overview

The most unique practice pad on our list is the P4 from Drumeo. The pad features four different playing surfaces that emulate a traditional drum set. When you’re playing drums, you don’t just hit the heads. Sometimes you may play on the rim, the cymbals, or even the side of your floor tom.

Why should this change when we go to practice?

Drumeo’s P4 Practice Pad has addressed this issue with perfection. Not only does this pad allow you to practice your chops and rudiments, you get four different zones of play area.

Performance

The large blue section acts as your traditional practice pad, emulating the feel of a snare drum. One level up on the left is a hard black rubber designed to emulate a high tom. It is more responsive and has a bit more bounce than the blue section.

Moving the right is a grey surface that is designed to feel more like a floor tom – much less responsive than the other two pads thus far (it’s also the quietest, so you can use this part of the pad late at night).

The final orange pad on top is very hard and is meant to emulate a ride cymbal or a hard Kevlar drum head typically used for marching snare drums.

Drumeo is the only company that makes a drum practice pad this versatile, which is why we love it (there are even rip-offs of this practice pad on Amazon).

The Drumeo P4 practice pad is great for drummers who want to practice their drum set hand work on the go.

Remo Silentstroke Practice Pad: Overview

Remo’s Tunable practice pad is great for concert percussionists working through snare drum excerpts and practice books like Stick Control. The pad features tension rods that can be tuned like a regular drum.

This is what I consider to be the “OG” drum practice pad. I’ve seen so many of these things at schools and in practice rooms. If you’re a drummer, you probably know how awesome Remo is and why you should use their drum heads. 🙂

Performance

Remo’s Tunable drum practice pad isn’t my favorite, but it does offer one interesting advantage over the others. With Remo’s pad, you have the ability to tune it to the tension of your liking.

This sounds awesome… on paper. In practical use, this function is absolutely useless to me. I found myself just leaving the pad as is and I never touched the tuning on the pad. I never felt like it actually did anything. It doesn’t respond like an actual drum anyways.

This practice pad is extremely small, and that isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for me. I actually believe it’s a good practice to play on a surface that is considerably smaller than your regular drums.

It will work your accuracy and you will hit in the center of the drum more often.

Overall, this drum practice pad is just outdated to me and I’m not the biggest fan of it. That being said, it is a nice choice for concert snare drummers, who are potentially working on excerpts from a repertoire for a orchestra audition.

It provides a rebound that doesn’t seem too far off from a snare drum and buzz rolls feel very realistic.

Ideal for concert percussionists, recommended by many professors at universities across the US.

Prologix Method Practice Pad: Overview

The Prologix Method Pad measures 10.75in and features two playable sides. One side features the traditional green Logix surface, while the other side has the Midnight Vortex recycled rubber surface. The pad is mounted on an MDF fiberboard base.

The two different surfaces offer unique playing experiences. The traditional green Logix pad is slim and bouncy, providing a comfortable feel. On the flip side, the Midnight Vortex recycled surface produces a slightly clickier sound, good for use with marching sticks.

The Method Pad is made in the USA and is a perfect choice for any drummer who wants a pad with a unique design.

For drummers who want an awesome dual-sided practice pad, made in the USA.

Vic Firth Heavy Hitter Slim Pad: Overview

The Heavy Hitter Slim practice pad from Vic Firth is one of the best marching snare practice pads. It’s great for drum corps players, but misses the mark with no inclusion of a rim.

Vic Firth makes quality products. I proudly endorsed the company when I was touring and always have been happy with the sticks they make.

The Heavy Hitter Slim Practice Pad is ideal for drummers who are on a drumline or love learning DCI chops and licks. This drum practice pad is surprisingly light and portable. When playing, it’s far more articulate than some of the other practice pads I have played.

Just like many other pads on this list, it is double-sided. On one side, you get a hard rubber pad that is extremely articulate. The other is a soft gummy rubber that is both quieter and gives a bigger rebound.

Performance

I found, like a lot of the other practice pads, that this one is just too bouncy to be perceived as a real drum. It’s kind of a characteristic of drum practice pads that we just have to deal with. There’s really no good way to emulate a real snare drum, unless you’re playing a real snare drum.

Perfect for drum corps and marching percussion.

Vater Chop Builder Zero Pad: Overview

I love my Zero practice pad from Vater. It feels wonderful to play and is a joy to practice with. Vater’s Zero Practice Pad is an excellent quality product and is one of my many drum pads that I use on a regular basis. Like the Evans Realfeel drum pad, this pad has a similar design. You get a single-sided practice pad that has very similar materials.

In my opinion, this drum practice pad beats that one on colors and design alone! Unfortunately, it is a bit more expensive for basically the same product.

Vater’s Zero Pad is the best all-around drum practice pad.