Being an endorser of Los Cabos Drumsticks I received a 6″ practice pad from them a couple of years ago. It’s a simple Baltic birch base with a gum rubber top and soft foam bottom. The foam rubber on the bottom is used for traction when placed on whatever surface you choose to sit the pad on to keep it from slipping when being played. But that’s not all it can be used for…

After chopping out on this pad over the years I would find myself playing the underside just as much as the gum rubber top. The softer foam rubber has a nice bounce and feel at lower volumes and lower stick heights which is perfect for an even quieter practice situation. But wait! There’s more! I found that when I brought my heights up and increased the velocity of the sticks I started to hear the harder wood surface underneath the foam. That got me thinking… hmmm… I could practice dynamics this way by keeping my heights low and within range that wouldn’t activate the harder surface underneath. For tap strokes you keep the sticks about 2-3″ above the surface which keeps you in a low dynamic range and then when you reach about 6″ or above you start to activate the wood underneath.

This is perfect for exercises involving…

*Accents

*Stick Heights

*Dynamics

I thought this was a cool idea for a new practice tool utilizing what is…. well… already there… I guess you could say that this is a two-sided pad if you use the other side.

Hope this can inspire a new way for you to practice and have fun behind the pad.

Check out www.loscabosdrumsticks.com and choose from three different sized pads, 6″, 8″, 10″.