Pro Pads: an invention.

I picked up this pair of practice pads a couple of weeks ago in an online sale.

I was able to research the patent and the maker thanks to Google Patents, and from there I located the inventor, Denny R. Dennis, through Facebook. I asked if he’d mind talking a little bit about his invention, and he gave me a phone number so we could chat.

Denny is a longtime drummer based in Southern California, and is the father of Ty Dennis, who has enjoyed his own top-drawer career. (“Be sure you look up my son,” Denny told me. Very sweet.)

Denny developed these pads in order to provide the drummer with a way to practice drumming more melodically, by providing pads with different pitches. Each pad is made from maple plywood, and has a thin rubber playing surface and thin metal rim on top. On the bottom of each pad are three “feet” with Velcro pads, allowing the pad to rest on a specially prepared stand. There should be small pieces of rubber on the bottom layers of Velcro, but my pads did not have these. (I may add my own later.)

The rubber provides additional stack height to give the pad some space for greater resonance, because resonance is the point with differently-pitched pads.

The pads are attractively finished, and according to Denny they came in multiple sizes to approximate the different drum sizes of a drum kit.

Mine are both 12” across, with a playing surface of just under 9”. Denny originally designed the pads in sizes ranging from 12” to 18” and even used the largest as a bass drum pad with a pedal affixed.

The rubber playing surface is very thin, perhaps only 1 or 2 millimeters thick, but is glued to the wood and gives off a surprising amount of resonant tone. 

The narrow metal rim is there to provide a place to practice rimshots, though the very narrow and low-profile dimensions don’t provide a truly accurate dimension for this purpose. Still, they do work and I was able to get a clean rimshot sound. (These pads are best used with concert or jazz sticks. Heavy marching sticks could damage them.)

Denny told me that he came up with the idea in 2009 or so, and partnered with another fellow to bring the pads to market. They weren’t on the market for very long due to “difficulties” between the business partners, and by the mid 2010s they were no longer being produced or sold anywhere.

Their short history makes these already rare pads even rarer.

Denny’s inspiration was to promote more melodic practice and drumming, adding to the language of drumming by expanding the aural palette. “Language is a kind of rhythm,” he told me, “and when you add more tones you add more possibilities to the available vocabulary.” Denny’s years as a teacher were evident in his choice of words and his enthusiasm, and I found it refreshing to talk with him about his passion.

I don’t know how many Pro Pads are out there today. I purchased mine as a pair, and didn’t realize they were different thicknesses and tones until I opened the package and set them up. They’re interesting and kind of fun and I’m glad to have come across them.