Drum practice: Like a train

Today I was attempting to play something like this guy is teaching. Some songs have a rhythm that sounds a bit like a steam train. He uses Ballroom Blitz by The Sweet as an example. I actually saw them live in about 1985 when they played at my university.

The basic rhythm is simple, but he uses some bass drum hits on off-beats that took me a while to wrap my brain around. I have to take it really slowly and get the coordination sorted out. I need to work more on varying the bass drum rather than just hitting the standard 1 and 3 beats. The drum set has a metronome that I can use when practicing to improve my timing .I have also been trying this metronome app that has lots of options for complex rhythms and varying your practice.

Another issue I had was getting my Yamaha DD-65 drum to make the right beats ring out. The pads have three levels of sensitivity, but it is really easy to over-hit and so they all end up sounding the same. I was playing around with the sensitivity settings to see if I could improve this with limited success. Fun as this box is I may have to upgrade as I try to do more complex and subtle techniques. Of course I would love a real acoustic kit, but that will be noisy and take up more space.

My current plan is to get some lessons next year. That may be a mix of online and in person as I would like the chance to play real drums and get the feel of those. I expect they will be a different experience.