In this short lesson, we'll look at the basic blues shuffle. The first step in learning the shuffle is getting familiar with the "swing" type of feel that is inherent to what they call the shuffle feel. Instead of playing straight 8th notes on an even pattern, every second 8th note is delayed, giving it more of a triplet feel. Straight eights are widely used in Rock music, but rarely in the blues.
The feel is more like: ONE - two - THREE - ONE - two - THREE.
The best way to describe it is to try to make your rhythm sound like a train coming down the tracks. cha. cha. cha etc.
Straight 8th Notes
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-0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0------
Swing 8ths (Shuffle Feel)
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-0---0-0---0-0---0-0----0---
You aint playing the blues unless you got the swing.
