Hey, how are you doing? Justin Here.
Today we're going to be talking about the shuffle rhythm. It's
something you definitely would have heard before you just might
not have pegged the name on to it. All the rhythmic things we've been
talking about so far have been kind of even 8th notes. So that
is, when we've divided a beat it's been cut exactly in half.
So if we had like 1, 2, 3, 4 we've had 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. So we're
kind of keeping the distance between the beats exactly halfway. Now in
a shuffle, that note that's on the end is moved a little bit later
and it has a very different feel. So here's again the straight one.
1 & 2 & 3 ...
Now I'm going to change it into a shuffle ...
It's kind of have a bit more of a like a skip to it.
Now I can explain kind of a mathematically correct way but then we're going to
talk a little bit more about how you vary it and try to make it feel good.
So the first thing we need to do is to divide a beat into 3 instead of 2.
So at the moment we've only been talking about 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &.
If we divide each beat into 3, the count usually that I find easiest is
1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet 1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet
1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet OK? So that's dividing a beat into 3.
Now if we look at each beat as a group of 3 and we take out the
middle one, so we've just got 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3, 1 ,3.
OK? So the 1 and the 3 from each beat. That's kind of a triplet.
1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet 1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet
Put it in practice. 1...1...1...
You can hear when I, I'm trying to play that exactly as 1 triplet,
2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet. Feels a little bit kind of jerky.
Now the truth is a real shuffle like a bluesy shuffle, isn't strickly
that kind of triplet thing. It moves around a little bit, it's
a little bit flexible. And if I go kind of extremely the other way
and move like that & later as late as it could possibly get, it would
be more like a 16th note. So if we divide a beat into 4, 1 e & a,
2 e & a, 3 e & a, 4 e & a would be the count in 16th notes.
If we put that upstroke right on the last one, the a. 1 e & a.
So 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a...
That feels again a little bit lumpy. So things can go kind in any way
in between. Probably the greatest living musician arguably would be
this young guy called Jacob Collier and there's a video where he talks
about shuffle. And he thinks of it in terms of percentages where
if we talk about 50% that's exactly halfway 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 &
So the & is exactly halfway between the beats. If we think about it
66% shuffle, that would be like dividing it into 3. So like the
1rst note is twice as long as the 2nd note 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1 triplet,
2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet. If we thought of like a 75% shuffle
that would be like a 16th note where we have 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a
4 e & a 1 e & a and the truth is that not any one of those is exactly
right all the time. All of the different blueses have got slightly
different feels and the best way to learn to get that shuffle rhythm
is to listen to blues that you really like. We all kind of connect with
different type of blues, so you want to listen to a broad spectrum
of blues music and fin the ones that you really connect with and
then a great thing to do which is something I got introduced to
when I was a kid, which was just listen to blues records and playing
along with the strings muted to try and pick up the feel of it. So rather
than try being mathematical about it, I'd just literally play along with
whoever, like Anna Moffo, Chuck Berry or whatever, whatever
blues you like, Stevie Vaughan, and try to play along with the rhythm.
Now "Pride and Joy" for example, Stevie Vaughan.
The actual song is difficult to play and it's actually maybe on
the slighly too fast vibe for a beginner, but if you get that feeling
and just do that just think about the strumming.
Trying to get it to feel nice and kind of dancing.
Now it is different all the time. Some people have got it really
sussed out. I don't. Like the interview with Jacob Collier where
he's talking about, he calls it swing rather than shuffle, these
terms are kind of interchangeable, but he talks about 57% is the sweet
spot for him, where it's not really so strong as that triplyty kind of
shuffle but it's still got a little bit of a lilt to it, you know.
So this is where I think you can think about the maths, and I think
it's helpfull to undertsand it, but by for sure the best way to learn
it is by listenig and trying to play along with the shuffle groove
that you really like. So try go and explore some blues music particularly
these days it's so easy to access a vast quantity of music. I'm gonna
have some suggestions in a Spotify play list that you might want to
check out. But basically listening to a whole heap, trying to find
something that you connect with and then just try to play along
rhythmically with it. Now we're going to be using the shuffle rhythm
to play our 12 bar blues and the 12 bar blues shuffle riff. It doesn't
just happen in strumming now. It also happens with notes. So if
you're playing like...
You can hear it straight away. If I play that straight...
it's different then...
you see what I mean, straight...
shuffle...
So it happens with notes it happens with solos. It's very much, it's a
big picture thing here. This is a feel and it really wants to feel good.
And again I keep on saying it but it is so important it's this listening
to music, you know. A lot of people feel like they want to learn from
my videos and just from books, whatever websites and watching
videos on YouTube but listening to the original recordings of great
shuffles and great swings and try and absorb it that way by listening
loads is going to be the best way to learn it. That's how all of the
greats that we love so much, that's how they learned it. OK? I'm fairly
sure they weren't, you know, Stevie Vaughan wasn't thinking about a
swing percentage. He was just listening to people he really loved and try
to copy that feeling and try to absorb that feeling and then try
to make it come out in the music. I know I'm getting a little bit heavy
on this stuff but it really is, it's a big deal. It's worth thinking
about that sort of stuff because it will make you better and I
think that listening to music is the thing that will make the biggest
difference here. When it comes to doing this in practice, the 2nd note,
the & can be a down or an up. OK? So for now I would recommend when
you're doing the strumming for the 12 bar blues that we learn in this
lesson that you go down on the beat and up afterwards.
So 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. I notice I'm counting as an & as well. Like
even though officially I guess I can call it 1 let tut, let tut, let tut,
let 1, let 2, let 3, let 4. It's not really, it's just an &.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &...
Now I'm starting to do all fancy stuff that I'm going to teach you about
later but I can't help but do it which is put a little mute in there.
If I'm using all down picks but when we do our shuffle riff...
we'll be using all down picks for that. So it's not really about the
down and the up pick. It is about the rhythm. You want to explore
using down and ups for the strumming I would suggest have a go at doing
all down strums as well if you like. There's definitely no harm in it.
When we get into riffs and stuff, you probably find yourself using all
down picks and that is fine too. Let's have a little go at playing
a shuffle along together. So I'm going to use an A7 chord. As count
as last time we're going to use a down strum on the beat and up
strum for the &, but remember it will be a little late, just to help
you get that feeling. OK? So 2, 3, 4, 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1...
1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4
1, 2, 3, 4...
I'm feeling the skip.
I should point out as well that the down strums tend to be heavier
on the bass strings and the up strums are going to be targeting the
thinnest strings a little bit more. Just like regular strumming.
One last thing that I want to mention is about accenting the 2 and 4,
something that we've talk about a few times already. With the shuffle
strum again really makes a big difference. Great way to practice
that is just to mute all of the strings and just....
1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4...
Really just doing that over and over again. It's great practice.
If you find yourself struggling when you practicing your 12 bar blues
to make it feel good. Stop playing the chords for a bit and just work
on the strumming. You can add that as a separate thing to your practice
routine if you want.
Really just focusing on trying to keep it relaxed and feeling nice.
It really is a special practice doing this sort of thing.
It's something I still do by the way. It's just playing this kind of stuff
with the muted strings. It's a really great way of focusing in
on exactly that rhythm and how much you put on the accent as well.
On acoustic guitar, it tends to be easy to be a bit heavy with
this sort of strumming, you know. That was another thing that I discovered
with the left-handed stuff, the real control of putting the accent and
not being too brutal with the rest of the strums. So it's quite difficult.
You'll probably gonna find some of that difficult as well and
that's OK. I'm familiar with the making music feel good. I've been
playing shuffles my whole life but when I tried to do this
left-handed I found it really challenging. I could kind of strum
it OK but getting that making it feel good thing is about practice.
There's a physical element to the repetition of doing that. And
left-handed I'm just starting to get the hang of it now and I've
done 6 practice sessions or something on it. And it's still it felt clunky.
And the reason I'm telling you about that is that it's not the
sort of thing that's just an intellectual exercice in understanding. You
have to actually so it and do it over and over again and get that
feeling of the shuffle. You have to try and get that shuffle feeling
into your body by playing it. I really hope you enjoyed this
lesson and inspires you to go and listen to some great blues
music and absorb that shuffle feel. It's going to be a really important
part of playing the blues if you decide to take it much further
than this beginner level. I'll see you for plenty more lessons
very soon. You take car of yourselves. Bye bye.