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Triplets And The Shuffle Rhythm

If we play a triplet we are using 3 notes per beat. You count it like this: '1-an-a'. That's 3 our notes in the space of the 1 beat.If we count over 1 bar of 12/8 we get this: | 1-an-a, 2-an-a, 3-an-a, 4-an-a|

You simply repeat the counting if you are playing more than 1 bar of music:

| 1-an-a, 2-an-a, 3-an-a, 4-an-a | 1-an-a, 2-an-a, 3-an-a, 4-an-a | 1-an-a, 2-an-a,..

(Hopefully you are learning songs that go longer than 1 bar!)

Now if we remove the 2nd note, we get a shuffle rhythm. Instead of '1-an-a' we get '1---a' with the '1' and the 'a' landing on the same space as they did when counting '1-an-a', while the 'an' becomes silent.

If you count this over 1 bar of 12/8 and we count: | 1---a, 2---a, 3---a, 4---a|

Now clap your hands or play it on your instrument: | 1---a, 2---a, 3---a, 4---a | 1---a, 2---a, 3---a, 4---a | 1---a, 2---a,..

The 'an' becomes silent - it is a rest so there is no note is played.

Reading Guitar Tab And Sheet Music

When reading sheet music and guitar tab from a book (not the dodgy stuff you see on the internet) the music will often tell you that even through you to play a shuffle, the time signature will be shown as being in 4/4. However a time signature of 4/4 does not have a triplet feel - it's a straight beat that you would count as 1-an, 2-an, 3an, 4an... Like with any standard rock beat.

For example Metallica's Enter Sandman is in 4/4, as is Gunner's Sweet Child Of Mine.

Where as the shuffle beat we have been talking about above really has a time signature of 12/8.
Since 12/8 is a lot harder to notate and read, music publishers usually state the 4/4 time signature. To show you that they want you to play a shuffle rhythm, they will show at the top of the piece of music how the straight beat is to be interpreted. This is done with a picture of two eighth notes being shown to equal a triplet.

Anytime you are trying to interpret sheet music, you will know what the tune is meant to sound like and what kind of feel it has. Let your ear and basic sense of feel and groove, be your guide.

Learning to count both straight feels and shuffle rhythms will help you become well equipped for any style of music you want o play.