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By Wesley Newton Published on: Wed May 11, 2022
The shuffle groove is inspired by triplets (1-trip-let-2-trip-let-3-trip-let-4-trip-let), however, to master the shuffle, rest the “trip” of every bar and play the remaining. Now, you would play (1-rest-let-2-rest-let-3-rest-let-4-rest-let).
Accomplished drummer and a Grade 8 in Drums with Distinction from Trinity College of Music, your teacher brings 2 decades of professional experience. He has played with iconic bands such as Groovemeister and Blushing Satellite at prestigious music festivals across the country and internationally.
If you imagined shuffling cards, let’s rephrase that. Learning the shuffle groove is to master playing like some of the greats in the world of drums. Originally inspired by the triplet groove, playing the shuffle groove is to sound great even in odd time signatures.
Before learning how to play the shuffle groove, let us rewind back. A gentle reminder – if you are unaware or have forgotten how a triplet groove is counted, recommend you go back to one of our previous blog posts about the concept of triplets.
To get comfortable with the shuffle groove, you must be good at playing triplets (1-trip-let-2-trip-let-3-trip-let-4-trip-let). That particular way of counting should be on auto-pilot if you want to master the shuffle groove.
But we tweak the triplet groove a little to arrive at the shuffle beat. Instead of playing 1-trip-let-2-trip-let-3-trip-let-4-trip-let, you rest “trip” and count it as 1-no count-let, 2-no count-let, 3-no count-let, 4-no count-let. The snare drum and the kick drum pattern remains the same (Snare drum on 2 and 4, kick drum on 1 and 3).
To add an extra element while playing the shuffle groove, practise the hi-hat pattern, get comfortable playing at a reasonable tempo and shift to the ride and see how it sounds. Keep that counting constant so you don’t get confused with the kick drum and the snare drum.
The next part is all about transition. To put it in simple words, play an entire bar of the shuffle groove on the hi-hat (1-space-let-2-space-let-3-space-let-4-space-let). When you complete the fourth bar, transition to the triplet fill (1-trip-let on the snare drum, 2-trip-let on the hi-tom, 3-trip-let on the mid-tom and 4-trip-let on the floor-tom) ending with a crash on count 1 of the following bar.
Remember when you play the triplet fill, your leading hand from the snare drum would change to the left hand when you play the fill on the hi-tom.
Always, quality over speed. Remember to sound clear and not fast. The speed will come with time as you practise and get comfortable with the shuffle groove. In the next blog post, we delve into learning something more interesting – playing flams and drags.
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