Six Strings
In this section: Techniques
Techniques

The shuffle

The pendulum, but in swung eighths: each pair is played long-short, “daa-da daa-da.” One small change, and it instantly sounds like the blues.

Time signature
4/4, eighth notes
Styles
Blues, rock ’n’ roll, boogie, country
Difficulty
Beginner

The pattern

The shuffle (swung eighths)A7 · D7 · E7

What it’s for

On paper, the shuffle looks like the pendulum: down-up, eight strums per bar. But the eighth notes aren’t even anymore. The first of each pair takes two thirds of the beat, the second one third: long, short. That lilt is swing.

It’s the rhythm of blues, boogie and 1950s rock ’n’ roll. It’s often played over a blues in A with A7, D7 and E7, as in the example. The course lesson The shuffle puts it to work over a full blues progression.

To feel it, split each beat into three and count “1-2-3, 1-2-3”: the downstroke lasts the first two, the upstroke lands on the third. You can also say “daa-da daa-da,” or think of a horse trotting.

How to practice it, step by step

  1. Muted strings first. Fretting hand flat across the strings. Play a straight pendulum for a few bars, then let each downstroke linger and catch up with a late, light upstroke. Listen to the example and copy it.
  2. On one chord. A7, for a full minute. The downstroke is firm, the upstroke almost a whisper.
  3. With a chord change. Two bars of A7, two of D7, then back. Change during the last upstroke: it’s short and can ring on open strings.
  4. Up to tempo. Play A7, D7, E7 at 70, then work up to 100. The faster it gets, the crisper the swing has to stay.
The shuffle (swung eighths)A7

Common mistakes

  • The shuffle is too straight. The two eighths go back to being even, and your blues turns into rock. Exaggerate at first: longer, shorter.
  • The swing is too tight. On the flip side, if the upstroke crowds the next beat, it sounds stiff and jerky. Keep the two-thirds, one-third ratio.
  • Your hand stops between strums. The motion slows on the long note and speeds up on the short one, but it never stops.
  • Upstrokes too loud. They should stay a bounce, almost a shadow of the downstroke.
  • You speed up on chord changes. The metronome settles it: beat 1 of every bar lands on the click.

You’ve got it when…

  • anyone listening can tell right away it’s the blues;
  • you can hold the shuffle over A7, D7 and E7 at 90 without the swing stiffening;
  • you can switch from a straight pendulum to the shuffle and back without stopping.