Press Play for a blues shuffle drum beat at 130 BPM. It starts with Fool in the Rain Shuffle, and you can switch to When the Levee Breaks, Purdie Shuffle, Texas Blues-Rock Shuffle, Southern Soul Shuffle, Rosanna Shuffle and Soul Ballad (12/8 Feel). One beat lasts 462 ms.
Playing over a blues shuffle drum beat at 130 BPM
130 BPM is at the fast end for blues shuffle. Stay relaxed: if your hands tense up or you start rushing, drop back ten BPM, play the part cleanly for a few minutes, then come back up.
What plays at 130 BPM
Fool in the Rain Shuffle is written at 130 BPM, so 130 BPM is its home tempo. In 4/4 at this tempo a quarter note lasts 462 ms, an eighth note 231 ms and a sixteenth 115 ms, which is the spacing of the hi-hat you hear. Switch to When the Levee Breaks, Purdie Shuffle, Texas Blues-Rock Shuffle, Southern Soul Shuffle, Rosanna Shuffle and Soul Ballad (12/8 Feel) on the page and the tempo stays at 130 BPM.
How long is a phrase at 130 BPM?
Knowing how long a phrase lasts helps you plan a song, a solo or a recording take. The drums play a fill at the end of every four or eight bars, so these are the lengths you will hear.
Phrase lengths at 130 BPM
Length
Time
One bar of 4/4
1.8 seconds
Four-bar phrase
7.4 seconds
Eight-bar section
15 seconds
Twelve-bar blues chorus
22 seconds
Three-minute song
about 98 bars
How a blues shuffle drum beat works
A shuffle divides each beat into three and plays the first and last parts: long-short, long-short. Your part should swing the same way. If you play straight eighths over a shuffle, the band sounds like it is arguing with itself.
How to play along
Play a twelve-bar blues over it: four bars of I, two of IV, two of I, then V, IV, I, V. Guitarists can use the classic boogie shape on the lowest strings and swing every pair of notes. Count "one-and-a two-and-a" to feel the triplets.