shuffle

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The shuffle rhythm with an emphasis on the offbeat . Example: Pete Johnson's boogie figure ? / iAudio file / audio sample

A shuffle is a ternary rhythm (based on triplets) , which is mainly used in blues and jazz . Occasionally the terms “ dotted ” and “ swing ” are used for this, but they are misleading or ambiguous. The dotted rhythm, like the usual straight eighth notes, differs greatly from what is actually played. Swing is also a ternary rhythm, but it leaves the player much more room for interpretation and subtle variation than the shuffle. Different musicians swing individually. The following also applies: the faster the swing is, the straighter its eighth notes are played. With the shuffle, on the other hand, the following explanation of the ternary rhythm is more precise and independent of the tempo:

Instead of dividing a note value into two equally long periods of time (binary or "even"), the ternary rhythm is divided into three. The means of noting this division into three parts, regardless of the time signature, is the triplet . In contrast to other ternary rhythms, in the shuffle between the stressed beats (usually between the quarter notes), not two unstressed notes are played, but only one, as in the binary rhythm. That is why every binary rhythm can be translated into a shuffle.

This is achieved by not playing anything on the first of the two unstressed beats between the beats. On the second unstressed beat, what would be played in the binary rhythm exactly in the middle between the beats (the eighth notes) is played. This moves the unstressed beats closer to the next beat.

Binary rhythm in 4 / 4 -Stroke:

| X x X x X x X x |

General ternary rhythm in 4 / 4 -Stroke:

| XxxXxxXxxXxx |

Shuffle the 4 / 4 -Stroke:

| X  xX  xX  xX  x |

For the sake of simplicity, the shuffle is usually noted as a binary rhythm in straight eighth notes, indicating that it is a shuffle rhythm. The playing instruction for this is either "Shuffle Feel" or it consists of a perfectly fitting equation: two eighth notes, an equal sign and two triplet eighth notes (under an arc with a small three above) with a triplet eighth rest in between.

Shuffle is often presented with so-called "dotted" Notation: Instead of an eighth note, an eighth note triplet Achteltriolenpause and another one is written as a dotted eighth note (equivalent to 1 1 / 2 eighth notes, that a 3 / 16 -Note) and a sixteenth note. In practice, however, the dotted rhythm is also performed in triplets.

As indicated above, any binary rhythm can be converted into a shuffle. In the case of rhythms with sixteenth notes, this is done by not shifting the unstressed eighth notes between the stressed quarters, but rather the sixteenths in between. This rhythm can often be found in hip-hop and house .

Binary 4 / 4 -stroke with 1 / 16 bill::

| X x x x X x x x X x x x X x x x |

Shuffle in 4 / 4 -stroke with 1 / 16 bill::

| X  xx  xX  xx  xX  xx  xX  xx  x|

This also explains the shuffle function on samplers or drum computers : the second and fourth sixteenth notes of each beat (each beat) are shifted backwards. The higher the parameter is set, the more the respective beats are delayed.

Transfer to other styles of music

The Blues Shuffle lived in the R & B of the 1960s on and, after by British glam rockers like T. Rex with "Hot Love" (1971) and Gary Glitter "2 Rock and Roll Pt" (1972) or with The Sweet revisited . In 1977 Iggy Pop used the beat in his electronic pop song "Nightclubbing".

The shuffle rhythm was also used as a beat in songs of electronic music (examples are " Personal Jesus " by Depeche Mode and "Doctorin 'the Tardis" by The Timelords ), where it leads a life of its own as a genre as Schaffel .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.studybass.com/lessons/rhythm/shuffle-and-swing-rhythms/
  2. Martin Turenne: Schaffel Beat Resuscitates Techno. In: Exclaim! April 2004, accessed January 13, 2012 .