David's Tip of the Day: Shuffle Rhythm: Work on your Rhythm... Work with a Metronome - Part 6

It's no secret that most of us have a tendency to rush. The most common reason for this in the blues is playing the upbeat eighth note too early in time, causing the following downbeat eighth note to be played early and the cycle continues until you notice it... usually three beats in where you swear that the dang metronome is slowing down!

Here's a great solution...

If you use a digital metronome, there may be a feature to use a "swing" rhythm (this is the same as we use in a shuffle). On my app (picture on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica) you click on the symbol of the "quarter note" and a menu appears. Select the triplet rhythm with the middle note missing. Swing is based on the triplet rhythm 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, etc... with the middle triplet being held through from the first triplet or silent, giving you the swing/shuffle rhythm 1 3, 1 3, 1 3, etc.

What this does is now give you an EXACT representation of the rhythm you're playing. Try example 1.2 or 1.4 in Solo Harmonica Study 1 (http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/solo_study_1).