Blues shuffle drum beat at 80 BPM
Press Play for a blues shuffle drum beat at 80 BPM. It starts with When the Levee Breaks, and you can switch to Purdie Shuffle and Fool in the Rain Shuffle. One beat lasts 750 ms.
Playing over a blues shuffle drum beat at 80 BPM
80 BPM is at the slow end for blues shuffle. Slow tempos show every timing slip, so it is the best place to learn a new part: play it until it feels boring, then move up.
What plays at 80 BPM
When the Levee Breaks is written at 72 BPM, the closest of this style's grooves to 80 BPM, so it opens first and plays a little faster than written. In 4/4 at this tempo a quarter note lasts 750 ms, an eighth note 375 ms and a sixteenth 188 ms, which is the spacing of the hi-hat you hear. Switch to Purdie Shuffle and Fool in the Rain Shuffle on the page and the tempo stays at 80 BPM.
How long is a phrase at 80 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.
| Length | Time |
|---|---|
| One bar of 4/4 | 3 seconds |
| Four-bar phrase | 12 seconds |
| Eight-bar section | 24 seconds |
| Twelve-bar blues chorus | 36 seconds |
| Three-minute song | about 60 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.