So far, all the rhythms we have looked at have four beats in the bar, with some of the beats divided into two. Now we are going to have a look at what happens when we divide a beat by three!

Triplet

When a beat is divided into 3 you get a triplet. They have a different kind of feel compared to normal eighth notes (dividing a beat into two) and understanding them will help you find your blues groove.

They are usually written with the notes grouped together in threes and usually there is a ‘3' written under them too, so they should be quite easy to recognise.

Put your metronome on, and try and say the ‘trip-let' count shown above along with the beat, making sure that the ‘1, 2, 3 and 4' stay right on the beat. This will get the feel of the triplet into your mind.

Moving On...

Playing triplets as a strumming pattern can be a bit tricky, so we are going to leave that for now, but we are going to use them next in Blues Rhythm.