The Purdie Shuffle feel
The half-time shuffle with ghost notes.
What it is
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie’s half-time shuffle is one of the most-copied grooves in recorded music. The magic is the ghost notes: quiet triplet taps tucked between the backbeats that give the shuffle its silky, rolling feel. We voice those ghosts at low volume so you hear the full triplet skeleton.
How to practise it
Lay your backbeat on the loud clicks and let the quiet ghost-triplets guide your in-between strokes. Sits beautifully around 90–100 BPM.
Heard on
- Steely Dan — Home at Last
- Toto — Rosanna
- Bernard Purdie sessions