is this shuffling?

[bjarnenorheim]

http://www.myspace.com/adambeyer

Is the groove on the last song "as if dub 1" shuffling, or just some straight triplet stuff..?
I thought the song wasnt based on shuffling, but my mate thought it was, whos right?

Thanks!

[Toxikator]

Really both are correct, since a "shuffled rhythm" is basically triplets without the middle note (at least as far as counting is concerned).

Now, whether you classify it as shuffle/swing or just compound time depends on how you view the song.

First, at this tempo, "swing" is often less 2:1 (counted in triplets) than it is 1.5:1. That is to say, the swung/shuffled notes sound more like 8th notes than they d at slower tempos. furthermore, it seems that quite a bit of this song sounds the full three rather than the first and last... I'd definitely call it triplet stuff or 12/8 and not swing, but I think a case could be made either way.

[Sascha Franck]

I think that in this case I'd just call it "shuffle", get away with plain 8th notes (or 16th, depending on your meter) and be done.

To me, the essential difference between a "true" triplet rhythm (or 6/8, 12/8 or whatever) and something I'd call "shuffle" or "swing" is whether the second triplet is actually used for some *important* rhythmic stuff. If it is, then I would notate things in a way things can easily be divided by 3. But in this example, all essential beats fall onto the third triplet 8th/16th, so there's no need to use any other rhythmical values but 8ths/16ths and just shuffle/swing them.
Really, just a thing of what's making sense in a practical way.