With normal 8th note beats you play 2 hihat notes in every beat, but in blues rock we play 3 hihat notes every beat. That feels different for sure, but also sounds enormously different. You could say that in our regular 4 counts we play (4×3) 12 hihats per measure. That is why this is often called 12/8 time. Another name for this is 8th note triplet feel in 4/4 time.
A lot of blues and blues rock is played that way. And that is why chapter 2 is so important. Don’t forget to practice with the band tracks, so you will learn much faster how and with what feeling you should play this.
And again, to become an expert:
- don’t forget to work on 16th note triplet feel
- find a nice ostinato in your hihat foot
All beats in chapter 2 will give you all the flexibility to play and vary within a solid 8th note triplet beat. Every beat is being played in 4/4 time (which equals 12/8) and the examples below I picked one of the band-tracks in 65bpm.