A rolling 6/8 blues groove: hi-hat on all six eighth notes, kick on count 1 and snare on count 4, so the bar sways in two big pulses.
The 6/8 slow blues beat plays the hi-hat on all six eighth notes, the kick on count 1 and the snare on count 4. Each bar splits into two groups of three, so the groove rocks back and forth in two big pulses. It's slower than a medium shuffle, but it doesn't have to be a crawl.
Each column is one eighth note. x is a hi-hat or cymbal stroke, o is a drum.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Hi-Hat x x x x x x Snare . . . o . . Kick o . . . . .
Count the bar out loud as 1 2 3 4 5 6 and add one limb at a time.
Only counts 1 and 4 have two limbs together: kick with hi-hat on 1, snare with hi-hat on 4. Counts 2, 3, 5 and 6 are the hi-hat alone. Once 1 and 4 land cleanly, the other four strokes just fill the space between them.
The sequencer's BPM counts eighth notes in 6/8, not the two big pulses. 150 BPM here equals 50 dotted-quarter beats per minute, which is why the number looks high for a slow groove.
Start slow enough to place every note deliberately, lock each rung in before moving up, and only raise the tempo once the pattern is clean. Each step opens the metronome at that tempo.
This 6/8 feel shows up across slow blues and blues ballads with lots of small variations, so it's given as a style pattern rather than a transcription of one record.
Ordered by difficulty — the first is the smallest step up.
Count six eighth notes per bar: 1 2 3 4 5 6. The hi-hat plays every count, the kick plays 1 and the snare plays 4. The strong pulses are 1 and 4.
It's slower than a medium shuffle but not always slow. This pattern is set to 150 BPM counted in eighth notes, which is 50 beats per minute if you count the two big pulses.
Both group eighth notes in threes. A 6/8 bar has two groups of three, while a 12/8 bar has four. A 12/8 slow blues usually puts the snare on the second and fourth groups.