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Workin' Man Blues

Merle Haggard · 1969

A country shuffle staple for practicing swung twelve-bar accompaniment.

Artist
Merle Haggard
Year
1969
Genre
classic country
Drummer
session
Tempo
132 bpm
Time
4/4
Feel
shuffle
Difficulty
intermediate

Drummer's Quick-Start

Practice tempos

Woodshed
80bpm
Building
106bpm
Target
132bpm

The feel

A shuffle in 4/4 around 132 BPM. It moves — stay relaxed in the hands so you don't tense up and rush.

What to watch

  • •Lock the shuffle triplet; the #1 mistake is letting it straighten out as you speed up.

How to learn it

Well-known tutorials exist for this one — use the links below, and play along from your own copy.

Generated from this song's groove profile — analysis only, no notation. A human-reviewed AI brief with a full groove breakdown, key moments and song map replaces this as briefs roll out.

Learn it

Find drum tutorials on YouTube ↗

iDrum links to where lessons already live — we don't host recordings or publish transcriptions. Play along from your own music.

Discussion

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