A triplet is a group of three evenly spaced notes played within one beat. Eighth note triplets are indicated by three eighth notes grouped together by a bracket (or a curved line) and the numeral 3.
The eighth note triplets are played with one third of a beat each. Triplets are easy to understand once you have heard them played.
This 12 Bar Blues solo makes frequent use of triplets. As you play, try to keep the triplet rhythm in your mind even when you are playing the quarter notes and half notes. This will help you keep time.
There are many songs in Blues and Jazz which use the triplet as the basic rhythmic unit, so the more comfortable you are with triplets, the easier it will be to play these styles. Notice the first and second endings in this example. These endings are described in detail further in this lesson.