Many of the most well-known pieces of music on classical guitar are in 6\/8 time signature. If time signatures are new to you, don’t worry, we’ll cover that below. So what is 6\/8, what makes it different from 3\/4 time, and why does it matter?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Rhythm is one of most essential elements of music (together with pitch, melody, harmony, and timbre). It organizes the various pitches in our music and thus helps us follow along through time. In a technical (and perhaps simpler) sense, rhythm tells us how long each pitch lasts.<\/p>\n And there are different kinds of rhythms, which we call notes. At the most basic level we will deal with the following kinds of notes, or rhythms:<\/p>\n But in a more general sense, rhythm is an umbrella term (like “pitch”) that includes within it the concepts of beat, subdivision, meter, time signature, tempo, syncopation, and more.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> In order to\u00a0give a clear, easy-to-follow structure to the music, most pieces of music contain measures (or bars) that set boundaries for how many beats of rhythm can be played. Every measure ends with a line through the staff called a “bar line,” like this:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> But how do we know how many notes or beats to count in each measure? This is where the time signature comes into play, which is simply a tool to help organize the beats in a measure. The time signature has two parts: the bottom number tells us what kind of note to count in each measure and the top number tells us how many notes to count. So, if we have a 4\/4 time signature, we will count four quarter notes. 3\/4 time signature would be three quarter notes, and so on. Thus, when we talk about 6\/8 time signature, we’re referring to rhythms of six eighth notes in a measure.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Composers group these rhythms (or notes) together into patterns that help us make more sense of them, which we call “meter.” This is not unlike the way we might group numbers mathematically to help us solve equations more easily.<\/p>\n There are three forms of meter: duple (groups of two), triple (groups of three), and quadruple (groups of four). We then divide each of these into either simple or compound meter.<\/p>\n And one clue in the music for these groupings is the way a piece of music beams notes together (specifically eighth and sixteenth notes). For instance, in 3\/4 time we might beam eighth notes like this, dividing the three equal quarter-note beats into two eighth-note groups each.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> In 6\/8 time, however (which has the same number of eighth notes), we will group eighth notes into two groups of three. We’ll look at this more closely below.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> The terms time signature and meter are sometimes used interchangeably. However, they are slightly different from one another. In the most general sense, the time signature simply refers to the symbol used to help us organize the beats in a measure (telling us how many of each kind of beat to expect). Meter, however, helps us group the beats into easily recognizable and recurring patterns.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Again, meter is about how notes are grouped to form certain patterns. A “simple” meter is any meter where the “big beat” can be divided into two equal parts. Thus, 4\/4 time consists of four quarter notes: each of those quarter notes divides into two, equal eighth notes.<\/p>\n However, a “compound” meter results when the “big beat” \u00a0divides into three<\/em> equal parts. In 6\/8 time, there are two dotted quarter notes per measure, and each of those divides into three equal eighth notes.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Mathematically 6\/8 time has the exact same number of eighth notes as does 3\/4 time. So what’s the difference between them? Here meter becomes very important as the way we group these six equal eighth notes together makes all the difference.<\/p>\n Let’s take a look at one measure of 3\/4 vs. one measure of 6\/8, focusing especially on how the notes are beamed or grouped in each one.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> As you can see 3\/4 groups the eighth notes into three equal groups of two, while 6\/8 groups them into two equal groups of three. But this grouping pattern of the different meters doesn’t just affect how the notes look, it affects the way the music feels<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>Rhythm<\/h2>\n
Notes<\/h3>\n
\n
Measures<\/h2>\n
![\"6\/8](\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CGC-6-8-Barline-and-measures-Graphic-400x248.png\" "\\"CGC")
<\/span><\/div>Time signature<\/h2>\n
Meter<\/h2>\n
Duple, triple, and quadruple meter<\/h3>\n
Beaming<\/h3>\n
![\"CGC](\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CGC-6-8-Beaming-in-3-4-Graphic.png\" "\\"CGC")
<\/span><\/div>![](\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CGC-6-8-Beaming-in-6-8-Graphic.png\" "\\"CGC")
<\/span><\/div>![\"CGC](\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CGC-6-8-Time-Signature-Graphic-400x115.png\" "\\"CGC")
<\/span><\/div>Time signature vs. Meter<\/h2>\n
Simple vs. compound meter<\/h2>\n
Simple meter<\/h3>\n
Compound meter<\/h3>\n
6\/8 vs 3\/4 time<\/h2>\n
Beam me up, Scottie<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CGC-6-8-Beaming-Graphic.png\" "\\"CGC")
<\/span><\/div>Tempo<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CGC-6-8-Metrical-Accents-Graphic.png\" "\\"CGC")
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