Two beats of three
This page opens the metronome in 6/8 at 60 dotted quarters a minute: the circles show the two main beats of the bar, beat 1 accented and beat 2 (the fourth eighth note) a medium accent, and the eighth notes click softly between them, three to each beat. That grouping, ONE-and-a TWO-and-a, is what makes 6/8 sway, and it is where most players go wrong when they read it as six equal beats.
Ways to count 6/8
- In two (this setup): for anything with a swing or a march feel: jigs, barcarolles, many ballads and rock songs in 6/8. Set Clicks per beat to Beats to hear only the two beats and keep the eighths in your head.
- In six: for slow pieces where each eighth note is a beat. Press Every eighth under the time signatures; the tempo converts (60 becomes 180) and the accents land on 1 and 4.
- Faster: in 6/8 the dotted-quarter tempo is the one you’d tap along to. Press Tap tempo in time with the two strong beats of a recording to set it.
Practice ideas
Start slower than you think: compound meters hide uneven eighths. Play the three eighths of each beat with the clicks, then try the gap trainer with 2 bars on and 2 silent to check that your groups of three stay even on their own. For a waltz in three beats instead, open the 3/4 metronome; for four slow beats of three, the 12/8 metronome.