Time Signatures

[hippyguitarist]

Whats the difference between 3/4 timing and 6/8 timing?

[Guitar_fool202]

i may be wrong but in a 3/4 its 3 quarter notes per 4 notes in a bar. with a 6/8 you have 6 quarter notes in a 8 note bar. so when you are writing music and you have alot of notes like say 16ths you have to write and dont like to squeeze a bajillion notes in a bar you use 6/8 to space them out.

but i could be totally wrong.

[Rock_Out_Dudes]

3/4 has 3 beats per measure, with the quarter note equalling one beat. 6/8 has six eighth notes per bar. 6/8 is commonly used for a tripelet feel in which it is counted in 2. In that case, 3 eighth notes equals one beat. So basically, from my experiences, 6/8 is more for a more tripelet feel, while 3/4 normally has the feeling of straight eighths

[Trigger_003]

I'll grab some stuff from http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318711 regarding this

http://www.tdknights.com/trea/e95efadc.jpg
http://www.tdknights.com/trea/5e864306.jpg
To do this exercise, you’ve gotta work out what note represents a beat and how many beats there are in a bar. First you’ve got to figure out if you’re using simple or compound time. Simple and compound refers to the division of the beat.

Simple time:
- The beat is able to be divided into two equal parts.
- All time signatures where the top number is an even number which isn’t divisible by three are simple.
- The upper number tells you the amount of beats in a bar and the lower tells you the kind of note that represents the beat.

Compound time:
- The beat is able to be divided into three equal parts.
- When the top number is both greater than and divisible by 3 (6, 9, 12, etc.), this is compound time.
- The upper number divided by three tells you the amount of beats per bar and the lower says what note represents the division of the beat (this is explained in the 6/8 example below).

This is maybe a bit confusing so here are some examples. You may need to read over these a few times for them to sink in...

6/8: 6 is bigger than 3 and divisible by three, meaning it is compound time.
The top number divided by three is 2; there are 2 beats per bar. This knowledge gives us two answers; the beats per bar, and it also gives us the name - compound (from what we worked out at the start of this example) duple (because of there being 2 beats per bar).
Now, the lower number tells us the division of the beat (not the whole beat, the division) is a quaver. In compound time the beat is divided into three equal parts, meaning there are three quavers in each beat. Combine these three quavers together and you get a dotted crotchet – the value of a beat.

4/4: 4 is even and isn’t divisible by three, meaning that it is simple time.
The upper number is the amount of beats in a bar – so there are 4. This means that the time is quadruple. Knowing that 4/4 is simple time, we can combine these, naming it simple quadruple.
The lower number is the beat value – 4 being a crotchet (quarter note)

What happens with 3/4 though? The top number is divisible by three, BUT it’s not larger than three. So this is simple time.

{other stuff}
Here's the 9/8 one: http://www.tdknights.com/trea/nine8.jpg
Work it out by counting the 9 quavers (eighth notes) per bar and drawing in the bar lines. Pretty simple.
Once you have it all worked out in 9/8, we can transfer it into three. This simply means you'd be counting the numbers 1, 2 and 3 each bar.

The maths: numerator (top number of the key signature) divided by three
= 9 divided by 3
= 3

So starting on 1 in the 9/8 time, every third numer is considered a number when counting in 3... e.g.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
1,_,_,2,_,_,3,_,_

So basically, when counting in 3, one beat is equal to a dotted crotchet (sorry about talking like this if you use the American system of "eighth notes" etc.). And when counting a dotted crotchet, you just count "1+a".
{/end of excerpts}

If you've got any questions... :)

[hippyguitarist]

thanks
so... how would you actually count 1 bar in 6/8 timing then? sorry if i'm just being stupid but i'm still a little confused

[Trigger_003]

Nah that's fine :).

The beat is in two, so you'll have 2 main counts in a bar: 1, 2.
The beat is, however, measured in terms of a dotted crotchet, and we count these like "1 and ah".
So to count bars in 6/8 you would think/say "1 and ah, 2 and ah." Distributing each of these equally across the bar.

Make sense?

[hippyguitarist]

Nah that's fine :).

The beat is in two, so you'll have 2 main counts in a bar: 1, 2.
The beat is, however, measured in terms of a dotted crotchet, and we count these like "1 and ah".
So to count bars in 6/8 you would think/say "1 and ah, 2 and ah." Distributing each of these equally across the bar.

Make sense?

It sort of makes sense... could you please show it alongside a 4/4 bar so i can see it more clearly
thanks for all your help btw

[Noyana]

It sort of makes sense... could you please show it alongside a 4/4 bar so i can see it more clearly
thanks for all your help btw

so 6/8 would be "one-and-ah two-and-ah"

whereas a 3/4 would be counted "one-two-three"

where each note in the 3/4 would be counted with a number, the 6/8 would be the one-and-ah because it really gives you the feel of two even though it's a triple feel (so basically - you break the triplets into two groups of three)

hope that helped

[moogoogaipan]

4/4 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & (very straight feel)
6/8 1 2 3 4 5 6 (grouped in triplets)

[hippyguitarist]

thanks a lot everybody i think i get it now

[mutant!]

Once more, with feeling:

4/4: 1 2 3 4
3/4: 1 2 3
6/8: 1 and uh 2 and uh

If you know the song Blackout by Muse, that's a good example of 6/8. I can't think of another right now.