Understanding the infamous 6/8 time signature.

I got an interesting text the other day.  A friend of mine was stuck in an argument over the difference between 6/8 and 3/4 time signatures.  She asked “can’t we just count 6/8 in 3/4 time because they add up mathematically?”  I thought it was a valid point after all time in music is just simply math and counting, and, yes, 6/8 can be divided into 3/4 in math.  But in music it is the way we count 6/8 that makes it different and helps give the music that “Latin” feel.  So I will try to explain.

3/4 time is quarter note based, meaning that each of the three notes is a quarter note.  Counted it would be one, two, three, one, two three, one, two, three… This is what I will call a straight forward based feel.  In Jazz we may give the “ones” a little longer of a feel creating that infamous swing feel.  6/8 is different because the musician must keep in mind that it is actually triplet based.  So one measure of 6/8 is actually two sets of triplets counted trip-e-let, trip-e-let…or a quicker 1,2,3,4,5,6...  In this 6/8 feel the usual snare hit that will fall on beat 2 in rock feels falls on the “let’s”(counted beats 3,6) of the 6/8 measure.  It gives the music that lift feel that is cornerstone to Latin music.

Now my friend was right because you can subdivide 6/8 into two 3/4 phrases and this will come in real handy if you ever have to play fast 6/8 music.  In these situations it is often difficult to count 1,2,3,4,5,6 over and over again real fast so I may count 1,2,3 in a quarter note counting method while playing the fast Latin 6/8 underneath.  I just have to remember that if the music calls for eight bars I can only count it in that quarter note 3/4 feel for four bars. 

This is one of those that you will have to practice with a metronome or a good written piece of music with an included audio file.  Or better yet go find a friend from one of the South American nations and ask to borrow some music.