How to Play Guitar in 6/8 Time: Feel Two Beats, Not Six

Intro

If your strumming sounds tidy but a song in 6/8 still feels wrong, you may be putting the accents in the wrong places. Six evenly spaced strokes can suggest different metres depending on how you group them. For a useful first 6/8 feel, hear two broad beats, each divided into three smaller notes.

You can practise that without learning a complicated pattern. Start with your voice and a foot tap, add muted strings, then use Em and Am. The aim is a gentle rolling accompaniment in which the chord change does not interrupt the pulse. You will also make your own short comparison recording so you can hear when the grouping changes.

Count six subdivisions but feel two beats

In a typical 6/8 bar, there are six quavers grouped as three plus three. Each group lasts one dotted crotchet, so there are two main beats per bar. Say ONE-two-three FOUR-five-six evenly. Tap your foot only on ONE and FOUR. Those taps mark the two broad beats; the spoken numbers mark their subdivisions.

Do this away from the guitar for eight bars. Keep the quieter syllables audible rather than squeezing them together before the next tap. If the second group rushes, temporarily clap all six subdivisions while making the first and fourth claps a little stronger. The spaces should remain equal even though the accents differ.

You can also say ONE-and-a TWO-and-a. This counts the main beats directly, but either wording works if you understand what each sound represents. Avoid swapping between the two systems halfway through an exercise.

Hear why this is different from 3/4

Both 6/8 and 3/4 can contain six quavers. In 3/4, those quavers usually form three pairs: ONE-and TWO-and THREE-and. In 6/8, they form two groups of three. The total number of small notes does not tell your ear where the main beats fall.

Record yourself clapping six equal subdivisions per bar for four bars with accents on subdivisions one and four. Without changing their spacing, clap another four bars with accents on one, three and five. Play it back and tap the broad beats. The first version should suggest two taps per bar; the second should suggest three. You are supplying this comparison yourself, rather than following an audio file provided here.

Triplets are related in feel but not identical in notation. A triplet normally divides a beat into three where two would otherwise fit. In 6/8, three quavers per dotted-crotchet beat are the normal subdivision and do not require triplet brackets. The separate lesson on fitting guitar triplets into a beat explains that contrast in a simple-metre setting.

Choose what your metronome is clicking

A metronome number is incomplete unless you know the note value it represents. For this first exercise, set a plain click to 120 and let each click represent one quaver. Count six clicks per bar, tapping on the first and fourth. Your broad dotted-crotchet pulse is then 40 beats per minute.

If your app supports compound metre, you can instead set 6/8 with a dotted-crotchet pulse of 40 and three subdivisions per beat. Check the settings: some apps display quaver tempo, others display the broad beat. Do not assume that selecting 6/8 automatically changes the meaning of the tempo number.

When six clicks feel comfortable, use two clicks per bar at 40, with one click on ONE and the next on FOUR. Supply the intervening syllables yourself. If that gap feels too long, keep the quaver clicks for now. My guide to using a metronome for guitar practice offers more help with listening to a click without chasing it.

Transfer the count to muted strings

Lay your fretting fingers lightly across the strings without pressing them onto the frets. Check that a strum produces a short unpitched sound. Use small downstrokes for all six subdivisions, returning the hand above the strings between strokes. These return movements are silent; you are not trying to fit extra upstrokes into the bar.

• ❯ Count one complete bar before playing, with your foot tapping on ONE and FOUR.
• ❯ Play six quiet downstrokes in the next bar. Give strokes one and four slightly more weight, without making a bigger arm swing.
• ❯ Repeat for four bars, then keep counting for one silent bar before starting again.

The silent bar checks whether you can maintain the metre without relying on the noise of each strum. If you restart early, clap the pattern again. Increasing the volume will not fix uncertainty about where the next bar begins.

Add Em, then make one deliberate change

Use Em with the fifth and fourth strings fretted at fret two and the other strings open. Play the six-downstroke pattern for two bars. Then play Am for two bars: fourth string fret two, third string fret two and second string fret one, strumming from the fifth string. Repeat this four-bar loop.

At first, change only after the complete second Em bar. Count both bars aloud so you do not accidentally give each chord one bar instead of two. Prepare the next shape mentally during the last group of three, but keep the final strokes evenly spaced. If the change is late, simplify to one strum on ONE and one on FOUR before restoring all six.

Let the chord ring between strokes rather than choking every subdivision. Keep the accents modest: ONE can be strongest, FOUR slightly lighter, with the other strokes quieter. The article on building reliable strumming patterns is useful if your picking hand keeps stopping while the fretting hand moves.

Leave space without losing the rolling feel

Once the six strokes are reliable, play only on subdivisions one, four and six. Count every subdivision aloud: strum on ONE, move silently through two and three, strum on FOUR, wait through five, then strum on six. Use downstrokes for this slow version. The next ONE must arrive at the same spacing, not immediately after six.

If the final stroke makes you hurry, remove it and practise just ONE and FOUR. If your foot starts tapping on one, three and five, return to the spoken 3+3 grouping. If every stroke sounds equally heavy, practise the accents on muted strings before adding chords again. Change one variable at a time so you can hear what helped.

Outro

For your next practice session, spend a minute counting with two foot taps, two minutes on muted strings and two minutes on the Em–Am loop. Finish by recording four bars and checking that each bar has two broad beats with three equal subdivisions inside each one. Keep that version as a reference for your next attempt. A plain accompaniment that keeps its 6/8 shape is more useful than a busier pattern that slips into three.

If you've enjoyed this article, please share it!