can somebody please help me out with this? i`m having the hardest time trying to understand 6/8 time. How exactly does it affect the music? how different is it from 4/4 time?

6/8 TIME IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM 4/4 TIME BECAUSE INSTEAD OF 4 QUARTER NOTES PER MEASURE THERE ARE 6 EIGHTH NOTES PER MEASURE.

"can somebody please help me out with this? i`m having the hardest time trying to understand 6/8 time. How exactly does it affect the music? how different is it from 4/4 time?"

Musicman,

I feel your pain. I used to have as much difficulty with 6/8 as you.

There are several different types of time signatures. In simple time, the beat is divided into 2 (eg. 4/4). In compound time, the beat is usually divided into 3. However, it can also be divided into 5, 7, 11, or however weird the composer thinks it should be. 6/8 time is one of the more common compound time signatures. There is also composite time, where the beats are not of equal length. For example, in 5/8 time, the beat can be grouped into 3+2, 2+3, 2+2+1, or however the composer decides to divide up the measure.


I will try to explain 6/8 time as best I can. I will first off explain what each number in the time signature means. The bottom number tells you what type of note gets the beat. In this case, it would be 8th notes. The top number tells you how many of each of those notes are in a measure. In this case, 6 of them.
The beats are usually grouped into dotted quarter notes (= 3 eighth notes), especially when the tempo is fast. If you were subdividing it, you would say "1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6," where the bolded numbers represent the down beats. The eighth notes are also grouped into 3, since that constitutes one beat.

Sometimes the music may be written a bit tricky, too. The down beat may not be completely obvious, as it could be covered up by a rest. My advice to you would to buy some solo books for your instrument, and just practice sight-reading compound time. Reading complicated time signatures does not come naturally, it requires much practice. If you put your mind to it, you will get it, but it will take time. It has taken me many years to advance to my level of music reading. I admit, it was painful at first, but the benefits are endless once you have the skills.

Good luck, and keep playing.

Thomas

Another thing to think about in 6/8 time, try to feel the strong beats, 1 and 4, and you`ll almost feel like you`re playing in 2/4 with triplets. 6/8 isn`t that bad once you get the feel of it, just remember to count 8th notes as 1 beat, quarter notes as 2, dotted quarter as 3, halfnotes as 4, and dotted halfnotes as 6. If you think of it in 2, dotted quarter notes are your best friends cuz they get one beat. 6/8, to me, is something you have to feel before you can understand. Try listening to some recordings in 6/8 and you`ll get the feel for it.