# I just discovered everything I do is in 6/8 time



## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Sothis is kind of fun and explains a LOT going back a LONG time. Now, I should have known this I suppose but seeing as I mostly play with, by and for myself it never really came up.

Recently I did some recording that felt really foreign to my natural playing. It was in 4/4 at 100bpm, things eventually clicked in my little brain, but I never could quite get it to gel.

Then tonight I was playing about with some drum samples trying to overlay a beat on a riff I was working on last night. They all sounded off, all of them being in 4/4. I attributed this to the fact that I didn't put a lot of thought into my mindless musings. Ok, lets rework my part into 4/4. That went ok, except I kept falling out of the beat. I assumed it was my timing being off except for the fact that I was following the click track. Then I just assumed it was the phrasing, which it kind of was when you take it into context with the signature but what I assumed was it was me not "writing" to the signature and not counting the phrasing into bars. 

Nope. 

Turns out everything I do is in 6/8 time. I went back and riffed on some of my other sounds over a 6/8 drum beat and voila. There are all the pieces lining up. 

20 years ago or so, I remember jamming with a friend of mine. She was the singer songwriter kinda gal and I was the smoked too much weed and listened to too much grateful dead and phish kinda guy. We were jamming out some material and I will never forget her looking at me with a perplexed face and saying "You have really F'd up timing" and my response was "You just don't get it" being an arrogant asshole and all. Well, turns out I just got it. Maybe we were both right 

How in the hell does someone default all of their playing to 6/8 time, unintentionally and almost exclusively??

Music is weird.


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## _Azrael (Nov 27, 2017)

You from the east coast?

Before being a bass player I was a drummer that did a lot of Highland and Celtic folk. Lots of 3/4, 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

_Azrael said:


> You from the east coast?
> 
> Before being a bass player I was a drummer that did a lot of Highland and Celtic folk. Lots of 3/4, 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8.


I am from Nova Scotia, so maybe that shit got into my blood. I kid you not, I always just assumed it was because I was shitty at phrasing and timing but every single thing I have been working on for the last forever and could never record because nothing ever made sense, now makes complete sense. I know it sounds nuts, but my music finally makes sense to me. I think this might be my ticket.


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## RBlakeney (Mar 12, 2017)

I honestly still don’t know the difference between 3/4 and 6/8.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

RBlakeney said:


> I honestly still don’t know the difference between 3/4 and 6/8.


3/4 is 1 and 2 and 3 and
6/8 is 1 and a 2 and a 

Instead of three groups of two it is two groups of three resulting in a more pronounced first and fourth beat instead of first third and fifth


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## paraedolia (Nov 26, 2008)

You're actually a fiddler!


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

paraedolia said:


> You're actually a fiddler!


I suppose that right there explains a lot.
I am not sensing the gravity here in others that I have in myself. This is a huge revelation.


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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

Just say you mostly play shuffles.





(The Purdie shuffle still breaks my brain.)


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

I think you are the Forest Gump of timing.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Grab n Go said:


> Just say you mostly play shuffles.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I remember watching Beato's video on simple drum beats. Kick hat hat kind of shit and I couldn't do it, it just felt all wrong. I went and piano rolled some shit and couldn't get it to sync to my shit no matter what I did. This man, this man right here, I can follow this. 

I shit you not, everything I play. I have run back into so many of the licks I have been writing and there it is, they fall into a standard 6/8 timing. I know perhaps I should not expect anyone to be as amazed or care as much as I do, but this right here is life changing and a rather large revelation on my part in advancing my writing. I cannot express to you how frustrating it is to write things when everything I try and do just runs out of phrase eventually, it makes it very difficult. 

Hmmm...... I think I need to look more into this Purdie fellow. I think he gets me.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

player99 said:


> I think you are the Forest Gump of timing.


Is that Ping Pong Forrest or getting shot in the ass Forrest?


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Mark Brown said:


> Is that Ping Pong Forrest or getting shot in the ass Forrest?


Hittin' on the ladies Forrest.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Is there a Vegas kick line involved in any of this.


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## polyslax (May 15, 2020)

You can get some really cool grooves going when you layer time signatures. Check out this afro cuban feel combining 4/4 and 6/8.


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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

Mark Brown said:


> Hmmm...... I think I need to look more into this Purdie fellow. I think he gets me.


Wait until you see all the albums he's played on.

Other famous examples of a shuffle:

Jeff Porcaro





John Bonham


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## polyslax (May 15, 2020)

Always loved this clip with Fagan and Becker discussing Purdie.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

RBlakeney said:


> I honestly still don’t know the difference between 3/4 and 6/8.


Actually 3/4 and 6/8 aren't really the same thing
6/8 is more like 4/4 with triplets.
3/4 has a different feel to it.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

3/4 is a waltz.


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## RBlakeney (Mar 12, 2017)

@Mark Brown I started a 6/8 song for you. I didn't have time to finish it because I only had 20 minute before work.

__
https://soundcloud.com/user-409211899%2Fnov-8


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## diyfabtone (Mar 9, 2016)

There are 6 eighth notes in both so they are the same technically - they have a different feel because the accents are not the same. 3 main beats for 3/4 and 2 main beats for 6/8 (usually). 'I Like to Be in America' from West Side Story is a perfect example of how they are the same but different.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

RBlakeney said:


> @Mark Brown I started a 6/8 song for you. I didn't have time to finish it because I only had 20 minute before work.
> 
> __
> https://soundcloud.com/user-409211899%2Fnov-8


Yeah, see, that makes my brain happy


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## HeavyMetalDan (Oct 5, 2016)

Play lots of ACDC, that will fix your lack of 4/4 timing????


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## Derek_T (10 mo ago)

You guys got it all wrong, 6/8 means you play 2 wrong notes every 8 notes.
As a Jazz disciple, most of my solos are in 1/8


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

RBlakeney said:


> I honestly still don’t know the difference between 3/4 and 6/8.


They're the same except one hasn't been fully reduced.


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

You're not the only one....


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## Sketchy Jeff (Jan 12, 2019)

1-2-3-4 1-2

that's six 
and four

cake is had and eaten

j


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## RBlakeney (Mar 12, 2017)

I "finished" (made a few more parts and didn't spend any time with much else because im going to smoke a cigar) your half assed song.

__
https://soundcloud.com/user-409211899%2Fnov-8-1


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

To see how different sorts of a feel 3/4 and 6/8 time are--if you can read music--transcribe a song written in 6/8 into 3/4
It will point that out--it sort of works, but not quite.

Then play both.

it would be easier to change the 6/8 song to 4/4 with triplets.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Another reason for learning fiddle tunes. So many in 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, even 9/8. Many in straight time, many in swing/hornpipe rhythm. Great for learning to sightread and ear train at the same time. Of course, if we're too biased/prejudiced against certain music forms, this might not work for you.

And yeah, I love to write in 6/8, particularly trad style soundtrack sounding stuff. Sometimes my 3/4 and 6/8 stuff start in the other time signature but I feel the beat more or less frequently and adjust accordingly.

Here's I Used To be Handsome in 6/8:






For Want Of Garry Monahan in 3/4:






Francis Street in 4/4


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)




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