This metronome opens in 6/8: six dots, one for each eighth note of the bar. Before you press Play, switch on accent number four under the display. Beat one is already on, and with four added you hear what 6/8 really is: two big beats, each split in three. The tempo here counts the eighth notes, so if your music gives a dotted quarter, multiply it by three. It is free, with no account, and it works for 12/8 and for a 3/4 waltz just as well.
6/8 is two beats, not six
The 6 on top of the time signature makes most players count six equal beats. That is the most common mistake with this meter. The six eighth notes fall in two groups of three, so the bar moves in two big beats, and each of those beats divides in three:
ONE and a TWO and a
Tap your foot on ONE and TWO only. Your hand fills in the "and a". That is what gives 6/8 its sway, a long wave rather than a row of small steps, and it is why the meter shows up so often in ballads, folk, gospel and slow blues. If you play all six eighths at the same strength, the bar goes flat and nobody can tell where it starts.
Set it up on this metronome
Leave the time signature on 6/8 and the rhythm figure on Quarter note, which gives one click per dot, one per eighth. Turn on accent four. Accented beats are louder, carry a second layer of sound and light their dot in a different color, so beats one and four now stand out from the four light clicks between them.
Then play it on the guitar
Start on muted strings, then on one chord such as Em. Down on ONE, up on "a", down on TWO, up on "a". Once that sways, try a bass note on each big beat and a light chord on the rest: bass on ONE, chord, bass on TWO, chord. Stay on one chord until the bar feels steady, then add a second.
6/8 tempo: eighth note or dotted quarter?
Printed music often gives the tempo of a 6/8 piece for the dotted quarter, the big beat you tap your foot to. This metronome counts the dots, and in 6/8 each dot is an eighth note. One dotted quarter equals three eighths, so the conversion is a single multiplication: BPM to set = dotted quarter tempo × 3.
| Dotted quarter | Set this BPM | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | 120 | Slow ballad, the tool's opening tempo |
| 50 | 150 | Slow and swaying |
| 60 | 180 | One big beat per second |
| 70 | 210 | Moderate, still relaxed |
| 80 | 240 | Brisk, the sway gets lighter |
| 100 | 300 | Fast, hard to hear each eighth |
The tool opens at 120 BPM, which in 6/8 is a slow dotted quarter of 40: a comfortable place to learn the feel. The field goes up to 400, so the fastest 6/8 it can play is a dotted quarter around 133. If BPM itself is still a fuzzy idea, what BPM means covers it from the start.
3/4, 6/8 and 12/8 side by side
These three are the meters you meet most often outside 4/4, and they are easy to confuse because all three have a "three" in them somewhere. What differs is where the three lives: in the number of beats, or inside each beat.
| Meter | Dots on the metronome | The BPM counts | Count it as | Feel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/4 | 3 | the quarter note | 1 2 3 | Three beats, a waltz |
| 6/8 | 6 | the eighth note | 1 and a 2 and a | Two big beats, each split in three |
| 12/8 | 12 | the eighth note | 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a | Four big beats, each split in three |
3/4 metronome: the waltz
Three beats to the bar, counted 1 2 3, with beat one strong. On the guitar the classic pattern is bass, chord, chord. The mistake is to hear it as a 4/4 bar with a beat missing: it has its own swing. Open the metronome in 3/4, where the BPM counts quarter notes and beat one is already accented.
12/8: four big beats in three
12/8 is 6/8 doubled: four big beats, each split in three, counted 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a. It is the feel of a slow blues or a soul ballad, and close cousin to the swing and shuffle feel. Open the metronome in 12/8 and switch on accents 4, 7 and 10 next to beat one.
A practical test when you hear a song and cannot tell: tap the pulse, then try counting 1 2 3 and then 1 and a 2 and a over it. The right count sits on the music without effort. The wrong one feels like you are fighting it. For meters that do not group evenly, such as 5/4 or 7/8, see odd time signatures.
A short 6/8 routine
Ten minutes, in this order, are enough to make the feel stick. Each step only adds one thing to the one before.
- Listen to the click in 6/8 with accents on one and four, and count ONE and a TWO and a out loud.
- Clap only the big beats, then all six.
- Play on muted strings: down on the big beats, up on "a".
- Add one chord, then bass on the big beats and chord between.
- Compare: switch to 3/4 for a minute, then back to 6/8, and listen to the difference in sway. Remember to turn accent four back on.
- Finally, choose Random mute in the play mode menu at a low percentage. Some clicks drop out, and you find out whether the two big beats are yours or the metronome's.
For a song that moves between meters, the Program play mode chains them by
the bar: bars:8 sig:6/8 then bars:4 sig:3/4, one
block per line. Each new signature resets the accents to beat one, so in a
program the 6/8 bars are counted with a single accent. More ways to use
the click well are in how to practice with a metronome, and the bigger picture in how to improve your guitar rhythm.
Frequently asked questions
How do you count 6/8 time?
What does the BPM mean in 6/8 on this metronome?
What is the difference between 3/4 and 6/8?
Is 12/8 the same as 4/4 with triplets?
Why does the 6/8 click sound flat at first?
Who made this
Guitar Social Club is the work of Yohann Abbou, a guitar teacher in Paris who teaches adults. 6/8 is one of the places his students get stuck most often, nearly always for the same reason: they count six where the music counts two. That is why this page opens with the meter already set and asks you for one switch before anything else. The rest of our free guitar tools work the same way, with no sign up before they work.
More about Yohann on his page, and about why Guitar Social Club exists.