Never made sense of the difference between the two time signatures? Or just time signatures in general? We've got you. Don't forget to take our short listening quiz at the end to test your ears!
If we’re thinking purely mathematically, 3/4 and 6/8 should be the same thing—simplify 6/8, and you get 3/4.
However, time signatures aren’t fractions. In music, 3/4 is different from 6/8. For a quick refresher on time signatures, check out our short guide to Rhythm Basics.
Even though both time signatures contain six eighth notes in each measure, the way we group them is what differentiates them.
Both have six eighth notes in a measure, but what separates them is how we group them.
In 3/4, we group the eighth notes in twos, resulting in three strong beats in a measure—on the quarter note beats.
With 6/8, we group the eighth notes in threes, resulting in two strong beats in a measure—on the dotted quarters.
In standard music notation practice, we beam notes so that the first note of each grouping is the strongest.
Try vocalizing the beats, keeping the eighth notes at the same speed:
"ONE and TWO and THREE and"
"ONE and a TWO and a"
You will find that the feel of the two is completely different!
In conclusion, the difference between the two time signatures is that we hear and feel 3/4 in three, whereas we hear and feel 6/8 in two. 3/4 has three groups of two; 6/8 has two groups of three.
3/4 or 6/8? Test yourself!
Can you tell whether these songs are in 3/4 or 6/8? Answers below. (Don't scroll past the image if you don't want spoilers!)
- We Are The Champions - Queen
- Slavonic Dance Op.72, No. 2 - Antonín Dvořák
- Are You Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis Presley
- Piano Man - Billy Joel
- My Favorite Things - Julie Andrews
Answers: 2, 3, 4, and 5 are 3/4, while only 1 is 6/8
How did you do? It can get tricky when "ONE and a" feels like a fast "ONE two three." Check out our guide to identifying time signatures for how to decode this enigma!
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