How to Set a Metronome for 6/8 and Keep the Pulse

To set a metronome for 6/8, start by deciding what each click represents. For the usual two-beat feel, let each click mark a dotted-quarter note and count “ONE-la-li, TWO-la-li.” For detailed slow practice, let each click mark an eighth note and count six clicks per bar. The second setup needs a BPM number three times as high to keep the music at the same speed.

You can do either with an ordinary, evenly spaced click. A dedicated 6/8 setting is useful for accents, but you can establish the grouping with your voice.

How to Count 6/8 in Two

A bar of 6/8 contains six eighth notes, usually grouped 3 + 3. Each group fills one dotted-quarter beat. That makes 6/8 a compound duple meter: two main beats, each dividing into three. Open Music Theory’s compound-meter lesson explains this distinction between the beat and its smaller divisions.

Say “ONE-la-li, TWO-la-li” evenly. Put a light tap on ONE and TWO while the syllables continue between taps. If you prefer counting all six eighth notes, say “ONE-two-three, FOUR-five-six.” The main beats land on the first and fourth eighth notes.

Keep the last syllable of each group spacious. It is easy to squeeze “li” toward the next beat, especially just before a chord change. Say the count before adding the notes. Our guide to musical subdivisions explains how the smaller grid fits inside the pulse.

Metronome for 6/8: Two Clicks or Six?

Use two clicks per bar when you want to hear the broad pulse. At 60 BPM, each click is a dotted-quarter beat. You fit three evenly spaced eighth notes between one click and the next, with the first eighth note landing on the click.

Use six clicks per bar when you need help placing the smaller notes. To keep that same speed, set the metronome to 180 BPM. Each click now marks an eighth note. Count six, then begin the next bar. Both versions take two seconds per bar.

At a very slow learning tempo, six clicks can be easier to follow than two widely separated ones. Keep hearing the groups of three, though. Otherwise the passage can become a string of equally heavy notes, and the lift into the next beat disappears.

Try the free online metronome at 60 BPM for the two-click version, then 180 BPM for six clicks. Count the bar yourself; the exercise works with the plain main-beat click.

Read the Note Value Beside the BPM

Before entering a printed tempo, look at the note symbol beside the number. Dotted quarter = 60 means 60 dotted-quarter beats per minute. Eighth note = 60 means 60 eighth notes per minute, which is much slower. The time signature alone cannot tell you which unit a bare “60 BPM” means.

A dotted quarter lasts as long as three eighth notes, as the Open University’s guide to compound-time beaming illustrates. Use that relationship to convert between the two click rates:

• Two clicks to six: multiply the dotted-quarter BPM by three. For example, 50 becomes 150.
• Six clicks to two: divide the eighth-note BPM by three. For example, 120 becomes 40.

If your score marks a quarter note, follow that value rather than silently treating it as a dotted quarter. A quarter note lasts two eighth notes, so quarter = 90 is equivalent to eighth = 180 or dotted quarter = 60. Write the unit beside any practice tempo you save. “60, dotted quarter” is enough.

6/8 vs. 3/4: Hear the Grouping

Both meters can hold six eighth notes in a bar. Their usual grouping differs: 6/8 has two groups of three, while 3/4 has three groups of two. In 3/4, each main beat is a quarter note. Fundamentals, Function, and Form explains how simple and compound beats divide.

Clap six evenly spaced notes. First give a little weight to notes 1 and 4. Then keep the spacing unchanged and give weight to 1, 3, and 5. You have changed the grouping without changing how fast the eighth notes arrive. Real phrases can play against that pattern, so use it as a way to hear the meter rather than an instruction to hammer every strong beat.

A Short 6/8 Metronome Practice Exercise

Use one comfortable note or a simple chord so fingering does not take over. These are exercise tempos, not target speeds for a particular piece.

1. Start with six clicks. Set 180 BPM. Play one note per click for four bars, counting “ONE-two-three, FOUR-five-six.” Keep the emphasis gentle.
2. Keep the smaller notes moving. Stop, change the metronome to 60 BPM, and count a bar before playing. Fit three of the same evenly spaced notes into each click interval. The music should move at the same speed as before.
3. Use a real phrase. Try two bars from your piece at that pace, or choose a slower pair of equivalent settings if needed. Keep counting through rests; a silent eighth note still occupies its place.
4. Check the return to beat one. Repeat the phrase without shortening its last note or rest. If the next bar arrives early, return to six clicks and listen to the end of the bar.

For a repertoire example, Schumann’s The Wild Rider, Op. 68 No. 8, is written in 6/8; you can see the meter in this score. Work below performance speed while learning it. Keep the two-beat outline audible in your counting even when the written rhythm leaves gaps.

When you record your practice tempo, include what the click meant. The same issue comes up when finding a song’s BPM: a number becomes useful once you know which pulse it measures.