Yeah…I never said “don’t use the word ‘beat’” I think I said, that it’s not helpful to use it as part of definition when it is not itself previously defined. So yes, if you need to tell someone, “hit the d*mn gong on beat 3, would you?!” That’s completely correct, fair, justified, and clear. Lol
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6/8 gives me nightmares.
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In my humble opinion that is shockingly bad tuition.
The first part is true if and only if the music is in 4/4 time signature.
The second part is wholly invalid. For exampme, the Old Faithful strumming pattern.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
1 _ 2 & _ & 4 _
D _ D U _ U D _
1/4 _ 1/8 1/4 _ 1/8 1/4 _
The Upstrum played on the and after 2 has duration of one quarter. It does not fall on the beat.
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In 4:4 time, especially higher tempos, it helps to start changing chords on the & after 4, per one of Justin’s beginner lessons. What is the equivalent for 6:8 time? Changing on the & after 8 doesn’t give me enough time for ‘big’ changes like Am to F-barre. Changing on the 8 or not playing the 8 works, but doesn’t always sound good especially while strumming.
(Playing finger style p-i-m-a-m-i does ‘buy’ me extra time since I can change after the 8, play the root note with my thumb and get the rest of the chord down in time for the ‘2’. )
Would love to hear what others do, or if there is a JG video that demonstrates the right technique for this and other ‘not common time’ time signatures.
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@Beatup6String. There are six beats. Think of all of these as your Down strums. That does mean your hand must travel back up. But keep it simple in counting and just say
1 2 3 4 5 6
Do not try to say
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 &
Also, to keep it very simple, know that beats 1 and 4 are the strong beats.
Play two strums per bar only, on those beats.
1 2 3 4 5 6
After strumming on the count of 4 you have gained a lot of musical time to make a chord change for the 1 of the next bar.
When you’re ready for six strums per bar, ow the tempo and change chords after the 6.
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Thanks Richard, will try that. Funny how many things come back to slow it down, start simple, and build on top!
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So my question is how do you foot tap in 6:8 time only 2 times on beat 1 and 4 or 6 times on all down beats?
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On the 1 and 4. If you tap on all 6 beat at higher tempo songs (like 120 bpm) your foot would tapping 2beats a second. You can also tap the 1 and 4 with one foot and the 2 3 with the other foot.
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I tap on 1 and 4 and that’s fine for fingerstyle but somehow I feel I should tap on all six beats while strumming and move my hand along to be able to deviate from the pattern whenever is needed and add or remove strums keeping the Rhythm solid…but sometimes as Rick says it’s so fast and I can’t tap my lazy foot that fast…@stitch do you have any suggestions to strum smoothly on time without synchronization with the foot tapping? Should I rely on my internal time feeling (given that I I should have developed it first)?
Thanks for the question @neonguitarist 
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Personally I rely on my internal timing. Playing in a band gave me great rhythm so I don’t rely on tapping my foot at all. I use my body for rhythm/timing. More of a feeling than a tap or count.
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only it’ll require more months to really automate it and apply it to songs in order ‘to play by feeling’… Playing by feeling …there! What does that mean really?
@SILVIA I just read this in your reply in the “What is hard for you thread.” And didn’t want to hijack the thread. Thought it may also help Jason with his 6:8 timing.
I would suggest listening to arrangment of the songs you want to play, Justin has a really good video on Mindful Listening. https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/mindful-listening-for-guitar-players-bg-1506
I really thing getting to know a song internally from listening to it really helps with learning how to play it. There is to much showing how on the internet and not enough listening to learn. After all music was made to be listened to not watched.
Hope this helps.
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Same here i’m not in a band ,but by playing standing i move side to side instead of tap my foot almost always.
I will keep tapping on beat 1 and 4 and on all downbeats to see which 1 is best. Stitch with the 1 and 4 on one foot and 2 and 3 on the other is for 4:4 time right?
This is a really interesting point. I am desperately trying to ensure that I tap my foot correctly when playing ( because, this is the way) however at times it just seems to hinder my strumming rather than help so mostly just let my foot do whatever it wants and find it really comfortable to rely on a sort of internal clock feeling 
maybe I’m overthinking the foot tapping as long as I can keep time.
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Hi OP! How are you? I don’t know if this is because I come from a little background with drums, but I tap something like: Right foot-Left-Left (or something like that while swaying my body somewhat to the music, while all the time I’m thinking in sixes: One and two and three and…It all depends on the tempo, if it is slower. If it is faster, I will actually do One e and a two and, as confusing as that original hodgepodge sounds
But metronome and/or click tracks in six eight is worth its weight in gold.
Hi Rick, thanks for your reply. The lesson you mentioned is one I follow always, listening to the song a few times before playing it is something I do regularly, I usually tap along for the main patterns and to work out the dynamics in the strumming I do also the counting…after some practicing I then can do without the counting. I also find some extra time to listen and tap away from the guitar…it’s really valuable. It just takes time to build skills, the 6/8 is more challenging because it’s usually faster. I do it a lot for my Classical Guitar practice as well, as the pieces are most of the times unknown to me, to get them into my musical imagination…the more listening and tapping with my finger along with the musicsheet the easier learning to play the piece will be.
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Keep tapping the foot. It’s a bit of a catch 22. If your internal clock is really well defined, you don’t have to tap. But if you can’t tap and play, then your internal clock isn’t well defined enough. Getting your foot tapping to automated helps with that.
I have pretty good internal time, but I find that tapping helps me through long pauses and time signature changes.
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Jason, this came up a few months ago.
See my reply and especially the video here: Pointers for foot tapping with a 6/8 time song? - #21 by Richard_close2u
Hi @CD02, keep trying to tap and don’t be like me. I found tapping physically uncomfortable as well as almost impossible to do whilst strumming. So I didn’t bother. I started using the metronome a bit but not enough. Having recently tried filming myself playing along (so I thought) with a metronome I have now realised that I need to do some remedial strumming work to fix my appalling timing. It doesn’t help that I am a lefty learning righty. The good news is that I find it much easier to tap my foot along with strumming with more experience under my belt. I have wasted a couple of years playing out of time, don’t follow my example!
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No it is for 6:8 time on the 1 tap dominant foot, 2 3 other foot, 4 dominant foot, 5 6 other foot.
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Ah ok i get it ,il try that too 
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