Q: Is there a difference between playing in 6/8 vs playing eighth note triplets in 4/4 (or 2/4)? Like instead of counting ONE two three FOUR five six, you can count 1-trip-let, 2-trip-let?
A: it sounds the same. it just depends on whether you'd rather write the number 3 over and over again (above every group), or dot every quarter note. it's your choice. whichever you have fewer of, i'd say. 4/4 is friendlier if there is any interchange, like if there are straight 16ths in there too as well as triplets, you're fine. where as if you wrote the whole thing in 6/8 (or 12/8) and suddenly you have a straight 4 subdivision, you have to actually write like a tuplet with a ratio on top, like 4:3, which i think most people are not even familiar with. or technically you could make dotten 16th notes, which also probably no one knows how to read in that context