What's the meaning of the title of 'Four On Six'?

[destinytot]

Re. 'the thumb'... in and of themselves, hands are quite benign:

[voxss]

this is getting ridiculous..WEs was in London in the 60s ..he loved fish n chips..he just couldnt handle the money..shillings and pence 4/6 pence..Haddock or Cod...gimme a break

[Toddep]

[Alder Statesman]

When WM recorded this it was a simpler, yet politically incorrect era. TV was emerging and I thought the title inferred one of America’s favorite TV past times:

Tag team midget wrestling.

[matt.guitarteacher]

4 against 6 isn't 6/8. It's quarter note triplets. 6 notes against 4 beats. Pairs of swing eighths on 1 and 3 actually implies this pretty strongly.

Aside from duration, a pair of swing 8ths is identical to a pair of quarter note triplets, meaning that if you play them on a snare drum instead of a guitar, they sound the same.

Not saying this is the actual explanation. I don't really care. Just saying...

[ragman1]

6 notes against 4 beats,

Which is 6 on 4, of course.

'On' presumably means that 4 is the main underlying beat and the 6 is 'on top' of it.

But Wes' tune is called 4 on 6. That's the problem!

It's fingers on strings. Got to be, otherwise anyone who knows music would understand it. Instead it's become like some nutty conspiracy theory with everyone fishing in the wind. Even Ronnie Scott apparently.

[PMB]

I thought it was common knowledge that the piece was originally called "Forensics" (Wes was a big crime fiction fan) but Orrin Keepnews, producer on The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery session misheard the title mumbled by the guitarist immediately before the take.