I was going to ask about beaming, but if you put a space between the two groups of four Gs then it gets beamed as two groups of four quavers.

X: 1 M: C K: Cmaj L: 1/8 |GGGG GGGG| 

Is there any way to remove the first barline? I think it shouldn't be there unless I'm adding a start repeat double bar line.

I was going to ask about beaming, but if you put a space between the two groups of four Gs then it gets beamed as two groups of four quavers.

X: 1 M: C K: Cmaj L: 1/8 |GGGG GGGG| 

I've also added the quote without the first barline.

X: 1 M: C K: Cmaj L: 1/8 GGGG GGGG|