Music Notes: The Art and Science of Music

Music Notes: The Art & Science of Music
Peak Music Studios

Let me say something that might sound counterintuitive at first. Most musicians do not struggle with speed because they lack talent. They struggle because they chase speed before they build musical capability.

Somewhere along the way, we absorbed the idea that the fastest player must be the best musician. That if you can shred, you have somehow arrived. History and science tell a very different story.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the fastest guitarist ever recorded is John Taylor. There are dozens of others who claim they have beaten that record. And yet almost no one knows who they are or cares. Why? Because listeners are not waiting for speed. They are waiting for music.

That is why Eddie Van Halen would not come close to the world’s top ten fastest players, and neither would Yngwie Malmsteen. Both changed music permanently, not because they were the fastest, but because they brought phrasing, tone, and musical identity. Eddie Van Halen once said, “I’m not a speed freak. I play what I feel.” Yngwie Malmsteen put it this way, “Technique is there to serve expression, not the other way around.”

That does not mean speed does not matter. Speed is critical, just not for ego reasons.

It does not matter how many chords you know if you cannot change between them fast enough to play the song. It does not matter how many scales you have memorized if you cannot execute them at a reasonable tempo. And it does not matter how many licks you can almost play at performance speed. What matters is what you can actually play. Here is where science helps clarify things, and this applies to guitar, piano, violin, voice, brass, woodwinds, percussion, all of it.

Speed is not strength. It is not effort. It is not forcing your hands to move faster. Speed is a nervous system skill. It is about how efficiently your brain sends signals down nerve fibers to activate and release muscles with precise timing. Whether you are picking strings, striking keys, bowing a violin, or coordinating breath and tongue, the limiter is the same: neural efficiency.

Motor learning research shows that sustainable speed gains are gradual, typically two to five percent per month for experienced musicians, and only occur when precision stays high and tension stays low. This is why speed plateaus feel universal across instruments. The bottleneck is not your fingers. It is the nervous system deciding whether it trusts the signal.

This is also why boredom turns out to be a secret weapon. When students tell me they are bored playing scales, pentatonic, diatonic, harmonic minor, modal patterns, I usually smile. Boredom strips away distraction. When nothing is entertaining you, your attention shifts to finger release, key depth, bow pressure, timing, and relaxation. That is where speed actually lives.

Short, precise blocked practice, two to three minutes on a single meaningful pattern, allows the nervous system to remove inefficiencies. Done consistently, this produces verifiable speed increases over time. Not dramatic or flashy, but real. And it works whether you are practicing Hanon on piano, Kreutzer on violin, articulation patterns on trumpet, or alternate picking on guitar.

So if you want speed that actually shows up in music, focus on the right metrics.

• Precision instead of effort
• Short, focused speed sessions
• A proper warmup to set the nervous system
• A cooldown to lock in what matters

Speed is not something you chase. Speed is something that appears when your nervous system trusts the signal. Do not focus on speed alone. Focus on musical capability across your range, and let speed rise to support it. That is how technique becomes useful, music stays joyful, and how speed finally feels effortless.

This Month in Music History, February

February 3, 1959. A plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper. A moment sometimes marked as The Day the Music Died.

February 4, 1977. Fleetwood Mac releases “Rumours,” one of the best-selling albums of all time.

February 9, 1964. The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, a milestone that any rock fan can appreciate.

February 11, 1963. The Beatles record their debut album, “Please Please Me,” in a single marathon studio session.

February 14, 1970. Black Sabbath releases “Black Sabbath,” a nod towards dark themes in music, and a solidification of heavy metal in American music.

February 22, 1811. Composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt is born, later redefining solo performance, technical virtuosity, and the concept of the modern concert pianist. Yes, you can shred a piano.

February 25, 1969. Jimi Hendrix records material with the Band of Gypsys lineup, a milestone in music fusion from the rock scene.

Weird Music Fact, February

February 7, 1964 – When the Beatles arrived at JFK Airport for their first U.S. visit, the screaming from fans was so loud that reporters noted the band could barely hear questions or each other. The noise level was estimated to rival jet engines on the tarmac, forcing the group to rely on lip reading and body language during interviews. This problem would follow them onto the stage. The Beatles were not drowned out by bad sound systems. They were being drowned out by their own fans. A problem for sure, but a problem that many in the music performance industry would like to have.

 

 

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