Playing fast notes v. Playing just plain fast

[Liam Wald]

What is a fast note? A thirty-second?
What does that mean?
Do we need to play thirty two notes of exactly equal duration within a measure, or could it be that we play one note that is one thirty second length of the measure and the balance of the measure is a rest?
If playing fast means being able to play thirty two notes in a measure of equal duration who could do that and is there actually any music that calls for it?
Can we play that fast if the tempo is 60 bpm? How about 30 bpm? Or even 10?

What does playing fast mean to you?

 

[chriscrob]

Fast is relative --- straight 16th/32nd notes can require a lot of stamina/consistency. But cleanly moving all over the place or playing odd rhythms at speed can be hella difficult too. There's not like a standard definition, but if you can play the three songs below, I'd say you are capable of "playing fast"

I used to think this was fast:



then this:

Z
and this:

 

[WrapRough]

Yes 32 beats in the bar. But without a tempo it's not possible to know how demanding that is.


Grave – slow and solemn (20–40 BPM)
Lento – slowly (40–45 BPM)
Largo – broadly (45–50 BPM)
Adagio – slow and stately (literally, “at ease”) (55–65 BPM)
Adagietto – rather slow (65–69 BPM)
Andante – at a walking pace (73–77 BPM)
Moderato – moderately (86–97 BPM)
Allegretto – moderately fast (98–109 BPM)
Allegro – fast, quickly and bright (109–132 BPM)
Vivace – lively and fast (132–140 BPM)
Presto – extremely fast (168–177 BPM)
Prestissimo – even faster than Presto (178 BPM and over)

 

[Ed Fuqua]

What is a fast note? A thirty-second?
What does that mean?
Do we need to play thirty two notes of exactly equal duration within a measure, or could it be that we play one note that is one thirty second length of the measure and the balance of the measure is a rest?
If playing fast means being able to play thirty two notes in a measure of equal duration who could do that and is there actually any music that calls for it?
Can we play that fast if the tempo is 60 bpm? How about 30 bpm? Or even 10?

What does playing fast mean to you?

It's a fraction, to all intents and purposes, so the fact that it's a "32nd note" doesn't have anything to do with tempo. A 32nd note played at quarter note=30BPM is no faster than a quarter note played at quarter note=240bpm. All "32nd note" means is that there are 8 of them = to a single quarter note (8 x 4 = what?).

Your postulates don't really make any sense. "Playing fast" is relative, but "fast tempo" is quantifiable.

 

[callofcthulhu]

This is fast

 

[dreamadream99]

What does playing fast mean to you?

To me it means both my plucking fingers are moving very fast.