Recently a student asked me what is the fastest speed that any pianist can play at. I decided to find out.
How fast can a pianist play? The fastest any pianist claims to play is 19.5 piano notes in each hand per second. However, the fastest proven pianist and Guinness world record holder Domingos-Antonio Gomes played 824 of the same piano note in one minute, which equals 13.73 notes per second.
It is likely that Gomes’s record will be broken at some point soon, because pianists have been pushing the limits of piano-playing speed for years:
Guinness World Record Breakers for Most Piano Key Hits in One Minute
The Guinness Book of World Records has a category for the most piano key hits in one minute. They measure the number of times one person can hit a single piano key within one minute. This record has been contested and broken a number of times:
| Year | Name | Most piano key hits of the same note in one minute | Notes per second |
| 2009 | Balázs Havasi | 498 | 8.3 |
| 2011 | Sai Manapragada | 669 | 11.15 |
| 2012 | Peter Bence | 765 | 12.75 |
| 2017 | Domingos-Antonio Gomez | 824 | 13.73 |
Balázs Havasi
In 2009 the Hungarian pianist Balázs Havasi stunned the audience at the Music Academy in Budapest when he set the Guinness world record for the most piano key hits in one minute at 498, which translates as 8.3 notes per second.
Sai Manapragada
Two years later, at the San Jose Center for Performing Arts in California, Sai Manapragada of the USA smashed Havasi’s previous record with a whopping 669 piano key hits in one minute, averaging out at 11.15 notes per second. His note of choice was middle C.
Peter Bence
Peter Bence only let Manapragada hold this title for a year before playing 765 C#’s in one minute on a Bösendorfer piano in Hungary. You can watch a video of this incredible feat:
Domingos-Antonio Gomes
In 2017 the current world record-holder Domingos-Antonio Gomes gained his title in Lisbon, Portugal. His note of choice was B7, the second-highest note on the Yamaha CFX concert grand piano that he was using, and he managed to play this note a jaw-dropping 824 times in one minute, i.e. 13.73 notes per second. You can watch this incredible moment below:
Lubomyr Melnyk and Continuous Music
The Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk claims to be able to play 19.5 piano notes per second, which is so fast that it is not possible for the human ear to hear every note. He calls this style of music “Continuous Music”. His claims are as of yet unproven, however you can hear him play below:
All this is well and good, but the speed at which a pianist can play one specific note using both hands is not that relevant to real-life piano playing.
In a 1982 study by Rumelhart and Norman, it was found that when using both hands and in a less artificial setting i.e. playing pieces that involve multiple notes, experienced pianists frequently played at 30 notes per second and maintained this for extended periods of time.
Pianists playing Flight of the Bumblebee
One real piece of music that is often used by musicians to showcase how fast they can play in a more realistic setting is Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov. Here is one of the most impressive renditions:
Lydian Nadhaswaram
Lydian Nadhaswaram is a pianist from Chennai, India, who at 12 years old played Flight of the Bumblebee at 325 bpm, over double the original score marking of 160 bpm. Check it out here:
Want to know how to play piano faster yourself? Check out my other article here: