# Songs' Beats per Minute vs. How "Fast" They Sound

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-beats-per-minute-vs-how-fast-they-sound/709121>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 6, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-beats-per-minute-vs-how-fast-they-sound/709121 "2015-01-06T14:19:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-beats-per-minute-vs-how-fast-they-sound/709121/21 "2015-01-07T18:52:13Z")

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> [@Apollon](#):
>
> That was the most insightful comment in this thread yet. Too many people, even professional musicians, are unaware of that factor. In my opinion, harmonic pacing has a much greater impact on the perceived speed than BPM.

Seconded: it’s a great way of tricking your brains into thinking that the music’s going faster when it’s not. Of course, that’s not the main advantage of that technique. The point is to make things more interesting harmonically.

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