Case study of electric guitar signals for exploring the concept of virtuosity based on the entropy of music

Abstract

We analyze the concept of virtuosity as a collective attribute in music and its relationship with entropy based on a case study that compares two sets of digital signals played by composer-performer electric guitarists. Based on an interdisciplinary approach related to complex systems and computational statistics, we computed the spectrum of signals, identified statistical distributions that best describe them, and measured the Shannon entropy to establish their uncertainty. Findings suggested that virtuosity might be related to a range of entropy values that identify levels of uncertainty in the frequency components of audio signals. Despite the presence of different values of entropy in the two sets of signals, they are statistically similar. Therefore, entropy values can be interpreted as levels of virtuosity in music.