I’m not saying that YES’ music is easy to play; I’m just saying that the entirety of their work is not built on the premise that every song has to be blazingly fast. Not only are they prog rockers; they are one of the primary ones to legitimize the genre.

TL;DR: IMO, you can be a progressive rock musician without making songs that require athletic virtuosity because tempo is just one of many parameters in a song that can be manipulated. If you have read this much, I suspect you may LOVE this album by Arena called “Pepper’s Ghost”.

Do you know of other prog bands making songs that are a clear alternative to the 200 bpm stuff? Some call it “Melodic Prog”. If so, please share!