Genesis - Firth of Fifth - Piano Sheet Music + PDF

PDF can be found at www.buymeacoff...
Some useful gumpf; click on SHOW MORE (just below).
And here we are, full circle! My first Genesis vid was the FoF intro and now, finally, I've gotten around to completing the whole piece :)
The main thing to be aware of is that apart from the intro and the gentle bit before the (build up to the) keyboard solo, FoF was definitely NOT written in a way such that it could be played relatively easily as a piano piece (unlike, say, Mad Man Moon, Anyway, The Lamia etc.) :)
This transcription is my interpretation of how I believe the overall sound of the piece translates to solo piano in much the same way that Massimo Bucci's superb rendition ( • Firth Of Fifth (by Gen... ) is his own interpretation.
A caveat though: I don't play the piece EXACTLY as I've scored it out.
What I've done is to simplify what I play as much as possible without, hopefully, taking away the essence of my own style of playing and the original beauty of the song.
Feel free to adjust how you play it to suit your own style :)
The verses. I'm sure many of you will spot that the melody of the score matches the playback only for the first verse ("The path is clear") but not for the other 2 full verses ("He rides majestic" & "Now as the river") simply because I use repeat bars for these 3 verses.
However, the audio is pretty accurate so you can hopefully hear how my accompaniment interweaves with the original vocal line.
Bars 42-48. It took quite a while to come up with something that I feel really combines the vocal, guitars & Mellotron.
In particular, bars 47 & 48 may seem a little unusual, but the chords implied by my notes (and written above) are what Tony plays on the Mellotron (Esus2 contains the same notes as Bsus4) and I like the slight harmonic tension that these chords have with the arpeggiated guitar :)
The effect is even more noticeable on the Genesis Archive version - • Video - than on the original studio version.
Bars 73-77. In bar 74, hopefully what I've written makes sense… :)
As for the left hand, I've done a combination of (sort of) how the piano is played on the original with the main bass notes just to give it some 'bottom-end'.
The Keyboard solo. When I play the piece live, most of the time I'll just repeat the piano intro (with the last 2 bars altered obviously) as it's such a great solo piano part.
But if I want a bit more aggression, then I'll use what I've scored here. It's meant to give some indication of the power of Mike's bass alongside Tony's solo.
The Guitar solo. For me, it's always been really difficult to make this section sound good just on piano!
I've tried to incorporate the feel of Mike's bass lines with Steve's melody and the chords as played by Tony on organ & Mellotron.
However, this section as I've written it (particularly bars 103-112, 118-121 & 133-136) is really quite tricky to play because of all the rhythmical interplay between right & left hand!
If it all seems a bit much, try simplifying the left hand; I've given an example in bars 106-108.
It's really Steve's melody that needs to shine :)
The outro. I've based it on the way the band ended the song on Seconds Out.
There are no sustain pedal markings, dynamics, changes of tempo etc. as I hate the way they clutter up the score!
Use your own discretion for all of the above :)
It's scored and played back using Sibelius 7.5 with Modartt's Pianoteq 6.1.1 virtual piano plug-in although I've no idea why Sibelius decided to output the first screen as 3 lines of music… bizarre!

[@ElektrikHob]

* * * possible correction - bar 12; the final triplet can be played as just one note (the top E) * * * I have a live version where Tony does indeed play that bit as a triplet, but on the original studio version, it IS one note... I've been playing it as 3 triplets since I was 14 so it's hard to get out of the habit but it's definitely easier as a single note if you have smaller hands :) I don't know how many of you do this but, in case you don't, can I politely suggest that you click on the SHOW MORE button above the comments section (same for all my vids) :) It gives some info as to what my thought process was in creating the vid and, far more importantly, the link to the PDF file that I hint at in the title (in case you're using a laptop or smaller device and the link isn't visible by default).

[@brettmillering388]

EH....a long time ago I had a great instructor (my 3rd) who emphasized playing by ear. The first piece I went to was FoF. I noticed you could do a lot of interpreting with this without compromising the integrity of the composition. There's a lot of intricate chords & the guitar solo part I just ad libbed. I'm amazed you were able to interpret it for piano!! Yours is the only transcription I'm aware of & my hat's off to you!! What I've done is gone back to revisit the piece & am utilizing parts of yours I consider better for performance. Aside from that guitar solo the most difficult to learn were probably the intro & the middle section that is more or less a heavier version of the intro. I was playing chords with the left hand in that middle solo & it never sounded quite right. I appreciate & understand the work it must have taken you to put this to manuscript paper!!!

[@ElektrikHob]

I got into Genesis BIG time when I was around 14 and spent the next few months working out around a few dozen of their tracks. Their music just seemed to click with me more than any other band and fitted in with how I liked to play the piano and that's still the case. I'm very lucky to have a pretty good ear and to be honest a large part of my ability to hear intricacies in music - not just piano, but the other instruments too - is down to working out all those Genesis tracks as a teen! :) When it's just piano, it's really fairly easy to replicate, but, yeah, trying to get the whole band to sound good on piano does take a bit of work, but I try to 'get' the whole picture and, when it comes to music (and my other 'occupation', software engineering) I'm VERY fussy about getting things right… just ask every band I've ever been in!! :)

[@brettmillering388]

A man after my own heart! If it isn't going to be done right why do it at all! For me also, aside from ELP no other band aside from Genesis caught my imagination. I was a late bloomer though. Not interested in piano studies until I saw ELP in the summer of 72 but didn't start getting serious until my late teens. I studied harmony & theory but never got into the writing aspect which I regret now. What I try to do is take the best from all the transcriptions I can attain & try to put together a cohesive piece that doesn't compromise the integrity of the compositions I work on. That said, your work here is greatly appreciated by us musicians. It's very obvious your on a higher level. Getting this music right is no small feat!

[@brettmillering388]

And the guitar solo for FoF must have been really daunting!!! You deserve high praise for your diligence in getting this music so spot on accurate!!!

[@tw4789]

So so so many nany thanks , I couldnt display my tears

[@haroldtrujillo]

Learned this for a wedding in 1981 (the bride wanted it for the recessional). Took me three weeks to figure it out. Didn't have the internet to help me out. Not bragging but this was a chore to learn with the different time signatures and odd key signatures. Wish I had this back then. Still a classic piece of music. Tony Banks is a great composer (Mad Man Moon is anothe favorite). Long live the classic Genesis!

[@jbr2991]

It is sooooo difficult! I played the piano in high school (no Internet) and since I could play Beethoven, I thought I could play this. My mom bought the sheet music for me. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t master it. So in my opinion, three weeks is pretty good.

[@ElektrikHob]

Many thanks to everyone who's commented and that goes for my other vids too; it's nice to know my efforts seem to be appreciated :) I'll be taking a bit of a break for a while, but there're still quite a few Genesis tracks in my back-catalogue and I'm sure my transcriptions will wend their way here eventually... :)

[@minty_Joe]

I've been following your entries for quite a while now and you never cease to amaze me! I am smiling big time every chance I get to check these out. You wouldn't by any chance have your version of Undertow? I still consider that song one of their best ballads I've ever heard in nearly 40 years of listening to Genesis. Keep up the great awesome work! :D

[@darrellhambley7245]

In the winter of '74 I would listen to this in my dorm room, writing down every note while moving the needle back again and again on the vinyl, then going to the music practice rooms across campus to play it. repeat, repeat, until I had it. Unaware to me, it was in Bb and I assumed key of C when I transcribed. Didn't find this out until I saw your video here!

[@positivecommenter1]

You. Are. Absolutely. Incredible. Thank you so freaking much!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are such a blessing. I hope you are doing great.😊

[@ElektrikHob]

Doin' fine thanks 👍😊

[@bobdmith385]

Bravo, and Bravo!!! And thank you for scoring this so well done. 20+ years ago I worked out the intro but lost it from memory. It really is a testimony to the compositional skills of Tony Banks that more than a generation later that very talented musicians (like you!) are studying his work with great intensity and passion. Thank you Mr. Hod, and thank you Mr. Banks.

[@danielcropp8553]

God, the songwriting/composition/whatever you want to call it is so wildly creative and innovative. I find it hard to believe that this exists and is real, but it is. Boy, what a world!

[@MisterJSF]

I was going to make my own transcription of this great song and I found your video ! Thanks a lot that's a reaaaaaaally ggod work and you're saving my time ! 😃🎹👍

[@miks564]

A W E S O M E work on one of the most iconic musical compositions ever

[@0z0n0man]

Thank you very much. i'm flute player and i was looking for the Gabriel's flute part. You have make an incredible work here. Thanks a lot.

[@grazmor]

Thank you. I want suggest this song to my young nephew that don't knows Genesis . Very grateful

[@keymusic]

Wow. Talk about accuracy and attention to detail! Excellent

[@penponds]

An absolutely amazing contribution! You’ve opened up one the greatest masterpieces for us Genesis diehards who don’t know when they’re beaten. I’ll be pressing my Arturia V Collection of synth VSTs into service this Xmas to start on this. FANTASTIC!

[@danielecosta958]

Tony Banks: per me il più grande musicista vivente.

[@barrygroeneveld6901]

From 5:41 you play Steve Hacket's beautiful guitar solo with a piano sound... and actually it sounds great! Excellent job, well done!

[@ElektrikHob]

Yeah, as I put in my accompanying blurb, that was by far the most difficult part of this piece to get to sound anywhere near authentic! :) Combined with the left hand trying to do a Mike R bass line, unfortunately, this does make it all rather difficult to play compared with all my other transcriptions. I hope it hasn't put off too many people from trying my approach...

[@sonnysupriyadi5100]

This is great! I will show this to my daughter and will definitely get you some coffee. Thank you for taking time to write the score.

[@ElektrikHob]

Thanks Sonny 🙂

[@daonfpe]

SUPERB! Thanks for posting this! Wondering about those 22 who didn’t approve! It’s not everybody that takes the time to publish the piano sheet music for for Firth Of Fifth!

[@dsslimone]

Excellent works I used to play but drifted away when other things got in the way. This is an inspiration to get back to playing. Thanks for a full transcript. 👏👏

[@colefitzpatrick8431]

Holy shit I've been working on this for months and still it's kicking my ass. But I'm not wont to stop trying anytime soon!

[@lelioleone2.086]

GRAZIE GRAZIE GRAZIE PER IL PDF!!! GRANDE MAESTRO MASSIMO BUCCI!!!

[@albertobrioschi3248]

ma... non è più "on line " ?

[@alessiocompagni7534]

Learn to play this may save my life

[@brucekornfeld925]

I'm blown away at this! I'm just now getting "back" into listening to old Genesis and playing piano myself. I really want to learn this - so I googled and found you pretty quickly. I haven't even sat down at the piano yet but I can tell you put a LOT of time into figuring out exactly what Tony was playing and transcribing it for us. Thanks!

[@RogerBarraud]

For such a long piece, it's amazing how quickly it goes by... ...time flies when you're having fun, eh? :-)

[@RayyMusik]

You’re a genius, second to none except a certain Anthony Banks! Thank you so much for your effort! I don‘t play much sheet music, but this will be a very rewarding one.

[@grahamkey8496]

I thought I could learn this hands separately pretty easily at 0.5 speed, but keeping up with those key a signature changes is hard. Thanks to this and the PDF I'll get there!

[@ProfessorGreybeard]

That is excellent. Just excellent thank you.

[@Irlandian]

I just came back from Steve Hackett's concert and your transcription is "come il cacio sui maccheroni". Thank you very much indeed!

[@alessiocompagni7534]

I confirm, and congratulation for the italian sentence.... This is really a great job and i can realize the dream of playing this masterpiece

[@Skulimpam]

blud played steve solo perfectly im amazed

[@onestepbeyondthegatesofmad2825]

Wow! I've been playing that intro (definitely one of my all time favourites) for many years as a standard to warm up my fingers before rehearsals, but always had a few "weak spots" (some of which I hadn't even noticed until I checked your transcript). So I found a couple of differences to what I've been playing and have to admit: You were right - always. Just brilliant. Thank you so much for sharing this truly incredible work!

[@bscsadmin7913]

Thanks for this amazing transcription! And to those who are giving it the thumbs down, please point us to your own better version...!!

[@ElektrikHob]

Ta :)

[@brettmillering388]

Awesome!!! Well done!!! A wonderful transcription of a very difficult piece!!!

[@bartekmil]

Strange this doesn't have more views. Absolutely fantastic work

[@jeremycrocker100]

Another absolute success, I have played the intro for years but always struggled with the verse sections to make them sound good. You have definitely filled all the gaps Sir. Well done and at last a lifetime dream fulfilled to play this from start to finish. My only KZbin video is in fact Firth of Fifth intro so one day soon I will complete it thanks to you again.

[@jumb0j0ck]

Many many thanks for posting this. I've been playing this for years since I had an out of body experience with the flu, a tape recorder and an upright piano tuned half a tone below concert pitch. Over the years, you hear and see places you could improve on, and a few years back, my friends and I formed "Genesisn't" (please check us out on KZbin). Bar 18 has always eluded me and what you've posted here has helped put another piece of the puzzle in place. Thank you!

[@laurabusse1832]

You did a beautiful and amazing job ❤️ I can't wait to play it!

[@sgoodwinca]

Wow what a fantastic resource! Thank you for all this hard work. I did MIDI files of this material many years ago, but this is very nice! Thank you!

[@piotrborkowski7113]

Thank you for that, it's great you shear your work and allowed us to use it, I really respect that

[@neilyoung6671]

Simply stunning.... Super job

[@LauraBallestrino]

You are a hero. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing this sheet. This is awesome, it is a perfect version ❤

[@ElektrikHob]

Thank You :) Watched some of your vids; lovely playing! Hope you enjoy playing FoF :)

[@cmathews2112]

Nailed it! Plus the pdf. You’re my hero.

[@elixirnwobhmofficial168]

Absolutely beautiful! Very well done Sir!!

[@paulhoffman-music]

Fantastic! Thanks for doing this. I can see and hear where I went awry with my own transcription so this will really help fill in some gaps.

[@joeware9564]

got it thanks best I've seen, do you play it or are you just transcribing, either way good show

[@ElektrikHob]

I do actually play it like this, though usually with some extra rhythmical stuff to try to give it even more of the feel of both the original and the Seconds Out live version. As I mentioned on a couple of my other videos, including my original FoF Intro only video, I've been transcribing pop/rock music since I was around 10 or 11 and I started on Genesis when I was in my mid teens back in '76, so I've been doing this a looooong time! :)

[@marktattam9019]

A great piece of music. Parts of it really remind me of The Persuaders' theme tune. Bars 128 and 129 especially. I then found out John Barry is a big influence on Mr Banks.

[@synthplayer1563]

Superb. Thank you for the transcription. I will try to play it.

[@federicozimerman8167]

Beautiful! Amazing work.

[@yechielyosef]

Thanks, Elektrik Hob! This is getting me through lockdown, and then some! Quite remarkable that this only took you 5 hours in Sibelius. Would've taken me a week at least. Really impressive. So grateful.

[@banquefinancekft5580]

Is not only classic music...the folk rythms are impressive...

[@maz0000]

Very very very good work here !!! Congratulations and thank you for the amount of time it must have taken you. I might download that pdf...

[@Alexx1879]

Thank you so much! Your work is very useful for everyone around the world, Greets from Argentina :)

[@brettmillering388]

Amazing version & transcription!!! can't believe someone actually gave a thumbs down here...must be a non musician with a tin ear...

[@ElektrikHob]

Most of my vids seem to have one or two dislikes, and nearly all are from mobile phone users... Perhaps they got the hump cos they couldn't find the PDF or cos the audio sounded iffy on a phone... :)

[@lufthonza96]

This is such a great transcription! My respect and thanks for that!

[@tinotindaro413]

That is a gigantic Job ! I am very grateful ! If possibile the sib. File would be the biggest present of the year ... Thanks so much

[@alainpirot1709]

Well done ! very nice arrangement, I will try to play it as is. Congratulations and thank you for uploading the score. Very nice. Thank you

[@robertofandino5358]

Gratis job you've got A+

[@jeremycrocker100]

Hi, thank you for your reply, I fully understand. And I will download it as an mp3 or wav as these files will playback through my piano. Thank you again for sharing the sheets.

[@javier2262]

Mil gracias!! Genio del football mundial!

[@grahamjones9242]

Thank you. 1 year on and I am now starting to get to grips with it. Still those difficult run ins to the key changes to master.I wonder if the strange time signatures in the intro could be simpler with triplets instead of 3 semi quavers ?

[@zsk8301]

Beautiful performance!

[@cheryllawrance4157]

Truly awesome :)

[@ElektrikHob]

Thank you :)

[@lukedifilippo2469]

Dude. Well done. Thank you!

[@prosoloist]

Crazy awesome right here ;)

[@HardwareG33k]

1:05 is where I start having trouble with the right hand lol. It seems I need another finger between the fourth and fifth to play it lol. Thanks so much for this sheet music. If you're going to do more, I'd love to see an arrangement of Blood on the Rooftops.

[@MrPalfab]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!

[@bliind182]

hey! Thank you very much! I'm very grateful! Really

[@TheRealYTIAN]

I sometimes come to places like this when I feel the number of conspiracy believers has risen again, because this stuff is what the internet should be about. To share what is great and enjoy it. Thanks for helping me to keep my faith in human intelligence and grace.

[@lilac9639]

Well, said!!

[@ElektrikHob]

Thank you :)

[@andredecise4409]

un grand MERCI!

[@eugeniotanteri5000]

Semplicemente Meraviglioso!!!!!!!

[@ElektrikHob]

Grazie!

[@player8733]

amazing! thanks to u i can play parts of these magnificent masterpiece

[@JohnDeMarchiGianni]

Amazing!

[@charleslee1879]

Well done... Coffee will be on the way soon. BTW, I think you did a pretty fine job doing the guitar part on the piano. That guitar solo is my favorite ever... Hat tip to Steve Hackett... Hopefully you'll get to see Genesis on their European leg of the tour...

[@ElektrikHob]

Got my ticket for London O2 in March; fingers crossed...!

[@charleslee1879]

@@ElektrikHob Excellent!! I hope you have a great time!

[@nidhavellir]

Brilliant work!

[@andywright8803]

This is next level stuff. Any chance of Cinema Show please?

[@yaneev.t]

thank you so much for this!

[@jonnylpenman]

Very nice

[@jordideulopez1450]

Awesome

[@Demoniaque08]

Amazing work ! Could you do Dancing with the moonlit knight next ?

[@miroslodki2195]

incredible effort and work Electrik Hob...piano hacks (like me) the world over are forever in your debt....any chance of cinema show (complete..i know you have the solo in your catalog)or the musical box...pleaseeeeeeeeeee

[@tommix8934]

Superb!

[@theelevatepartnership]

Stunning!

[@philippeneron]

WOW...well done

[@Marunius]

Huge thanks!

[@lilac9639]

OMG! Its unbelievably fantastic! !! I'm SOOOO proud of you and don't even know you lol ;-) ...ohhhhh well done!!!!! Xx

[@ElektrikHob]

Thank you Miss Lilac; very kind of you to say so :) xx

[@andrey4388]

Beautiful! :)

[@muziekfeestje8635]

inspirational!

[@sombrasdeloeste2184]

Increible, único.

[@blues5416]

perfect!

[@MrPagecat]

Terbaik...ore xknal genesis di Malaysia..

[@felipewalker2498]

Genio

[@joaquinvelazquez913]

I found your channel recently and let me tell you how grateful i am of you. You've transcribed and posted some of my favourite Tony's work in Genesis. Also you've helped me to be able to play it. You have excelent ears haha. I hope i don't bother asking, but have you ever considered transcribing the last bit of solo of The Cinema Show, that Tony used to do live from 1976 and on? It's that last last fast bit, i'm sure you know what i'm talking about. I spent many days trying to sort it out but i can't come with something that sounds good.

[@ElektrikHob]

Here's a PDF of the bit I think you mean: tinyurl.com/yd945gwz I've listened to the Seconds Out version and a few others from 1976 at full speed and slowed to 70%. Ironically, on the official Seconds Out release, I believe Tony plays a wrong note (gasp!!) at RH note 9 in bar 4; he plays a C# instead of a D. The other versions I've listened to all had a D there and it makes more sense given the sequence he's playing.

[@joaquinvelazquez913]

@@ElektrikHob Oh my i don't know why youtube never notified me about your reply. Yes it's that bit!! I play that keyboard now thanks to you!! Really apreciate it. I hope you upload something else in the future.

[@nohaylamujer]

Marvelous! I wish you'd included the chords for the intro as well though

[@ElektrikHob]

The chords for the intro are pretty much the same as I've written for the keyboard solo section starting on page 6 of the PDF

[@nohaylamujer]

Thanks! I noticed after I posted my comment :-)

[@toybanks]

Eres el puto amo. Te adoroooooo❤️💖❤️💖❤️💖❤️💖❤️

[@Mosotti]

A-mazing.

[@liortalmor]

hi there! awesome video thank you. any chance you might have a good fifth of fifth sounds presents for my Nord Stage 2 ex? :)

[@luvjammin04]

Thought he was playing those chords with the left hand on the Hammond during the solo with the ARP, not octave intervals??

[@ElektrikHob]

He does, but this is a solo piano transcription and, as I said in the notes above... The Keyboard solo. When I play the piece live, most of the time I'll just repeat the piano intro (with the last 2 bars altered obviously) as it's such a great solo piano part. But if I want a bit more aggression, then I'll use what I've scored here. It's meant to give some indication of the power of Mike's bass alongside Tony's solo.

[@tommix8934]

Chapeau!

[@PereJoanSala9]

Fantastitc thank you

[@nohaylamujer]

Oh I see the chords from 80 on.

[@keithspringett8024]

The 22 have no musical appreciation at all. Total knobs

[@alessiocompagni7534]

I remember sonatina n. 55 of Kuhlau...........

[@Zombie81212]

Are those two notes hitting the same G at 0:45? (on the second 13/16 bar). It seems like I would have to let go of the notes on my left hand fairly quickly in order to let my right hand hit the same note the left-hand note was just on.

[@ElektrikHob]

The G#...? You really need to play the left-hand thumb further towards the back of the note (and your right-hand thumb at the very front) so that your two thumbs don't interfere with each other. Then there's not a problem. To be honest, I sometimes simply don't play the LH thumb note on that chord; nobody's really gonna notice... ;)

[@Zombie81212]

@@ElektrikHob Ah, thank you!

[@jeremycrocker100]

Hi, just to say this has filled all the gaps for me and I am now almost relearning it with your arrangement now sounding much more like the original. So thank you yet again. As the sheets are available in pdf format, would you please be willing to release a Sibelius file for this arrangement as I use Sibelius 7 to play back notation through my piano whilst learning pieces of music. I understand that this would allow editing of your arrangement if you decide not to. Many thanks again, 40 yrs later I finally get to play the verse correctly !!

[@ElektrikHob]

Sorry, but I think I'd feel uncomfortable releasing the Sibelius file; it took quite a bit of time & effort to create it... You could download the audio from my video using a free web KZbin video to MP3 converter (e.g. Flvto) and play it back using iTunes or something while looking at the PDF...