How hard is Apocalypse in 9/8 from Supper's Ready

So I am reffering to the keyboard solo, which I am kind of proud I can easily play :D

Depends. If Rick Wakeman played it then I give it a difficulty rating of 4.

I'm not a keyboard payer, but I believe with enough practice, you can master most any solo.

I'd give it maybe a 3 or a 4, just because the keyboard world is filled with things that are much, much more difficult than it. I didn't find it really hard to play, although I haven't actually gotten around to learning the chords that he plays underneath the solo, so that would add another layer of difficulty if I actually got around to doing that.

With practice and hard try , You can play difficult solos but not as the Original version. IMO copy or colon is or are just technical side of music and everyone can earn this skill. For me , make and CREATE is valuable . 

Edited by O666 - June 01 2018 at 02:53

Don't think it's terribly difficult--Banks didn't care about difficult like Rick and Keith--he just played whats right for the song---I read Rutherford and Collins worked on the beat and Tony played over it---but what Banks does which is so great and he does it on many songs which is why he is the best keys composer---is he develops sections and changes the mood and know how to build to a great climax 

The solo is composed of a lot of notes of all equal duration. Nothing unpredictable about which notes are accented. The note selection seems to work in some sort of evolving cycle that feels more like an exercise than a lead. For myself, I find 9/8 a very intuitive time signature. Then again, I don’t play keyboards. I don’t really know what’s difficult on keyboards (other than everything), so I’m not giving a rating. Nevertheless, I do endorse everything twosteves said.

Of course, the main thing on master Banks is on the composition...as Twosteves well said he didn't care much about the virtuous side, his objective was always to create the right ambient to the musical piece, and God that he did it. He was the chord designer of the band, and maybe one of the best on the prog universe, but he did great melodies too. But Apocalypse is just a creation with the addition of the four musicians, Phil, Mike and Tony, and Peter with these great melody line of the vocals. Songwritting is the key that made Genesis so grandiose, not virtuous playing, despiting all of them were great performers too. So to rate music about its difficulty alone, has not much sense for me. In fact you can listen many virtuous creations from Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson, but almost never can reach the beauty of many of Banks cretions (IMO).

Mirror Image wrote: HackettFan wrote: The solo is composed of a lot of notes of all equal duration. Nothing unpredictable about which notes are accented. The note selection seems to work in some sort of evolving cycle that feels more like an exercise than a lead. For myself, I find 9/8 a very intuitive time signature. Then again, I don’t play keyboards. I don’t really know what’s difficult on keyboards (other than everything), so I’m not giving a rating. Nevertheless, I do endorse everything twosteves said. Hey HackettFan! Long time, no speak! Hope everything is going well for you.

I am good. You too? I’m excited to see you about the forum again! We need a good guitar thread, btw.

I don't think that solo is a particularly hard part to play although I've never sat down and tried to learn it so maybe it is......