A sheet music transcription of Ripples by Genesis from Trick of the Tail.
PDF etc. can be obtained thru [ Ссылка ] or the usual
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It's scored, not surprisingly, with Sibelius 7.5
The piano audio was created in Presonus Studio One v4.5 using Modartt’s Pianoteq 7 Steingraeber Grand piano and processed thru Valhalla’s Vintage Verb and EQ’ed with a fair amount of bass added to give the bottom piano notes an almost Moog Taurus bass-pedals feel (like there is on the original).
The mono-synth line is Presonus’s Mojito thru more Valhalla processors.
Phil’s vocals come from the centre channel of the 5.1 DVD mixes.
The verse is only on the centre channel so it didn’t need much work.
Unfortunately the chorus vocal is mainly on the main L+R stereo track along with all the instruments so it wasn’t available for use. The centre channel did have a processed version on it which is what I’ve ended up using but it needed a fair amount of messing around with to get it to sound half-decent as the drums reverb was ‘bleeding’ on to it a bit. Hopefully what I’ve done sounds Ok… 😉
It's based on the studio version although I've also used one bit from the 1980 live versions that I have (bar 28).
The speed I usually play it at is slightly slower than this video (which is pretty much the same speed as the original) but nowhere near as slow as those live versions which, to me at least, seem positively glacial! 😂
I've included the synth line in the audio even though when I play Ripples as a solo piano piece, I just play the piano part. This is simply to make the video sound a little more interesting.
When Genesis did it live Tony would play the bass octaves until the synth came in at bar 49 and then he would play the synth line with his left hand while continuing the right hand arpeggios.
He'd then switch back to both hands on the piano for bars 58 onward.
If you want the dots for the synth line, then they’re available in the “Ripples Mid.pdf” file in the same “Ripples” folder as the full score.
Performance notes:
Verse:
The first 8 bars are pretty much a copy of the 12-string guitar(s).
The right hand (RH) of the rest of the verse is very much based on Tony’s studio piano part whilst the left hand (LH) is my version of what the 12-strings are doing behind it but done in a pianistic manner.
Bars 11-14 & 22-23: the bracketed LH bass notes are optional as playing them means some very accurate jumping around with your LH - especially bars 22 & 23! But it definitely sounds fuller if they’re there… 😊
Chorus:
The bracketed notes are there for the second chorus (which is also a double chorus); you play them as semiquavers (so the bass octave before each one becomes a dotted quaver instead of a crotchet).
Bar 28 is how Tony played it live and I personally feel it's more interesting than the studio version.
Chorus 1 & 2 End.
The LH of bars 32-33 & 36-38 is my version of the background 12-string guitar. It’s not identical by any means but is something that I’ve been playing since I first worked this song out WAY back when (around 1977!) and, to my ears, it fits nicely with Tony’s RH piano 🙂
How you transition from Chorus 2 End to the Instrumental section is entirely up to you, but it’s scored (even though the video sounds different) as I often do it though I sometimes play the notes from the LH of bar 38 with my RH for the first time thru bar 39 instead of the arpeggios.
Instrumental & Instr End:
Not much to say here; just play it as written though note that the LH of bars 40-50 are played an octave lower than they appear (8vb) and remember to play the whole Instrumental section twice!
End Chorus:
These are template chords & bass line only; how you play those repeat choruses is entirely up to you!
I can't actually think of another Genesis song that has a chorus fade out with piano chords like this that lends itself so readily to being mucked around with! 😃
Both live and in the studio, on each repeat, Tony varies which octave some of the chords are played though most are as written.
He also adds some rhythmical variation to the RH occasionally (in a similar manner to the LH rhythmical thang in the 2nd chorus).
When I play it, I do all of the above and I add the left hand rhythmical stuff (with variations) too.
Treat yourself and go wild! It's VERY rare that Tony's parts allow such improvisatory excess!! 😂
Outro:
Rather than fading out, I’ve based it on how Genesis played it live (but with my LH pseudo 12-string as earlier).
Have fun! 👍
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