Hello, welcome back to another episode of TwoSet Violin.
Today, we'll be ranking, in a tier list,
the infamous
24 caprices, written by the devil violinist himself...
We recently did a video saying 12 levels of Paganini.
But today we're actually going to go in depth
and rank every single caprice
in terms of how difficult it is
- and also how epic it is. - Brett: Yeah.
And we're going to be discussing it
and trying to, attempting to, show you guys
how hard Paganini made the lives of all violinists
that were born after him.
Yeah, my hands suffered a lot.
Disclaimer, this is all just based on our opinions.
This is just what we can do.
There's a lot of different techniques in Paganini, so...
Let's just go with it.
Let's do it in chronological order.
- Eddy: Pag 1. - Brett: No. 1.
This one is actually really, really, really hard.
- I think it's up there, like S or A for me. - Eddy: Yeah.
For No. 1, the first caprice to ever start with,
he does this.
Okay, it's called ricochet, alright?
So, it's where your bow
has to, like, not just bounce once,
but, like, multiple times in one direction.
But then you gotta control it across four different strings.
But then you gotta do it upwards as well.
And then you gotta do all these
very complicated left-hand patterns, right? So it's like...
Brett: Yeah.
And then that's just the beginning and it starts going...
Let's start with A first.
A for now.
Yeah.
- Eddy: Alright, No. 2. - Brett: No. 2.
Eddy: It initially doesn't seem too hard.
I've never actually played this one before but...
That mix looks messed up.
Double stops.
That... Okay so that's like string crossing spanning
over three strings.
- Eddy: Basically... - Definitely not as hard as the first one.
Eddy: Yeah.
I give it a C?
Yeah, C for now.
Eddy: Okay, No. 3.
Eddy: This is very, very, um...
A lot of chromatics and then all in one bow stroke.
- But then the beginning, I remember... - Brett: It's supposed to...
- The finger octave trills, man. - Yeah, it's too hard.
Alright, so instead of...
A normal octave's like one and four, right?
Paganini was like, "Well, I want to be able to trill octaves."
So he does one and three
and then he does two and four, like...
I mean, it's not the hardest thing.
It's just a little bit of a tongue twister.
Let's just not read too much into it.
B for No. 3.
We can change these afterwards.
Eddy: Ah, No. 4.
You've played this so you know.
- 4 is hard. A. - I think it's like an A or S.
I think it's an S.
Actually, I would say it's the same as, um, 1.
So, 1 is A then 4 is A.
A for now, okay.
Eddy: Alright, No. 5.
Eddy: Okay, so here's the thing. With No. 5
it depends on if you...
What speed you take it at
and whether you choose to do original bowing
or not original.
The original bowing is messed up, it's like...
Okay, the opening is okay.
- Yeah. - I think if you practice scales,
- you should be able to get the opening. - Yeah.
I mean even Loki can do the opening, right?
- But the... What was it? Agitato, right? - Mm.
This part, most people just do seperate bow.
- Brett: Yeah. - The original bowing, which are
- I don't know if you guys seen us react to Sumina do it, it's like... - Yeah.
To do that properly, it would be S-tier.
- To do that... To do the proper bowing, this is S-tier. - Eddy: Yeah.
And then you have, like, someone like Kavakos who does
- the easier bowing but does it at 300 miles per hour. - Brett: Yeah.
- So I'd say 5 would be S-tier. - Yeah.
5 is hard.
Eddy: Next, No. 6.
- Ooh. - Oh, f***.
- Oh, this one's like... - I hate this technique, so for me it's already like an S, man.
- I hate... - This is...
Who wants to do that?
Actually, it's not too bad.
It's just very annoying.
- I think in terms of enjoyment. - Eddy: It's like it's injury prone.
- Eddy: Yeah. - Brett: Also enjoyment level is pretty low.
- It's like... Okay. - I'd say it's like a B or C.
- C. C. - B, B, C. Yeah, C.
Eddy: 7.
Eddy: 7's one of the more okay ones, I think.
Which one is this one?
Oh!
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brett: Okay.
Brett: Okay, okay.
Judging with that, you can just play it like that.
I think it's like an F.
I think it's a...
- D or E. E, maybe. - Yeah.
- Probably E, let's give it a bit more variety. Yeah. - E. I think that's not F 'cause there's easier ones than that?
- Eddy: 8. - Brett: Aw...
Eddy: I think it's a little bit harder than 7
but still not the hardest.
Actually, but, compare this one to 2 or 3.
See I think I'm not being fair
'cause these ones I've learned before,
- so I have my muscle memory of it. - Brett: Yeah, um...
I feel like 2 might be a little bit harder.
We'll come back in 2 and 3 later
because I've never learned them properly.
Let's give it a...
- C. - C? Yeah, C for now.
Brett: Oh, yeah.
- Eddy: Alright, this one's easy. This is an easier one. - Brett: Yeah, this is like, F.
F.
Dude, the amount of times I heard people go...
Do you think this is the same difficulty as 16?
Depends on what the other ones are.
I feel like it's definitely E or F.
Let's put it E for now.
If it's E then I think 7 will be a...
- D. - Yes.
- 'Cause 7 I think is harder. - Yeah, yeah. I think it's harder.
Alright.
- Eddy: Oh. - Brett: 10. Oh, this one's alright.
I think it's like, once you get the upbow, it kind of flows.
For you, what do you think that is?
To me, it's like a (hums No. 9) difficulty, actually.
- E? - Yeah.
No way.
No, dude, are you-?
Yeah.
- I actually feel comfortable doing... - As if... Ask any uni student
- if they can play 9 and they can play that. - Yeah, actually.
- Yeah, actually. Everyone will be playing 9. - Eddy: Nah, dude.
Bro, your sense of difficulty is messed up, Brett, I don't trust it.
Eddy: 11.
It's not too bad, actually.
I think it's okay.
Feel like it's an E.
D or E.
Alright, let's go with...
D.
E, E, E, E. What's 9 again?
- Nah, E is so much easier. (hums No. 9) - What's it...? Which?
Okay, f***.
- Or maybe E should be F. - I think we're just dissing...
(hums No. 9)
- Dude, everyone can play it. - No, sure, I can name everyone at the con going...
You're like, shut up.
Shut up!
See, everyone at the con can play 9.
I don't think they can play 11, necessarily.
Nah, yeah, I agree.
- Eddy: Oh, I've never seen 12. - Brett: Oh, my friend played this.
It's one of those, like, very just...
unpleasant.
It's like, the amount of effort you put in for it
- comes out of your violin. Musical... Like, not worth it. - Musical... Yeah.
- You know what? I'm putting 9 on F. - Yeah, yeah.
'Cause we keep... 'cause we keep...
And 12, yeah, let's put it down there.
Alright, it's like, I notice I'm just being like,
"Well, it's still above E, so..."
- Eddy: D is just getting longer and longer on the list. - Brett: Yeah, yeah, nah. It's going down to F.
Both: Ooh!
Ooh-kay.
- This is another easy one but it's definitely harder than 9. - Brett: Yes.
- E? - E.
- E, yeah. - I feel like it's easier than the...
Brett: Yeah, it's true. It's true.
Eddy: Alright, 14.
- Eddy: Oh, this one's also pretty chill. - Brett: Oh, this is...
Yeah, no, it's an...
- F. - F, F.
Dude, that's... Is that it?
- Yeah, it's pretty chill. - Yeah, it's an F. That's an F.
I realize our standard's probably...
- These ones might actually be S now. - Yeah, no, I think they're S's.
- Alright, 4 and 1 are S. - Dude, comparing 4 and 1?
- No way! What the hell? - Yeah.
- Nah, that's an S. Straight up. - Yeah, compared to this...
Versus.
Brett: Nah, nah. Okay, okay, okay, okay.
- We're getting a better feel now, guys. - Eddy: Yeah.
Eddy: 15.
I think it's like a D or E.
Let's put D for now.
D? Okay, D 'cause it's upbow staccato again.
Okay.
- Brett: Oh, this is F. - Eddy: 16, F.
Brett: Actually, the only one part that's tricky in this part...
- It's still an F, by the way. I'm not justifying why it's not an F. - Eddy: Yeah.
- Yeah... - It's the...
Oh, really?
Gotta... connect.
But otherwise, it's quite simple.
- Yeah. - Yeah, F.
Eddy: Alright, 17.
It's actually not too bad.
D?
D, I'll say a D.
- Eddy: I don't know this one. - Brett: Ooh, oh!
It's got like remnants, a little bit of 4.
- Just the thirds. - There's a lot of thirds,
- but not as hard. - Yeah.
Brett: Dude, it's all thirds.
I think that's like, uh...
- D? They're all D. - Yeah, D.
- We need to change that up. - Nah, we're moving some D's out.
- Brett: Oh, oh, this one. It's okay, it's not hard. It's not hard. - Eddy: I like this one.
- Eddy: I like this one. - Brett: It's not hard. It's not hard.
I mean, it's hard but it's not that hard.
- Put E for now. Yeah. - E, yeah.
- I like it though. - It's E.
It's a good one.
Eddy: Oh, this is one of the easier ones.
Brett: I think it's like an E or F.
Probably an F.
Yeah, F.
Brett: Oh, I've played this one.
Upbow staccato automatically makes it at least a D... C?
Yeah, probably a C or D.
I feel like we're going to move things up anyway.
- Eddy: Yeah. Let's put C. - So it's probably a C.
Eddy: 22.
But yeah, like, there's... Okay, one or two lines are very awkward,
- but the majority of it's pretty chill, - Brett: Yeah.
- D or E? What do you reckon? - E.
Too many D's.
Eddy: Oh, I like this one.
C.
C?
Yeah, it's definitely harder than all those D's
that we played for sure.
Oh, well, all I know is it's definitely harder than, uh...
Brett: Alright, 24.
A.
I think it's an A.
- Yeah. - Yep, okay.
Eddy: Alright, we need to redo some of these.
I feel like No. 2 is probably a C or a B.
- Nah, it's going up to B. - B.
- B, let's put it at B. Yeah. - Yeah, it's B. That's definitely a B.
6.
I think it... it should be higher. It should be B.
- Yeah, no, it's, yeah. - Yeah, it should be B.
No, I remember Chloe Chua said that the...
- Paganiniana so it's hard. - Eddy: Yeah.
- Yeah, Chloe Chua said it's hard so it should be A. - So it's A, at least.
- Is that it? That's okay. - Yeah.
Maybe I over-ranked 3, actually.
I think 3's not that hard. I think.
3's probably like a C.
7.
Nah, you know what? I'm putting this up
because I remember this bit's messed up.
Damn, bro, I can't even...
7 goes up to a B. I forgot about that bit.
10.
- Is that bit hard? - Um...
I can't remember... Yeah. It's probably hard.
It looks hard. It looks freaking hard.
It could be a C or D.
- Let's pull it up to C, I reckon. - Okay.
I think this looks about right.
Brett: Alright, no, I agree.
9, 14, 16, 20.
- Brett: Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah, they're the ones everyone learns first, right?
If you wanna tackle Paganini-
This is your list!
Start with 16 or 9,
and then go to 20 and 14.
And you can skip D and E and C.
If you like it, you can do A and S.
Yeah, yeah.
- Eddy: All the C, D, E are like, ah, whatever. - Brett: Yeah, yeah.
Alright, guys, here's a definitive guide
of Paganini Caprices...
24 Caprices.
Practice as you will.
Alright.
Bye.
Sub mf.