Caprice No. 5 is one of 24 pieces composed by virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini in the early 19th century. The piece is known for its incredible speed and extremely high technical difficulty. Paganini is said to have been able to play it on one string, but there is no evidence to support or refute this.
The piece has been transcribed for many instruments: piano, cello, accordion, guitar, etc... However, it is most often seen attempted by guitarists. Although it has been transcribed in its original key, the transcription often suffers from slower tempos due to the limitations of the instrument (longer neck length and width of the guitar and cello makes playing this piece below 2:30 most likely impossible), excessive use of slurs (especially for the guitar transcriptions) and musical liberties that do not adhere to the original score--typically seen with rock guitar musicians. In fact, severe bastardizations of the piece have made their way into rock guitar circles. The piece is often associated with the movie Crossroads as Eugene's Trick Bag, which was written and performed by Steve Vai and heavily inspired by the caprice. The first recorded true transcription of the piece appeared on Eliot Fisk's landmark recording that transcribed the entire 24 Caprices for the classical guitar.
Though written for the violin, the piece has also become known amongst guitarists, particularly because of its appeal to the technical proficiency of the shred guitar genre, as seen from virtuoso Jason Becker's version of the piece, re-arranged for electric guitar (see External Links)and for Yngwie Malmsteen's use of Paganini inspired techniques in his music. Yngwie Malmsteen created a guitar tab transcription (although, it deviated from the original score) for the piece in an issue of Guitar World magazine. The following are examples of the piece in modern music: