Who do u think was/is a better guitar player??

they're both supurb players but if u ask me I'd choose Zappa's guitar playing over Prince's.

As 4 comparisons of Zappa and P :

-Both had troubles with Warners and record CON tracts, both fought the industry. Zappa won his masters back
-Both became independants, operating from their own business Prince's NPGMC and Zappa's UMRK.
-Both are workaholics with thousands of hours unreleased music.
-Both use(d) a lot of jazz influences in their work.
- Zappa also ventured in the "classical " department , Prince tried once with "Kamasutra"
-Both can play multiple instruments and surround themselves with the best musicians possible.
.

As a whole these 2 artists r my fave ever (2gethe with Bowie, but he's anothe story)... r there more Zappa fans here and do u agree??

I definitely love Zappa, what a genius...he's very different from Prince, I can't do comparisons, but..whow, what a great musician/composer/madman!

their music is uncomparable, but I mean their prolific output and the way they fought the system (though Zappa was also active on many other fronts..)


Zappa should've run 4 president!

'Hey all you my name is Bobby Brown, they say i'm the cutest boy in town. My car is fast, my teeth are shiney, tell all the girls they can kiss my hiney' -Zappa.

mrchristian said:

oh god, i am the american dream...i forgot how the rest of it goes, otherwise i'd sing the rest of the chorus.

zappa's the ish, man!!

tried to find a raisin, brownies in the basin, monza by the streetlight, aunt jemima all night...holidays and salad days and days of moldy mayonnaise...

french fan here...


another similitude :

the bass line from "Stinkfoot" is the same as "The Ride"...

Zappa is more an "excentric guitar player" than Prince...Zappa's style is really weird and technical, Prince put a lot of emotion and feeling in his playing but is less technical... impossible 2 compare.


peace

Wow.

I can't compare, because I (admittedly, don't kill me) unfortunately could not identify a single song by Zappa. It's possible I've heard one or two tracks of his without knowing it was him, but that's it.

However, I've heard some amazing things about him, and I've been wanting to get into the Zappa scene.

So people, help me. I know he has a lot of weird stuff out there, so I want you all to recommend ONE cd for me to buy. Only pick ONE. It shouldn't necessarily be your favorite, it should be something you think would introduce me to his music. Even though I realize this term doesn't apply to Zappa, something more "mainstream".

For example: If I were to pick a Prince album for a friend, it WOULDN'T be Sign "O" the Times, because even though it's probably my favorite one, It's not easy to get into. I wasn't big on it until I had a much larger collection of stuff from before and after it. Rather, I would probably reccomend something more like Purple Rain

thanks guys!

obviously, from my avatar, you can guess that i am a big zappa fan. several times in the past, in conversations with friends i have drawn the comparison between fz and prince. they are (in my estimation) both musical geniuses, they are/were very prolific composers/performers, they frequently dis-banded certain line-ups of their bands (frequently at the height of each respective line-up's peak), they both sucked at their own public relations and "shot themselves in the foot" in terms of their career over and over again, and a lot of the general public think they are both weird.

in terms of guitar playing, zappa is my favorite guitar player of all time because of the musical ideas he could string together. zappa solos are musical compositions in and of themselves. however, occasionally, his ideas and intentions sometimes outstretched his ablity to technically perform them, and so, some work can sound sloppy. he, also, was a musical experimenter, and with all people who experiment and push boundaries, some of it doesn't work. but, when it does, there is nothing like it. also, one of the things that i loved about his guitar playing is the he was never cliche, there were never those obvious licks that you can predict exactly what was coming next, he would always surprise you.

to the person asking for a suggested place to start, in terms of buying a zappa cd, the mid-seventies stuff was the "most accessable" like "apostrohe", "over night sensation", or "one size fits all". any one of those 3 are a good place to start.

i could go on and on, but no one reads posts that are longer than this
[This message was edited Thu Oct 24 10:52:59 PDT 2002 by medoc2003]

to my eternal shame i've reached 32 and never felt the need to listen to Zappa.I don't even know what his music is about or what style he mostly went for.

all i know is he called his kid 'moon unit' that was enough for me!

My dad has some of his stuff, i'll check it out.

to approach zappa's music keep this in mind. two of his loves in terms of musical styles while growing up were 50's r&b and 20th century classical music. the r&b of the 50's was very different from the r&b of today or even of the 60's. it was way more bluesy, gritty, and bawdy.

when he "started" as a musician, he wanted to compose 20th century classical music, but the music industry as a whole, and particularly the "classical" music industry, being as it was, that was virtually an impossiblity. so, he did what everyone else did, he put together and band and played clubs.

one of the reasons people feel that his music sounds so "weird" is that it is music composed "for orchestra" played by a rock/jazz band with a 50's r&b feel. the melding of these styles give it a very unique sound.


[This message was edited Thu Oct 24 10:42:10 PDT 2002 by medoc2003]
[This message was edited Thu Oct 24 10:47:37 PDT 2002 by medoc2003]

PlastikLuvAffair said:

I can't remember the words either (been a while)I first heard it back in the mid 80's and for the longest time didn't know it was Frank Zappa. Kind of preceded 'Bob George' no?

Thecherryloon said:

all i know is he called his kid 'moon unit' that was enough for me!
---

exactly, prince's name change turned a lot of casual fans off and made the general public think he was off his rocker. zappa's naming of his children had a similar effect. although, by that time, zappa's eccentricities were quite well known.

i have found it somewhat ironic in talking with some prince fans that they frequently bring up the moon unit/dweezil thing, but didn't blink an eye with the thing.

Apples and oranges. I don't have a "huge" collection of Zappa's music, but I prefer Prince's guitar playing from what I do know of it. Actually, it seems to me that I tend to go for Zappa's sidemen as guitar players as opposed to Zappa. I also think that Zappa had an influence on PFunk.

savoirfaire said:

Sorry, like Lay's Potato Chips "I betcha can't eat just one!" To get a good feel of where Zappa was coming from, check out these goodies:

1. Joe's Garage (Parts I II & III)
2. You Are What You Is
3. Sheik Yerbouti
4. Apostrophe (You'll probably recognize "Cosmic Debris" on this album)
5. Zoot Allures

I'll be the first to admit, Zappa has such a HUGE catalog of music out there, that I can't even afford to catch up with everything that's available. One of the things I really liked about Zappa was that he always kept up with the latest technology (as you'll learn by listening to his music). I knew a friend that used to work in a music store back in the day, and he said that whenever any new "machine" came out for processing music, Zappa would be the first to buy 2 or 3!

And as someone here already mentioned, Zappa also battled his record company for the rights to his music, AND WON! When you buy a Zappa CD today, the money is going to his FAMILY! Zappa was a very smart guy. Smart to the point of being CRAZY (Crazy like a Fox, that is).

Zappa is absolutely one of my favorite artists in the world, along with Prince, George Clinton, and Bootsy Collins. I missed Zappa sooo much when he passed away, that I couldn't even listen to ANY of his music for a few years. Though I have about 12-15 Zappa albums, probably my single favorite song by him that pulls at my heart strings everytime is "Watermelons In Easter Hay". That song leaves me in tears everytime.

I'm so happy I had the opportunity to see Frank Zappa perform live at The Hollywood Palace back in the early 80's. It's a memory I'll cherish for the rest of MY days!

Rest in peace Zappa. I miss you buddy!

medoc2003 said:

totally agree with that. another approach is bying "The Best Band You Ever Heard In Your Life", a live 2cd set, where u can find songs from every period... and a fantastic version of "The Torture never Stops"...

I always felt that the best band cd was a bit ruined by 2 many horns! I love the cd don't get me wrong, but I'd have preferred it with less hornplaying...

A good starting point is Apostrophe ' , Overnite Sensation since those r very commercial (by Zappa's standards) lps..

yea i think Zappa is very cool,


but i always think prince's guitar playing is the best in the world.

yeah Zappa is great...i love jammin "my guitar wants to kill your mama"

Anyone like "Jazz From Hell" like I do?

HOT RATS!!! that's the best jazz fusion album of the 20th century, followed by Bitches Brew. i'm serious.