Okay, Prince has as much band member changes as a football team has line up changes, and Prince is not the kind of person who goes for second best: his musicians have to be top notch. Let's not forget that Prince himself is a killer guitarist so you'd better have it together if you want to be in his band...

So let's talk about the guitarists he's had through the years.

Dez Dickerson 1979-1984
The man with the two tone explorer who is seen in all the older videos such as "Controversy", "1999", "Why do you wanna treat me so bad?" and "Little Red Corvette" Dez co-wrote a lot of the songs on the early albums of Prince

Wendy Melvoin 1984-1987
Dez Left the Revolution in 1984 and was replaced by Wendy who turned out to be worthy follow up, she co-wrote a lot of the songs on "Purple rain" including the title track

Miko Weaver 1985- 1990
Miko Joined the Revolution during the "Around the world in a day" tour as a second guitarist for The revolution, he and Wendy played in tandems. When Wendy Left the Revolution in 1987, Miko took over the role of main guitarplayer on both Sign o' the Times and Lovesexy tours.

Levi Seacer 1990-1996
The Year was 1990, Prince disbanded The Revolution and formed the New Power generation. Doing most of the leads on "Grafity Bridge" and "Diamonds and pearls" himself, Prince let Levi do the more Jazzy soulful soloing on tracks like "Sexy MF" and "Money don't matter 2night" But Levi will be best know for playing the solo of the first mentioned track with a playing card in the video.

Kat Dyson 1996-1999
Being the ladies man he is, Prince decided to have an all female version of the NPG backing him up for the later half of the nineties. Kat Dyson is credited for playing on "Emancipation" and "Rave un2 the joy fantastic" she didn't join the tour of "Rave" since the ever restless Prince decided to change the line up of his band once more...

Mike Scott 1999-current
Prince's Current axe wielder. Mike Scott is Prince's tour guitarist, he doesn't feature on any albums yet, taking care of leads if Prince himself isn't in the mood to strap on a guitar during performances.

right off-hand: you got some discrepancies in the years you've got listed: dez was around '78 till '82 or '83. wendy from '83 till '86. the years for the rest of 'em you may have wrong too but i've got a major brain-fart going on...

Saiyaman said:

I didn't know that Dez co-wrote some songs for Prince...
[Edited 5/17/05 14:17pm]

krayzie said:

yep, he did.

Dez. Hands down. Dez not only hooked P up with some material, but gave P a direction to go in, visually. Dez's impact on what P was doing was paramount. Period.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Yeah, Dez bounced in 83.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I always thought it was a rumour or something like that....

blackguitaristz said:

Dez was the man. Miko Weaver would have to be my 2nd favorite with Prince.

ya know, mike scott doesn't suck. dez is a legend to me and ya know i love me some wendy, but nobody in prince's bands have wowed me like mr. blackwell on drums and mike scott on guitar.

Anxiety said:

sorry I can't choose because Dez and Wendy are a tied. They were his best guitarists. And if Prince ever wanted to have all time past reunion band I wanted the both to played if you don't mind sharing the spotlight, Wendy.

Definitely Dez
[Edited 5/17/05 20:26pm]

I gotta go with Mico for the funk factor...

most tehnicly best:mike scott
most soulful:miko weaver
jazziest :levi seacer
rocks the hardest:dez
the worst =wendy-even little red corvette is too much for her.

so we come to a conclusion that prince's best guitar player is his royall badness himself.

Of course

Dez...

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Really? which ones?

Dez

ABC NEWS is projecting that Dez Dickerson will win the best guitarist election.

Wendy was a better band member.

Dez for the rock factor
Mikko for the funk factor

I really like Mike Scott as well, Anxiety. But out of these, I gotta vote for Dez. (Dez wrote "After Hi School," by the way -- among many other "princely" tunes). And for all-around Prince guitarists (playing his songs in his bands and writing songs with the man), I'd go with Jesse Johnson.

Snap said:

that's cool...if the thread were 'who's the best songwriting collaborator from prince's bands?', i might be tempted to go with dez. but to be perfectly honest, i've never seen or heard dez do anything - on the albums with prince, or on the live recordings i've heard from that time - where i've been wowed by his guitar playing. it's not to say he wasn't a good guitarist or that he didn't add a lot to the band - it's just that out of everyone listed, the times i've seen mike scott play on the musicology tour last year, i was super impressed. there are also prince tracks where i really dig the guitar parts, then find out it was mike scott playing and not prince. i don't think that he lends as much to prince's band visually - that prize definitely goes to dez and wendy - but i think the man has serious skill...or at the very least, prince is finally letting his band members show how serious their skill is.

I'd have to say Wendy. Only because I like "The Revolution" as a whole. That band was sexy as Hell. Who cares if she was great or not.

Anxiety said:

Wasn't Dez part of some incarnation of The Time? And if I'm not mistaken, Dez played the lead parts on "LIttle Red Corvette."

Since there is no such thing as best I'll say favorite.

Dez: Solos, rock and roll vibe, A good influence on P's style and eary direction.

Miko: Rhythm guitar. I liked his playing on the Lovesexy tour. He and P did this rhythm thing on 1999 during the Nude Tour that was kewl.

Wendy: I guess vibe and "right place right time/all inclusive Reagan era thing" She plays some nice stuff on the W and L CD's and very good bass.
As far as her playing in those early Revolution shows...? But how many of us played with Prince right out of high school and had our development happen before the whole world?

I liked Levi on bass but I didn't care for his guitar playing. I've heard Mike Scott is an awesome player but he never really "clicked" with me. He seemed Levi-ish.

You know some might add Jesse, Jellybean (that's right) , Sonny T, and Andre to that list of best guitar players from that inspiring Purple camp.

Anxiety said:

What about the solo at the end of "Party Up" during the Controversy tour?
Or the complete concert March 8th 1982 at First Avenue, especially "All The Critics Love U In New York"?
That song definitely got me wowed by Dez!

For all guitar solos, Dez Dickerson is the freaking man!!!! Hands Down.

But for composing guitar & string parts, I love my Wendy Melvoin!

Damn, that was a tough answer.

EvilWhiteMale said:

Wendy (to Prince): Doesn't it make you feel like shit?

Somehow, I just can't picture Dez saying this to Prince ever!