Ok so obviously Prince plays all the instruments.

But over the years has he employed or worked with band members who were better on a specific instrument than him.

And by better I mean more prolific and obvious to the audience ..more fluid with the overall mastery of the said instrument.

So ok, we can immediately not include Atlanta Bliss, Eric Leeds, Miles davis, Maceo Parker and Clare Fisher.

Apart from his 6 and 4 string- Prince cant really play strings or horns right?

So lets put him up against some of the greats:

I would argue Michael Bland and Sheila E were better but Bobby Z was not on drums.

I would also argue Miko weaver, Andre Simone were better lead and rythm guitarists but Lisa coleman was not

Cat was a better dancer if you wanna scrape but Diamond and Pearl were not

Vocal wise Id say Prince could outsing anyone except Rosie Gaines and Bonnie Boyer. He murdered Sheena Easton, Sheila E, Mavis Staples and Apollonia in duets though

Oh and Prince was a better bass player than Brown Mark

and a much better keyboardist than Tommy Barbaerella and Wendy but not quite as good as Renato Neto and nowhere in the league of who I think is arguably the most talented muscian Mr Nelson has EVER worked with... Dr. Fink

Your thoughts please ladies and gentleman?

[Edited 2/25/16 23:46pm]

Definitely better than Lisa on guitar and Wendy on keys

hyperpessimist said:

Mandingo said:

hyperpessimist said:

Definitely better than Lisa on guitar and Wendy on keys

Lisa was the best riff guitarist he ever had but was just not up there with say...Miko

You're getting Wendy and Lisa mixed up. Wendy plays guitar, Lisa is keys.

I've seen some clips online of Sonny T tearing it up on lead guitar...I can hear the influence he had on P. The solo in "I'm Yours" comes to mind. I also think he learned a lot from Lisa with melody and chords. I don't think P has ever had anyone that could outplay him in his groups..I think he knows how to control his musicians so they can compliment the music. Rev Mike Scott said that he was told to slow down with his playing.

Militant said:

Prince has acknowledged Sonny Thompson´s talent and influence many times and said he learned a lot from Sonny. I don´t know if that makes Sonny the better player though. And Sonny´s reaction after he heard of Prince´s compliments was very humble and he seemed surprised, but yeah, Prince called him his teacher and a big influence in interviews.

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As far as Miko goes, Prince himself said Miko´s name at the end of the concert and said "On the guitar....Miko Weaver....you didn´t know the difference." which I take as an acknowledgement of Miko´s guitar skills being as good as Prince´s......though I don´t really see it that way. Miko once said that Prince taught him everything and that therefore Miko is just as good as Prince....but just because Prince taught him everything does not mean that the student is necessarily better than his teacher.

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You said that Prince can´t play horns. He can, he´s just not very good at it. Eric Leeds and Candy Dulfer mentioned his ability to play saxophone, and a saxophone was also mentioned during his very first interview (for his highschool magazine). Candy mentioned some tapes of Prince playing sax that she listened to, and Eric Leeds said that while Prince knows how to play a bit, he does not have what he called "embouchure", which takes a long time and lots of practice to develop.

So, he can play a bit, but he´s not very proficient.

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Not sure about the rest. Dr.Fink used to be killer on the keys but I don´t know if he´s still honing his skills as much as Prince is these days.

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I don´t know much about drums. Michael Bland is my all time favorite drummer to ever play with Prince, he´s a giant on the skins but I have no idea about technique and how good Prince is technically. What I do know is that Michael Bland and John Blackwell have that big , pounding, bombastic sound that I really love, whereas Sheila´s and Prince´s playing style is very different.

And I think Prince´s rapping , as much as I dislike it, is still lightyears ahead of any of the rapper´s that he´s worked with, excluding of course established rappers like Q-Tip that he´s worked with.

do ya think andre could match him on bass???

Sonny Thompson, Morris Day, Matt Fink, Michael Bland, Sheila E. and Jesse Johnson!!!!

The title asks if any of his band members are a better musician than Prince. The answer is clearly no.

The post asks if there is someone better at any given intrument, including vocals.

Clearly he has had people better than him on strings and horns.

Guitarist. Prince is one of the very best guitarists of all time. Nobody he has worked with could pull of his HOF performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps that many consider the best guitar solo ever, and some people (like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis) consider Prince the best rhythm guitarist alive.

Vocals. Just because some people he worked with have vocals that fit better with some parts doesn't make the better vocalists. Who else could pull off his vocals a song like The Most Beautiful Girl in the World. Prince is rediculously versitile in his vocals.

Keyboards. He's ahd some great keyboard players in his bands. But even here I'm not sure if they are better and don't know if they play anything he couldn't play just as well.

Drums, certainly no problem saying some of the other drummers are better. But can any of htem do what Prince did on Lovesexy. He recorded the drums for the whole first side of the album in one take as the first track recorded for all of those songs.

Militant said:

Mandingo said:

hyperpessimist said: Lisa was the best riff guitarist he ever had but was just not up there with say...Miko

You're getting Wendy and Lisa mixed up. Wendy plays guitar, Lisa is keys.

Lisa Coleman, Instruments: Piano, keyboards, synthesizer, guitar, vocals

Wendy Melvoin, Instruments: guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals