i recall on a rave un2 the joyfantastique album magazine advertisement. there's a quote of sheryll crow saying sumtthin like this"he(prince)plays guitar like jimi,lays bass like larry graham,and plays piano like chick corea"
well..do u think thats a praise or an insult? does it mean that prince can only play instruments like them but has no style of his own? what do u think? do u think prince has his own style of playing either guitar,bass,keyboards,or drums?
[Edited 8/30/04 22:15pm]

elmariachi said:

hes unique at the guitar,maybe aint that great at the bass but hes ok.He plays piano with his one flavour and drums,whell drums i am not the one to talk.
But when you put those things toghether the sound its like no other,its sounds like Prince!

hes unique at the guitar,maybe aint that great at the bass but hes ok.He plays piano with his one flavour and drums,whell drums i am not the one to talk.
[/quote]

Huh???

PART ONE: I play Bass and know some of the funkiest Bass players in the world, who would agree... Prince can slam the 4 string... His style is definately unique, even with the Larry Graham influence (who, by the way, influenced nearly every Bass player during the Sly era and beyond who uses their thumb).

In fact, his style and swung grace note rythyms are so unique, hardly anyone I've heard, including Rhonda, can get the "Let's Work" bassline just right.

Also check out some of his Bass solos (i.e. "Love or Money 12" Bside).

PART TWO: He's pretty versatile on keys and piano... moreso than most keyboard players. Also, he treats and approaches piano and keyboard differently, as it should be. After all the albums with thousands of different keyboard parts, harmonies, sounds, and styles, I'm amazed U can say that.

PART THREE: Drums... SEE (HEAR): Irresistable Bitch, Sexual Suicide, Tambourine, etc. He's been covering the drum kit on nearly every album since 1978. He's tight, and knows where 2 accent.

CONCLUSION: Prince has so many levels of talent on these instruments (and voice), that it becomes very difficult 4 some 2 recognize what a great Bass player, drummer, keyboard player, and YES, even guitar player he is... It's hard 4 people 2 mentally blindfold themselves, forget it's Prince they're hearing, and just listen 2 the single instrument in "question".

Peace.

G.
[Edited 8/30/04 10:51am]

today i listened to "saviour" (emancipation cd 2),the drumming's great.i looked at the credit,and there's nobody credited there on the album, so i think its prince. and i listened again to some of his bass work from emancipation 2 musicology,and i noticed theres a particular sound and style.he got this specific "trebly" tone.4 example listen 2 what do u want me 2 do. right now i'm tryin 2 deg deeper intp ptince's bass work and drumming instead of his guitar and keys playing.

A good definition of whether a person has a style of his own could perhaps be:
Would you recognize him, if you didn’t know who was playing?

With that in mind, I would say that Prince definitely has his own style on guitar. Both his sound and the things he plays are if not unique at least highly personal. (Of course it’s a result of his influences combined, but anyway)

He’s also an excellent bass player, but a style of his own? I don’t know... He probably has certain licks and stuff that he’s come up with, but very much of his funk/slap playing comes indeed from Larry Graham. And on his pop/rock-oriented material, he mostly just plays what anybody else would play.

On drums I don’t feel he has a style of his own either. He has a couple of fills that he likes to use, from which you might be able to recognize him, but I really don’t think he’s been that influential as a drummer (although a lot of drummers are probably influenced by his music).

I guess you could say that he has a personal style on keyboards. Much of it comes from the synth sounds he uses, but also in certain types of chords and melody lines. The funny thing is, many people seem to think that Prince has monster keyboard chops, but he really hasn’t... I’m a jazz pianist myself, and I would say Prince is an average player. Technically and harmonically he’s really not that good, but his creativity, curiousity and emotion still makes him a fantastic musician on the keys.

I think the most influential and important thing about Prince is not what he plays on his instruments, it’s HOW he uses them...his songwriting/arranging/production skills. How many other producers would you be able to recognize, from just listening to a record?

RealMusician said:

I agree about that probably is about production where Prince is totally unique. About if he is personal or not, well, it depends. The thing about Prince is that he has a lot of influences, i mean, other musicians only play blues, for example, so they add a little bit different and they have a style.
But you are used to hear Prince playing funk, one day he plays blues and then everyone tries to find what influence comes that from...

A lot of times, Prince plays songs really very very easy to play, with chords and harmonic structures incredibly easy. But when you play them at home, you cannot do it like him. He uses a lot of inversions of the chords, a lot of harmonic ideas, and he can turn the simplest song in the world, and something difficult to play.
For me that is called "to have your own style".

Everyone has influences and Prince is no exception. I think Prince had his own style from the beginning through "Purple Rain". Every now and then I used to say "That sounds kinda like Devo" or "That sounds kinda like Gary Numan" but for the most part it sounded like Prince and only Prince.

From "Around The World In A Day" to the present, I wouldn't consider any of that his own style at all. All I have heard from Prince since then is his influences like James Brown, The Beatles, Sly and the Family Stone, and Graham Central Station.