Having heard him play acoustic piano live, I can attest that the cat is no joke on keys, but I'm not a pianist.

How do the piano players on the org view his playing? Obviously he's good, but I would like to hear more about his technique. What is his style of playing? Who can you say are his influences?

Also, has anyone here ever heard any recording of the Prince Rogers Trio?

Alasseon said:

Basically traditional, from a pianist point of you it really isn't anythings special
he loves those damn trills though

no special echnique, its his technique, i believe he taught himself
and as time progressed he became better and better,
His pops was a pianist too, so
of course he's no joke
but he uses traditional style
nothing Really special,
now if he was a jazz pianist, that would impress the shyt out of me lol

Prince's BEST PIANO PERFORMANCE EVER is on "An Honest Man", the instrumental at the start of Under the Cherry Moon.

I have it on a CD called "Music from Under the Cherry Moon Motion Picture"...it is absolutely gorgeous playing that is best appreciated without seeing the visuals, IMO.

I have to say that Prince is highly under-rated (or highly un-recognized) as a great pianist. Most people don't know that Prince can release a piano album that not many would realize was him. I have no idea why he seems to hold back on the piano sometimes but he is a phenomenal player. Not taking anything from Renato, but Prince can play some of the same things that we've heard from him. I would imagine most "taught" piano players would critique his style as rudamentry(?) or un-conventional but, something that he has is a natural ability to change directions and styles and make the piano an extention of himself. I alway dig musicians that do that. Steve Vai for instances gives the guitar part of his personality, David Sanchez did the same with synths, Elton John is a piano wizard but I imagine not many recognize him for that. Those are just some of the reasons I say that Prince is under-rated as a pianist. Also Prince as an overall musician plays so many other instrtuments well, it sometimes distorts focus on how good he is on just one instrument.

Muziqmkr said:

I know, his piano playing is really SO good, even if it is not perhaps "correct". And then you hear his playing on other instruments and it's really just amazing that most people think of Prince has just a guy with a high voice who rode a motorcycle in Purple Rain. He won't be truly respected for his genius till he's dead unfortunately.

Muziqmkr said:

I agree
but the only reason he's named unconventional, because he doesn't play the Conventional "Rote" way
He has a vas knolwedge of piano chord progressions and thats why he sounds "phenominal"
from a pianist point of view its all illusion
P knows all the tricks of the trade because he didn't learn the conventional way
Prince is a fast mover and is knowledgable on the whole piano
he can move from a normal G position to and Am to a C
without even hesitating
i'll give him that,
but its only sub par
in my own opinion

Luv4oneanotha said:

have you HEARD "an honest man" (instrumental)?

Prince is impressive on Piano. Actually though, as a pianist, I've been around hundreds of musicians and the technical proficiency is really a dime a dozen anyway, anyone with a little musical talent can develop some really good skills. The thing that makes Prince compelling if not virtuoso is his versatility and his feel. Remember, he was a pioneer of keyboard himself and his use of chords and solo's going from jazz to classical has been his thing. People overlook the chords from his biggest pop hits like "I Wanna Be Your Lover" or "Little Red Corvette" or even the opening chords from Let' go Crazy, all of which use a beautiful array of jazz and gospel chords rarely heard in pop music. In fact I would venture to say that it is what made prince's sound so captivating because such things caught the average listener just enough off guard but not so much as not to be accessible. He can play, he does hold back on certain instruments, any of the fantastic musicians around him will tell you stories of how discouraging it would be to watch prince effortlessly whipping out solo's and such.

what made prince's sound so captivating because such things caught the average listener just enough off guard

That is so true, alot of Prince's songs contain riffs, solos or chords with intruments in theory should'nt really be on a song.

i think i can recall Quincy Jones saying that Prince just hit any old
key.

CMON listen to A Case Of U on ONA piano and tell me that he cant play piano

and i'll give you my entire bootleg collection

but youve got to come up with a 300 word essay on why he cant!!

muirdo said:

nobody said he can't
but any shmo can learn how to play
the reason why he is so unique is because he doesn't play "normal"
Take Renato, he's a classically train pianist!
on the other hand P, Is a Synth man
give him a synth and he can impress anybody
on live piano, prince has a habit of adding trills to the music, or staccato notes
so not alot of songs sound the same

Luv4oneanotha said:

i dont play piano u sound as tho you do
forgive me for being easily impressed.

muirdo said:

Its really no bid deal lol,
your entitled to any opinion.
and i do play piano, thats how i know
people think im a genuis because i learned in 4 monthes,
when once you break down any instrument,
and learn the short cuts
its a matter of whether your tone death or not
if you have a great ear
you can impress anybody just by improvising
tricks of the trade lol

Prince started out on the piano...there's the story that when his folks broke up his dad left it behind & his first musical ideas came from there. perhaps the focus on the guitar was because it provides mobility & its easier to keep up with & run the band i like his style, it comes from the heart...
listening to the Madhouse instrumentals helps me on the fix from his 88's
by the way mrdespues: "Venus de milo" is the piano instrumental from UTCM where he reads his poem "honest man"....B peaceful

theoriginalQueenB said:

they where talking about venus de milo?
i was wondering wtf he meant by honest man lol

theoriginalQueenB said:

by the way theoriginalQueenB "An Honest Man" is the very first song played in the opening credits of Under the Cherry Moon. That's the piano instrumental mrdespues is referring to.

And I wholeheartedly agree that he is playing his ass off on that one.
[Edited 10/27/04 20:17pm]

yea i'm 16 and i've been playing for 10 years now and i'd have to say that he is fantastic. His piano fits the genre of music he plays and i beleive that he is absolutly fantastic at it. He is one person i do look up to musically.

i gotta say that i love the little dude on guitar, but hearing him play the piano excites me a lot. He is quite good.

psykosoul said:

Are you sure that was him? I remember checking the credits at the end and it said someone else played piano. I'm thinking it was overdubbed. Not that he ain't bad on piano. Being a kid and a musician I used to study every little twitch by the man.

Then again, I just watched it and it does sound like his style.

Just check out the piano medly he did during Lovesexy live in Dortmund (the 2 VHS tapes released in de 1980's) or the Madhouse 8 album (jazz/funk instrumentals). This cat can play some mean piano!

Does anyone not remember him playing the piano on "The Beautiful Ones" in Purple Rain? Just beautiful (no pun intended).

1sexymf said:

but damn, even i can play the beautiful ones and i'm no great pianist. It's a simple song to play.

i go back and forth with prince on piano. sometimes he sounds magnificent, and sometimes i feel it's a bit anticlimatic. like the ONA cd - it's pretty enough but i don't think it does him justice as a piano player. you have to pick through authorised releases and, more often, boots to find any evidence that he's a real kick ass player.

agentmonday said:

Oh yeah..he can wax dat ax for certain! I would love to hear him do a duet on the piano with Alicia Keys. She's fabulous too.

TheFrog said:

His work on the Nikki Costa song, Silver Tongue, I thought sounded great. His playing just inspires me. A true musician...

psykosoul said:

thanks.

mozfonky said:

it's him...but you're making me wanna go check those credits! i'm SURE it's him.

.
[Edited 10/28/04 11:48am]

TheFrog said:

Pop music is intentionally simple. The chords are to the beautiful ones are beautiful, jazz and gospel chords. Still, Jazz (4note chords) and gospel chords are not that common in pop music. Anyway, it doesn't matter how simple it is but how much it can move people, and prince has this in spades. Go to your local community college and you can hear virtuoso's on piano who don't have any feel or meaning in what they are doing.

the opening credits 2 UTCM is Prince playing another interpretation of "Under the Cherry Moon"..."Venus de Milo" is the instrumental he plays while reading his poem "Honest Man"; from my point of view his opening version of UTCM was a shout 2 his dad's flava of performance...i was always taught that any REAL musician worth his salt is able to play two or more instruments well...4 us ole
school folk:"u can play & sing with a couple of instruments-so what's your special skill?" it is an abomination 4 all these children out here making big
dollar who couldn't find middle C if their career depended on it...it has been
said that Prince couldn't read or write music 4 quite awhile after his career started; that was OK when U hear it all N your head & can lay down the parts...it seems Wendy & Lisa brought more 2 his world musically than any of the public can truly appreciate...4 me none of this takes away from this gift that he shares with the world...B peaceful