Sometimes I think Prince does not record all drum parts all at once when he plays real drums. I mean, like, first he record only kickdrum and track, then just cymbals, then he plays some fills. I think so because i never saw he really "tore it up" on the drums live as he does on studio. (Like on I'm yours and GLass cutter).

Knowing Prince has a good ego, why do you think he does not show his real skills on the skins like he does with bass, guitar and piano? Maybe it's cause he can't play all the parts at once live?

i think he is a competent but not great drummer...certainly not as good as the guitar, bass and keyboard.

Robots can't play drums!

Prince is a sex robot. kinda like Jude Law in the movie AI. One day you'll find out.

I guess it's possible that Prince has recorded some drum tracks "part by part", although I can't think of any example that I've noticed.

But if he has, I doubt it's because he wouldn't be able to play it all at once. The reason is more likely that he wants to be able to edit the tracks later - like moving the kick drum, leaving out the snare for a couple of bars etc - without having to worry about the tracks leaking into each other.

Another possible scenario is that he plays a drum part (more or less complete), and later comes up with another idea that he wants to add on top of it.

One thing I have noticed is that he quite often records live drums without cymbals - for example "Lady Cab Driver" and "The Cross". I don't really know the reason for this, except that he probably wants that sound. I'm not a drummer, but I've always thought it would be pretty hard to play that way, coordination-wise...

All you have to do is watch SOTT "It's gonna be a beautiful night" to see him play the drum more than "adequately".

Better yet watch the America video (full length) if you want to see how good he is at the drums. He is even taken aback by some of the things he does. He says something like " ya'll can't fuck wit me"

Didn’t P play the drums in the Rave 2000 special? Also if u haven’t read the article on Modern Drummer with Prince and Blackwell on the cover (Jan. 05), u need 2 check it out. It’s very interesting. U can read the interview that P and Blackwell gave MD. U will also read what Blackwell had 2 say about P’s drumming. If this man looks up 2 P’s drumming u can bet P can hold his own on drums.

larksanders said:

VH-1 played this the other night, but they cut off right before Prince goes to the drums. Damn them! I hadn't seen it in a long time.

larksanders said:

I think he can do a lot better. What he does in that video really isn't all that.

Though it might be a bit for showing off, I tink his best drumming is on 7 (the Madhouse number).

Prince can most certainly play drums and very well indeed. He is not a "great" drummer, but very competent and, according to Susan Rogers, he doesn't even use a metronome or click track to keep the timing - it just comes straight from him (not many people do that).

He certainly has no problems playing an entire kit.

The main reason that he would record the drums in parts would be for his "one-man-band" tracks. Its very difficult for most people to comprehend just how hard it is to record a track by yourself and, seeing as drums and bass are the first things to go down, you've got to have a pretty good idea of how your track is going to go - just try to imagine how hard it would be to play a drum track to a song that hasn't even been recorded yet - it can be hard enough with a song you know well (playing without any other accompaniament that is!). By recording in parts, he can more easily alter fills, or even just where a hi-hat might need dropping at that point. It is most definitely not because of any lack of drumming skill on his part.

His funk drumming is superb (I've been a drummer for 20 years, so I have a bit of experience!) - listen to Lady Cab Driver, Tamborine, his marvellous work on Crystal Ball and even Musicology.

I've seen him get on a kit many times live (though, the first time I saw him do it was on the Nude tour). I don't know why he doesn't do it more often (I'd like to see it more!), other than he really does have enough to do live as it is!!
[Edited 2/23/05 4:51am]
[Edited 2/23/05 4:52am]