i always thought prince is the only alive guitar player who can
conect to the sky above while he plays guitar solos.
there are many examples of his briliance(just my imagination for example)
but recently something happened.

my father eyes from reptile tour dvd (one more car,one more driver dvd) totaly blown me away.
eric clapton totaly blew me away with his solo on that song.
every note was a story-its in the level of just my imagination.

before that i thought eric clapton was boring overrated blues dude.
but when i saw what he did,i started exploring his guitar universe.

i come to a conclusion that eric have more rounded playing than prince.
bigger set of phrases ,guitar licks.

sometime prince sounds like he don't know what to do while he plays a longer solo/still prince is still my number one.
but who do you think have more tricks on guitar clapton or prince.

i think years of not playing guitar(prince rarely played in 1986,1982)left concenquences on prince's playing.

Eric Clapton only plays blues. Prince plays blues, hard rock, funky guitar and bass!

oh definately Clapton. prince is my fave guiatr player but Clapton definately is a lot more fluid.

claPTON PLAYS blues,rock,hard rock(u forgot cream).
song retile have brasilian motives

"LOOK OUT ALL U HIPPIES, U AINT AS SHARP AS ME!"-Prince All The Critics Love U In New York

Two differnt types of guitarist, love both their guitar playing.

Clapton is better when it comes to structure, another example is I shot the sheriff & old love off the Hyde park DVD, starts slow then explodes into a roaring solo.

I agree with others Prince is my favourite, love how he uses feedback and effects Its hard to pick out of the two, especially as Prince has become so much better in the last few years.

To any guitarist ear Prince's playing is noticably better nowadays, it seems more following, a perfect example would be the solo in the rainbow children.

This is a never ending arguement, but love discussing it!

PBS said:

I'd disagree with that. I guess it depends on what you like. His playing on the 1st Av '83 concert is pretty special (Computer Blue....still makes me ).
But i'm not such a fan of the digitally processed sound he found in the 90's. It seemed to tidy up his sound too much. Bring back the old valves and the Boss pedals!!!

williammelvinhicks said:I'd disagree with that. I guess it depends on what you like. His playing on the 1st Av '83 concert is pretty special (Computer Blue....still makes me ).
But i'm not such a fan of the digitally processed sound he found in the 90's. It seemed to tidy up his sound too much. Bring back the old valves and the Boss pedals!!!
i think he abandoned that digitall sound after year 2000.this days his sound is much raw

Prince is an overall better guitarist, but Eric is definitely up there.

williammelvinhicks said:

I've never liked that 90's sound of his either. Like the raw stuff better. Now with that saying....doesn't mean i don't like great guitarist's using digitally processed stuff. ALA PAT METHENY.

prince's sound from rave un2 joy fantastic was digital,syntetisaized.
now days he most of the time have 2 turbo boss distortions on.
raw sound is back.

Why don't you listen to some piano albums for a change?

calldapplwondery83 said:

erm who said we don't? it was a question about guitar playing, so we're discussing.....guitar playing. you can listen to more than one type of music y'know.
if you wanna talk piano i absolutely love the piano rehearsal from '84, in particular 17 Days and International Lover. and the clavi playing on Strange Relationship from the Valium gig is pretty good.

not only i listen to piaano,i play piano as well.
i don't know but prince's piano playing is ok to me,but i think he realy shines on guitar.

I was just poking some fun at the banished one because Prince sang about him on TRC... uh, no, because he made ANOTHER guitar thread.

i hear ya, heh heh.

They are both great players and I think records probably don't show everything they can do.

People still don't believe Prince plays guitar as well as he does.

We play "Purple Rain" sometimes and the clubowner asked me if Prince really played the guitar on that. (An old "southern gentleman"guy if you know what I mean.)

I'm like "Man, Prince plays all the instruments on his albums. He sings, produces and writes all the music.

He just looked at me with a "gosh golly gee whiz"look and said "Oh" and walked off.

I think Eric in his heart likes to play bluesy guitar but in different idioms to keep it interesting.

After Cream (and Blind Faith) he went through an "anti guitar hero" period where he wanted to play less but say more with fewer notes like BB King or JJ Cale.

And he was trying different stuff like trying out reggae and country-ish songs and letting the second guitar player in his band play as many solos.

Ever since Behind The Sun and the Live Aid period up until now he started playing more in the style that everyone likes.

I think his playing on the Crossroads DVD is good and his tone is nice.

I like his playing with the Gibson with humbuckers back in Cream but his Strat tone on his solos sounds fatter and better than it did for the past few years.
[Edited 2/1/05 8:48am]

Call me crazy but I just can't get a big rubbery one about htat whole English blues thing with Clapton, Page, and sometimes Jeff Beck. I'm a guitarist but people talk about these guys like they're the be all end all of guitar playing. Not to say that they dont' have merit but.....having said taht I think Prince is a much tastier player. He reminds me of Miles' Kind Of Blue period, just plays great licks that combine melody AND power. I think that's the biggest challenge is getting those two things together.

Eric CLaptopn Brazilian licks and chords sucks. It sounds like brazilian kids playing brazilian guitar. amateurish.

And as a matter of fact, Eric Clapton is the most overrated guitar player i have ever heard.

PBS in the last few weeks has been showing a Clapton guitar concert.

Eric Clapton is awful!! Did he have a stroke that we dont know about OR is he a drunk? Because he is terrible at playing guitar! He isn't even average. Watch his special you will agree.

He played "While my Guitar".. and it was a train wreck! He was all choppy, sloppy & just plain sucked! It sounded like if you taught me guitar today and I never pick up the interstrument before. IF you taught me today, within 8 months I'd play that song better then Eric Clapton.

Eric Clapton was asked in an interview "How it felt to be the greatest guitarist?" Eric Clapton laughed and said "I don't know, you would have to ask Prince". I can't remember the magazine or the interview but look this up, it is true.

any of u non belivers heard my father eyes live from reptile tour?

Prince is fantastic. I do hear Zappa in his playing sometimes.

Mrok said:

U BETTA REMEMBER DUDE!

Can't they both be great in their own right?
BTW my fave Prince solo is on "Could never take the place of your man"

Im no guitar expert I dont know much about technique etc - but what I do know is that when Prince plays guitar I get goosebumps. So I would have to say Prince.

rudeboynpg said:

True THAT !!

guitarslinger44 said:

You are kidding, right ? All 3 of these guys are extraordinary guitarists.

Go buy these CDs and give them a serious listening :

Clapton : "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs"
Beck: "Truth" (or "Blow by Blow" )
Page: "Physical Graffiti"

The difference between these guys and Prince (who's an excellent guitarist, BTW) is that these guys are guitar players , first and foremost. Prince is mainly a singer.songwriter, entertainer who plays a mean guitar as well .

The one thing I can agree with about Clapton is that in recent years his playing lacks a bit of the fire of his early days. But that may be because he's trying to adopt to different styles outside of pure blues, which is his true medium . But listen to him on "Disraeli Gears" or "John Mayall's Bluesbreakers" , and you'll hear a brilliant guitar player at his peak

jjhunsecker said:-The one thing I can agree with about Clapton is that in recent years his playing lacks a bit of the fire of his early days. But that may be because he's trying to adopt to different styles outside of pure blues, which is his true medium . But listen to him on "Disraeli Gears" or "John Mayall's Bluesbreakers" , and you'll hear a brilliant guitar player at his peak

i totaly disagre with you,check eric clapton reptile tour dvd or crossroud dvd eric clapton again plays with fire like a young player.
he again uses lots of distortion and feedback.

williammelvinhicks said:

in what way?