name parts of prince songs which you find difficult to play

keyboard solo on "head"

when doves cry intro(it's not that hard but look how awful wendy done it live"

drums on everywhere

last december (very complicated"

I marvel at all of the voices on "7." I wonder how someone can do all of that. It's way beyond four-part harmony singing.

Parts of "Computer Blue" get pretty complicated, too, harmonic-wise.

And figuring out the chords to "Power Fantastic" was quite a chore.

As for the singing, my bass voice can hit the low stuff quite alright, but that head voice can get pretty high in some songs. He may not be Adam Lopez, but Prince has sure got some pretty wicked range.

"darling nikki" drums -- all live without programming -- one person

besides that, most everything
to be quite honest

i ain't heard a fan mix without a glitch
and i ain't heard the same or better from a fan imitating prince
sorry y'all
[Edited 8/18/05 22:27pm]

The synth solo near the end of When Doves Cry.

Snap said:[quote]"darling nikki" drums -- all live without programming -- one person


Are you sure? This is what Matt Fink says in an interview with Keyboard magazine:


Which songs were especially difficult to prepare for concert performances?
Fink: There have been several. The first one that gave me and Bobby Z a problem was "Darling Nikki" [from Purple Rain]. Actually, I shouldn't say that. For me it was easy; for Bobby it was hard, because the drums just go wild in the end section. It was a drum machine on the album. I don't remember how Bobby did it, but he had to do some technical modifications to' get his part to work

"Elephants & Flowers", on the other hand was all live, no sequencing, says Rosie Gaines in the same interview.

As for what´s hardest to play... well, the chords he uses are generally very hard to figure out. Most every transcription of his stuff I´ve seen is chock full of the weirdest chords. I don´t know if he originally wrote it that way, or if the editor of the sheet music has taken some liberties.


Karri

She's Always in my hair is a real bitch 2 play on the Didgeridoo

"777-93-11" on Bass, still can't play it

oops sorry it's not a Prince song


other stuff I have never tried but seems hard:
"Partyman" with Prince bass improvisation
The scream part on "Endorphinemachine" or "Now"
"Shh" on Drums !!!
[Edited 8/19/05 15:42pm]

Karri said:[quote]

Snap said:

That song just never sounded right live.

What's "hard" to play or not, really depends on who you are, doesn't it?

Personally, I think most of Prince's music is really pretty easy to play - that is, the instrumental parts are usually not that difficult, from a technical point of view. But then it's not just about executing the parts, you also have to lock with the others and be tight and funky...and that can be really hard!

In live performances, I would say that Prince's drummers and keyboard players have the toughest jobs, since they are constantly very busy - playing several parts at once, as well as triggering loops and samples. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the music is difficult in itself, it's just the level of activity.

Another aspect is this:

Many times when you've written a song yourself, you can play stuff that's much harder than you're really aware of... Since you've come up with it yourself, you have a clear conception of how it should sound, and you don't think about it being difficult. But when someone else tries to play the same thing, they find it's really hard.

Let's say there's a song with a drum part that Prince conceived and played himself. That drum part might actually be difficult for John Blackwell to play, even though he's really a much better drummer...the same way it would be hard for Prince to learn something that Blackwell (or someone else) came up with.

It's mostly about the mind, not the technical limitations...

It's not so much the recreation as the creation. Like the major chord backing vocals to Round & Round with minor lead vocals.

Or the line in Sometimes it Snows "...left me hypnotized, now staring at his picture I realize"

Or the horn lines in Rock Hard, Mad Sex, Billy Jack Bitch

Or making a dull song like Jam of the Jear exciting (how'd he do the last 30 or so seconds where the key suddenly changes out of nowhere)

Or in Now--"It's a dime as in dollars and that's my two bloody cents"

The "impossible" rhythm guitar in The Future

Any decent musician could recreate those things, but not think of them or make them as funky.

new position is somewhat hard..well the notes are easy to play its just you have to get the timming,which is really fast..

Last track of N.E.W.S is fucking hard to transcribe. I tried - there's loads hidden quietly in the background so finding keys is a bit of a nightmare.

Karri said:

I think when Matt says, "for me it was easy" he's talking about his part in playing "Darling Nikki" live: the synth lines... which in that song are mostly whole notes -- no prob there... but yeah, for Bobby it was definitely hard... the tom-toms, crash cymbals, bass drums, off-beat snare hits, etc. And the fact that anyone ever said this about "Darling Nikki" confirms what I've felt -- the drum part is hard to play live.

I don't remember reading this. Thanks for sharing.
[Edited 8/19/05 15:51pm]

Snap said:

Sounds like there's both live & machine drums. The fast kick drums at the end are pretty clearly machine, and the snare that starts the song, too.

LadyB0yCabDriver said: