Hey Guys,
I was curious about the content of prince's numerous songbooks. Many people I have talked to said that Prince is an amazing musician. With that being said, Im curious how useful these songbooks are? Is the sheet music written by prince? Are they true to the songs on the albums or are they shortened to the point of just a simple melody on one page ( ive seen some artists do that).
Since prince, tinkers with his songs so much i understand that it may be hard for the songs to be rpelicated exactly in in just one piece of sheet music. Overall, Im curious about the usefulness of the sheet music to those who have and attempted playing the pieces. Thanks~

Magus500 said:

They are typical of album songbook transcriptions.

Prince didn't transcribe them.

They are useful for playing the song on guitar or keyboard. The album songbooks usually cover the full recorded song on the album rather than present the composition on one single page with just the melody line and some sggested chords above.

However, they are not completely faithful transcriptions of the song as recorded i.e. they are not the note for note transcriptions sometimes produced in specialist musician magazines.
.

Well, do they usually cover the solos in the tracks?

Not typically, unless there's not a lot else going on in the song (for instance, 'It' had that little solo transcribed, 'cause there was nothing much else to write). However, if you can find the book Purple Rain: Off the Record, I highly recommend it. It has every line transcribed for each instrument, even drums, and even gives gear tips for trying to capture the sound accurately. Highly recommended reading.

I see,
ANy ideas where to find purple rain off the record?

eyewishuheaven said:

Yep, I have that one!

I rmember seeing it in college in a used record store..... .damn I wish i bought it!!! At the time i couldn't afford it.

Now i can and can't find one.