In the movie Crossroads the bad guy was “Jack Butler” aka Steve Vai, and his boss’ name was “Scratch”. That is who you sign you name away to at the Crossroads.

Jack Butler aka Steve Vai plays a metallic red Sandimas Charvelle with Floyd rose tremolo through Carvin Amplifiers. Prince plays Fender and doesn’t look anything like Jack Butler. Not to mention he uses Soldano Amps, and his specialty guitars are made by Schecter. The only likeness is the Floyd rose tremolo on Prince’s Daphine Blue Strat.

Lightning Boy Martone plays a Tele much like Prince’s but not with tinted maple.

Prince would be more like Lightning Boy Martone than Jack Butler.

GangstaFam said:

Virtuoso: A person who has a general or broad interest in the arts and sciences; savant or dilettante. A person displaying great technical skill in some fine art, esp. in the art of music. A person learned in the arts or sciences; scholar.


My initial reaction to this question was yes because I realize that Prince has an open mind to learning other people’s music, can create his own music, thinks outside of the box when he plays. . . all the things we know about Prince the guitar player.

But then within the definition itself there are the words “technical skill (how you hold the guitar, sit/stand with the guitar, finger positioning), and then scholar”. There are so many musicians out there who have gone to major schools and are so technical they are like robots with their instruments. They will never be heard of but they are the virtuoso’s.

I have been watching someone with a college background in music learn Prince song’s in the past couple of months. Every once in awhile he will look up smiling and say “You are not supposed to do it like this”, “That is backwards to everything I was taught in school”.

Maybe Prince is more like a music inventor who doesn’t conform to the man and his rules.

Prince is a very good guitar player. I've been trying to copy runs of his for decades.

But, "virtuoso," in my opinion, is better reserved for someone whose playing has had a bit more impact on guitar playing. Players such as Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Yngvie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson, Django Reinhardt and George Benson seem best honored by such a label.

I would put Prince in a second tier of excellent players whose sense of phrasing and style are uniquely impressive -- even if their technique and scope aren't as radically affecting. Along with Prince, I'd put Birelli Lagrene, Eric Clapton, Phil Keaggy and Jesse Johnson (though, Phil and Jesse honestly would fit into that virtuoso category. They're both that good).

allstatenorthside said:

I think that's like looking so closely at the details you miss the big picture. To me, Steve Vai has a resemblance to Prince from around the Lovesexy concert era, with the long black hair, vest top and black trousers. And some of the expressions and poses he pulls are similar to Prince's. However, Crossroads was made in '86 and Lovesexy was '88 so of course there was no intention to look like Prince - it just happened to remind me of him.

muirdo said:

Slash

metalorange said:

Your eye is very good, Metalorange! Like one of the previous replies to your post stated, Prince made a big impression on Steve Vai...not just as a guitarist, but as a musical artist. Keep in mind that Steve worked for Frank Zappa and then David Lee Roth after Dave split ways with Eddie Van Halen. When asked who he most wanted to work for next after leaving DLR he said "Prince" of course....I remember because after I read that I was no longer embarrassed to admit that I liked Prince. In fact, I felt vindicated!!!

.....

prince have limited tehniq??? are you crazy???
prince uses all the tehniqs other popular players use,except for tapping.
prince is a virtuoso in his own class and he is much much better then clapton.

thebanishedone said:

Tapping, sweep picking, whammy bar control, pinch harmonics... haven't really seen Prince doing much with these... I agree he's better technically than Clapton, but Clapton also has limited technique.

no way slash is better then prince,prince is much better.
for example go to chic live in budocan 1996.

slash is guest star on le freak and stone free.he played one of the worst solos i ever heard on a le freak.he totaly missed the point.
imagine what prince would have done on le freak.
nile rogers didnt need slash because nile is better soloist(check savoir faire)

slash only plaays tehnics caracterisic for blues,he is limited.he only plays pentatonic.
prince plays various tehnics stacato,
legatto,bending,picking,arpegio,he uses scales like pentatonic,major minor,jazz,modes,chromatic.

i see that a lot of you who say his tehnic is limited dont know nothing about playing of prince.
the only reason prince is not a guitar hero is because of his image and ability to see music beyond instrument.

whammy bar control, pinch harmonics-prince do that.
he only dont do tapping.

GangstaFam said:

p.s.hope your feeling better each day my dear one

GangstaFam said:

Yeah, I can't believe I made it as far as this post. Anyway, what MetalOrange says is correct.
And about rhythm guitar, Prince is a far better than EVH. He's a better all around musician.
Some people only look for the tricks, though (in one key, at that).

About "Virtuoso"...better not get into that one. It would be the "Genius" thread all over again".
Parker is virtuoso, EVH, pop/rock virtuoso, maybe.

I thought Prince did tapping in the 'When Doves Cry' intro (i don't know what he was tapping the frets with though - probably his tongue).

apart from that, i've never heard him tap/sweep live on bootlegs. That is definitely a technique you have to practice to improvise on live. I just don't think Prince feels that style (mechanical) is close to his heart.

Prince has used tapping before
Prince is not a guitar virtuoso
Prince has yet to put out any album to support this claim
He has yet to release a full album that showcases his playing ability
so no he is not u guys get on here and cry about lil Princey cause he gets no love on the axe, while there are guys much better that get no love
give me a break, Prince gets enough love
but he is not a guitar virtuoso
If he was, he would not have recorded Fury the way it is

pennylover said:

thank you.

workingupahiyellasweat said:

So you don't rate Purple Rain as a guitar rock album? Does that not showcase his guitar playing?

What about The Truth acoustic guitar album, have you heard it? Does that not show another aspect to Prince's guitar playing?

What about The Undertaker album?

What about Prince's guitar solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps? Have you seen it? Do you think it doesn't show Prince's Skill? Do his live performances such as the Brits have no weight with you, only recorded material? What about his performance of Fury on SNL?

Sounds to me like you will only be happy when Prince releases an ENTIRE album of him doing wailing guitar solos and NOTHING else. But of course he's too versatile for that level of simplicity.

metalorange said:

Wow, I don't think anyone said Prince wasn't a dazzling guitarist. "While My Guitar..." was an exciting performance, but I don't think it was necessarily jaw-dropping as solos go. A lot of theatrics (funny faces, "falling" off the stage), but not a killer solo. I'd say the same about "Fury."

If anything, the days when his solos astounded me seem to have past. Haven't been floored since ONAL's "Joy in Repetition."

ThreadBare said:

I agree with this. Prince has a very distinctive style and he's a great player... but when someone sees a virtuoso, they'll be thinking... "I didn't know that was possible."... I wouldn't put Prince in that category... nor would I put Santana or Eric Clapton into that category... they fall into the second tier...
[Edited 6/15/06 17:12pm]

Make it stop!

thebanishedone said:

I'm gonna trust Michael B's word and my own ears on this one.

when did he tapping? prince?
so was hendrix a virtuoso or just an inovator on instrument ?????
i mean his tehnic was realy good but not much better then other ppl fron that time.
he wasn't the fastest,his pieces can be played,thought without that feeling he had.

SDNafka said:[quote]

Rockability said:

I know the part you're talking about, its nice playing but the couple of fast runs he does aren't that tricky (even I can play them) and he actually fucks up at the end of one of them and gives up on the flashy stuff. The stuff he does play is really tasteful though." - quote





Prince fucks up perhaps by over-muffling. I wouldn't say it was fucked up, in fact I would like to see you post yourself playing it on youtube or something. Yeah, its a challenge (I'll eat my words if you prove yourself). And.... BTW, Prince can play much better than George Benson, although George was pretty good.
[Edited 6/15/06 23:51pm]

ThreadBare said:

Well, that wasn't THAT long ago, was it?

Rockability said:

calldapplwondery83 said:

Well, I was being generous. One run in that solo floors me.

wtf a virtuoso is some one who plays hard classical music,
my jaw will drop the day Prince decideds to release some Bach covers.
Prince is a wonderful Rhythm guitarist, who goes up their with jeff beck,
His soloing skills are great NOW, because he's developed it and nurtured it through the years. and he's what i call a melodic soloist, in the style of Carlos Santana; using shredding techniqes like exotic bends.
Prince concentrates more on melodic accuracy than speed,
but he is fast, no doubt about it

Ronny said:

so wat he did @ the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame 2004 wasnt showing off.....he showed off big time and i loved it!! he completed overshadowed everyonelse including Tom Petty. LOL, i can watch it over again.

muirdo said:

By some bizarrely strange coincidence, Crossroads was on last night, on ITV4 - and I missed it again! Aaargh!

Anyways, technically the term 'virtuoso' tends to only be used for classical musicians who are extremely good on their chosen instrument, and yet make them do funk instead of classical they'd be a fish out of water. I take the everyday usage of 'virtuoso' to just mean someone who is extremely good at what they do, and in that case of course Prince is extremely good on guitar. He might not show off every guitar skill ever invented, but does anyone seriously doubt that he couldn't do anything on guitar if he put his mind to it? That he couldn't do fast runs and tapping if he wanted?

People seem to think he has improved greatly in recent years - which I'm sure is true - however he had all the skills to nail Purple Rain back on that tour and he still plays it very similarly, it just didn't need improving.
[Edited 6/16/06 7:41am]