oh and of course the great guitar work on TRC & TGE.

Rhythm
Jimi gets C
Prince gets A- -quote

Ah hell no!!! Band of Gypsies only had 1 guitar player. There is something to be said for playing lead and rhythm at the same time.
http://www.youtube.com/wa...1UMqsTTnkE

I hear Prince mention this a lot and I believe it to be very true. He plays guitar(or any other soloing instrument to an audience-solo/entire performance) like he is making live. And not the bang bang bang imma get ya preggo love. Those long near torturous love making sessions. I've heard it referred to as edging, but that was from a gay friend and i don't know exactly what he was trying to imply or say but I have an idea. He start his solo off slow and deliberate. From then he will slowly build to a good high point and edge back, scoot forward, edge back over and over using various techniques/riffs until he gets to the end and lets the solo explode. The Ride from crystal ball is a GREAT example of this as well as the RRHOF. Often when I listen to Jimi's solo's I get a long session of frenetic bang bang bang bang solo sounds without the builds. Sure he's fucking his girl nice and hard for a REAL long time...but many women might tell you that is not only frustrating, but boring as well. People I find to be good at the build and release and build and release technique is Stevie Ray Vaugh and Eric Clapton and Goerge Harrison as well. Also the guy who played with Eric on Layla....an Allman Brother I think...lemme know. Lenny gets it right Live sometimes too....but he needs some practice.

Rockability said:

Little Wing is maybe the best example of rhythm/lead style that he popularized & people are still copying. And it has nothing to do with distortion or playing with your teeth.

This is one area I compare Jimi & Prince. People focus too much on their lead playing and not enough on the background stuff that probably comprises more of their playing.

Jimi gets special note for the way he carried so much of the musical weight with his playing. Prince has always had greater band support (even if he WAS the band )
[Edited 10/18/07 13:15pm]

yxl1 said:[quote]I dont think Prince is a great soloist on the guitar. Although I like the mood he creates with his solos (the sustained first note with a little bend, and then throw in a pentatonic riff) I think he's quite average.
His rhythm playing is what makes him stand out from the crowd. I think even Jimi would have problems keeping up with Princes rhythm chops. Its not just the way Prince plays the chops, its WHAT he plays. Even songs with very little guitar (Like SOTT) sparkle when he knocks out the riff.

The man is a master of Rhythm and a student of lead

Solo
Jimi gets B+
Prince gets C-

Rhythm
Jimi gets C
Prince gets A-

I should add that Matt Bellamy from Muse beats both of these guys hands down!

this cats on drugs, have u read interviews of matts, prince is is biggest guitar idol, prince is the graetest coz of his style, its fuckin mint..he plays the guitar like its part of his body, the mugs on hear saying prince aint a goos solist or on some form of smack! been playing for 12 years, prince is simply the best and without doubt, the coolest playe4r around..if he was in a room with any of the greats he could replicate on the spot anything they produced..hes simply that good

weejimmy said:

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

MajesticOne89 said:

This topic is baby that just can't be put to bed.

Once & for all I'd wish that some of the posters wouldn't so be caught up on the issue of technical proficiency. Technique is just that..technique. It's a means to an end. Wether you have a vocabulary of 5 notes or 1000 isn't important to me as long as the end result is good music.

The issue of Prince's greatness is debatable. It basically come down to one's personal taste. I think that trying to dissect his playing on a purely technical level is silly. Bottom line, do you like what you're hearing?

Technique is a tool it's not music! Anyways, I'll take any of his playing up till around 1986. The idea's just seem fresher to me. Not that he's been god awful since then, it's just the period I responded the most to. I heard a bunch of praise here for some of the material on his bootlegged live shows but this stuff isn't readily available. If I hear one more comment about the small club(?) set I'm gonna smack somebody! LOL!

Why so much hate for his Rave period especially his performance on the dvd? In my opinion Prince & The Revolution Live was a real train wreck by comparison. His guitar tone was crumby for the most part. I thought the entire audio for that set was a hot mess! I did enjoyed the extended version of Purple Rain. Thats about it though.
[Edited 10/25/07 10:36am]

Definitely the baby that can't be put to bed!

It all comes down to personal taste, since some people will tell you Steve Vai does nothing for them, and you can't get much more accomplished, technically.

Some state that Prince moves them emotionally, and I might agree. But I've also been moved by complete unknowns who were playing blues at a local bar.

The only real criticism I'll level at Prince is that he hasn't really created anything new on the guitar. Jimi created more than perhaps anyone else. Eddie Van Halen created something. Charlie Christian created something. Chuck Berry created something. Prince might be able to duplicate many things, and even play powerful emotional music, but he hasn't really created anything new guitar-wise. He's working within boundaries that were set up by (who I believe to be) greater, more influential, guitar players.

Now, overall music is another story. I'll take Prince over Van Halen, any day!

The guitar is such an overrated instrument and this debate is getting tiresome.
It all boils down to personal preference so quit yer bitchin'
[Edited 10/22/07 12:14pm]

FuNkeNsteiN said:

You know the bass is a guitar, right?

NDRU said:

Bass guitar
Normal people still refer to it as the 'bass' and when people talk about 'guitar', they mean the instrument y'all are talking about. You know what I meant, stop being a bitch

RodeoSchro said:

Seriously. I saw him on Philly and realized...goddamn he's such a good guitarist! When he doesn't have to worry about singing, dancing, and all of the other things he usually does, AT THE SAME TIME, he plays a mean guitar.

If all he did was play guitar, people would really see how good he is.

FuNkeNsteiN said:

quit joining "tiresome" debates, bitch!!

NDRU said:

FuNkeNsteiN said:

So, how do you rate Prince as a bass player?

kstrat said:

prepare to smack me...the small club guitar playing is awesome!

on a hendrix note, prince played 'villanova junction' a couple of times at the aftershows in london recently, really surprised me, as the only times i've heard him even mention hendrix has been when an interviewer has brought it up first

NDRU said:

can you say 'let's work'?

cloudguitar said:

The breakdown before the final chorus is awsome!

I actually probably rate him higher as a bass player than a guitar player. He's near flawless on the bass. But again, he hasn't really broken new ground as a bass player. He's just really good at it.

NDRU said:

Too bad he rarely plays bass live, nowadays
Oh and, Let's Work definitely has a cool bassline

Ask Brian May what he thinks... he wrote a blog on his site after seeing Prince live- he seemed impressed, but maybe you're better than brian May and know better....?

skipper1958 said:

Just in case you cant find it...

**Wed 19 Sep 07**
AN ARTIST ROCKS

Well, I had a treat this weekend [Sunday 16 Sept]... I don't get out much recently, as you might know!

But this was not to be missed. Prince, the Artist. At the O2 arena.

Well, a great thing to see. I know about 400,000 other people who probably had the same feeling that I had ... it was a feeling of peeking in to watch a genius at work. To my mind, Prince really is that rarity, a work of art in itself. He actually just has to be there, doing what comes naturally to him, and he is endlessly fascinating. In fact, he is so much a part of his own act that I feel he is the embodiment of a paradox - it is as if, when a performer goes to the extreme of awareness of himself as an artist, he becomes, in a way, a thing of which he cannot be aware. We are then in a kind of voyeuristic position - we see him as something elemental - like watching a thunderstorm. It's impossible to find reasons for a lot of what Prince does, but it's all individual, and it's all HIM. Within his incredibly unusual stage persona, he produces, as if out of a hat, choreography, vocal gymnastics, sensuality, dazzling keyboard playing, and world-class guitar-playing - all splashed out with an apparently careless bravura, and much of it treading the dangerous line between the planned and the spontaneous. You could not really ask for better value for money ... the guy is every inch the real thing - a thing of quicksilver and gossamer, and pure rhythm - a free spirit of Rock. I have never met him, though our paths have come close. I have no idea how hard it could be to work with someone like this ... though he has a lot in common with Freddie, as far as I can tell. But I felt very lucky to see this piece of living art, a thing of beauty. Incidentally, one of his daring masterstrokes on the night I saw him was a version of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. The Artist, stap me, did Jimmy Page and Robert Plant all at once, with an easy confidence and effortless heaviness, and obviously huge affection, and we all got chills up the spine. Soon it will be possible for a lucky few to see the Mighty Zeppelin in the same arena, but the place is already echoing with the pre-echo of that moment, thanks to this diminutive Hendrix-James Brown-Stevie Wonder person ... a whole spectrum contained in one body.

Incidentally, the O2 arena, for my money, is everything London has needed for along time ... as a concert venue, it succeeds in every way that the sterile new Wembley Stadium fails so miserably ... sound, view, atmosphere, infrastructure, comfort, intimacy, sense of occasion ... all great. Finally a place with the energy potential of a Madison Square Garden. Prince had the whole place dancing; I'm sure Zeppelin will unleash a different physical reaction - I can almost hear the roar ....

Let's hope they get so fired up that they take the Great Ship around the world one more time.

Cheers
Bri

Some feedback HERE

© brianmay.com

FOLKS,ITS AS SIMPLE AS THIS,THERE IS OPINION IN MUSIC AND THERE IS RIGHT AND WRONG.PRINCE IS AN OUTSTANDING FUNK RHYTHM PLAYER,THE BEST YOU'LL HEAR AND AN AVERAGE LEAD PLAYER WHO SOMETIMES PLAYS A PRETTY CLASSY LEAD PART BUT THE REST OF THE TIME JUST AVERAGE AND THAT REALLY IS THE TRUTH AND NOT JUST OPINION.TRUST ME,I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT AND ANY REAL ACOMPLISHED VERSATILE PRO GUITARISTS OUT THERE WILL KNOW WHAT I MEAN.ANYONE DON'T SEE THAT AND I'M SORRY GUYS BUT YOU'RE STILL JUST LEARNING.HAVING SAID THAT,IF PRINCE WASN'T DOIN' EVERYTHING ELSE THAT HE DOES SO AMAZINGLY(VOCALS,PIANO,BASS,PERFOFMANCE,SONGWRITING,PRODUCING AND MORE) AND JUST CONCENTRATED ON GUITAR LIKE MOST OF THE BIG GUITARISTS,OH MY GOD,WE'D ALL BE IN TROUBLE!!!!!THE MAN IS A WALKING BALL OF TALENT AND I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW LUCKY WE ARE TO HAVE HIM IN OUR LIFETIME.

319aprilsnow said:

And there it is...

319aprilsnow said:

well, when you say it in caps lock, it must be true...

did you read the comment above yours? Would you describe Brian May as an 'Accomplished, Versatile, Pro Guitarist' or is he 'still just learning'

319aprilsnow said:

I agree mostly with this person. Especially about the part at the end where he says if prince were to concentrate on one instrument he would excellent. Instead he is good on many different things.

I also would like to stop people who insert in there comments. "Listen to what I am saying I am an expert", or "believe me when I tell you this becuase I am a professional musician" or "Believe you me I know what I am taling about"


Give me a F#$%ing break, list some credentials along with your bull shit statments. I never played professional football, but I have watched enough NFL to make good intelligent comments. And the same holds true for guitar playing.

So to all of you so called guitar players who think your comments hold more water because you can play "mary had a little lamb" on acoustic guitar save your high rated comments for another site only for guitar players
[Edited 10/23/07 16:56pm]

milesdavis33 said:

Prince has often stated his music is a gift from God and he doesn't plan on wasting it. He shares what he's got and for a lot of people that's more than plenty and they are grateful. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know he's often sloppy on the guitar but Rockability is missing the point. You shouldn't "technically" be looking at his art, like Tricky said, "I do nothing professionally I only do things 4 fun." I would always want to see P do his thing on guitar, especially live in concert, analyzing it is missing the point. It's hard to take a gift apart and technically critique it when you should merely appreciate. If you don't get it then you really don't get it.

rockability you got it wrong you said that prince have a pattern in the way he makes solos ,thats not true.
prince always listen backing band when he chooses what to play

rnr hall of fame solo isnt impressive in terms
o
f mindblowing tehniq.but its impressive
in other department note bending.
prince bended a lot of notes because music background was the best to bend notes.


rockability go listen to when doves cry solo,at the end of solo prince bends one notes but he picks second and third note.
try to play it i guarantee you you wont got it righ at first.especialy to bend one note other two pick in the fast tempo,
hat is more advanced and harder then just playing fast runs.

i must add also beside being funk guitar player number 1 99sorr nile rogers but prince is better)
prince is amazing lead guitar player.
when he playes lead guitar he know whats the most impoortant about solo.
to tell a story with it,build a monumentum.
the only period his lead guitar was lacking was during rave 2000 era

Rockability said:

[img] http://i7.photobucket.com...prince.jpg
[/img]
Don't know whether to stare at the unplugged guitar or the fuzzy inside thighs
[Edited 10/23/07 21:04pm]