hopw does prince play the guitar without strumming..during the halftime show and other events he would play the guitar at times without strumming like as if there is a 10 second delay before he goes back 2 strumming...u guys ever notice that?

mwilli said:

im not quite sure, but i know its possible because if seen it done before. something about down playin or something i dunno im outta my field here. but its mentioned in the game guitar hero as well. you can play frets without actually strumming..comes in handy too

Experienced guitar players (and bass players) can do this. (I don't play guitar but i'm in a band)....


I think it only works on electric.....the fretboard determines the note anyway so by pressing it a certain way you make the note ring out without strumming.

you can stop the ringing by "muting" the string by lifting up your finger but still keeping it on the string.

My guitar player was showing me James Brown chords and someone told me later that was "finger muting"

Yep. Also, hammering on/pulling off. If you use a lot of distortion (like prince does sometimes) you can play without actualy strumming and just pressing the string hard enough. When Prince used this guitar


he was known to play entire solos without strumming.

the tehniq prince use to do that is called leggato tehniq.
many times you can hear and c prince do leggato.and the notes are very clear.
that tehnique manifests as he creates notes by hard pressing of his fingers of the left hand without his right hand.
this tehnique is used by many players.

Volitan said:

I talked with the luthier that repaired Prince Auerswald and he said that the action was so high on it that it was a huge challenge to play. This may account for Prince only using the guitar for a short time, and his use of hammer-on's with this axe.