For the musicians out there.I have a question about Prince's way of calling out certain "key signatures" to his band during live performances.For example on certain boots I'll hear him say "take me in to B-FLAT" or "wegas in F" I can hear the difference when when he plays with wind instruments but if it's just a drummer and keyboardists I don't notice the "change" for the lack of a better word.I guess with trupets and saxs the sound is more overt.Does the drummer just play more subtler when a different key is called?

He doesn't often call out a change in key midsong. As for "Vegas in F", that just means, hold a tone (F in this case) for a longer time. I makes sense that you wouldn't hear a keychange, because more then likely there simply isn't one.

That B-flat you mentioned, I only recall Cloreen Baconskin for that one. I'm not sure it's a call for a key change though!

A key change doesn't really affect the drummer...



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[Edited 3/25/08 14:43pm]

As far as "vegas, (insert key)", it just means a certain kind of ending, and he may have his band prepared 4 several keys, as they should be.

The "certain kind of ending" I speak of above, in that case, is a powerful sustained ending, played fortissimo, with or without a crescendo.

When he calls a change, and/or simply says, "stay in 'A'", it probably means it wasn't rehearsed that way, and on a whim, he wants 2 vamp on the head, bridge, etc.
[Edited 3/25/08 14:40pm]

I agree with the above. Prince likes to jam, improvise, and try new and different things. When he calls out different instructions to the band, he's letting them know where he wants to go and/or what he wants to play around with a bit longer. Of course you'll see him do this type of thing a lot more during the after shows where he's often just letting loose and having fun with the band and crowd.

kindofblue7 said:

This is the only question you put forward in your 'Technical question' thread. I can't believe you wanted to ask this, or think this is a 'technical question'. What did you actually wanted to know?

Sander said:

I think it's a fair question, really.

REAL Drums and percussion instruments cant change their tuning during a live performance..
Guitars..Keys..Horns..Basses..can change keys..a simple way to break it down for you is...Look.....


Do you see on the far left of the neck where it starts at the top with an E ?
well..if you moved that down 1 space it would be an F..one more it would be an F#
one more it would be a G one more a G#..one mo`re an A one more a Bb
when Prince is telling people to groove in Bb thats what he means..the groove could be played in any Key.."THERE ARE 12 keys" if you notice the #12 on the far left you will see that the Keys repeat from the 12th fret/BOX..thats just the same thing but an octave/HIGER in PITCH..
If he calls for vegas in E,,he simply means Play the Big Ending of the song *the long last chord before he says THANK YOU GOODNIGHT In E..it could be played in any Key..*of the 12 choices..thats all it means...

Sander said:

Fuck dude, don't be so special and pretentious - it seems like a fair question - maybe you should concentrate on your European tour, you obvious superstar!....

FlamingRaindrop said:

Hehe. Check the top of the page. If the original poster wanted to ask the drum question, why would he write all the stuff about the way Prince calls out key changes, Vegas, and B-flat? So I'm guessing he wanted to know more. That's why I wrote my first reply. After rereading it, I noticed there was only this drummer question, which I think is rhetoric.

If not, then I hope prettymanssons elaborate reply did help out. I really hope so.

Sander said:

Now that I'm looking back on my original post I'm thinking ALL of you were correct.I didn't really pose a question.Maybe one about the drummer.That being said I appreciate the responses to what I ulktimately was getting at.