I don't know the first thing about playing, but I do know that Prince always sounds good to me! I know there are other great players, I'm sure some you are...

Just interested in hearing some of your thoughts on why you think he's one of the greatest?

Thanks!

One thing is that P has many influences. He grew up obviously listening to several different guitarists so that broadened his scope. He fused what he liked together and went from there. Another thing is P is a good arranger of solos. He knows how to structure a solo. He knows where and when to blaze and when to sustain.

He also has the ability(actually very rare among players) to make you feel what emotion he is trying to display, with his Solos. I swear, I have felt like I was flying during some of his best Solos.

blackguitaristz said:

I knew I'd get the breakdown, thanks!

Bishop31 said:

I compeletely agree about the emotions.....

blackguitaristz said:

I agree with what BG is saying about Prince having many influences. I hear elements of funk/R&B, rock, blues, and even some jazz in his playing.

Prince definitely knows how to solo, but don't forget about his rhythm playing. He can go from clean funky guitar to crunchy power-chord rock or whatever else he wants to do.

He's good on acoustic guitar, too. I liked the acoustic set he did at the Musicology shows and the duet he did w/Wendy on the Tavis Smiley show.

I don't play guitar, I'm not allowed to answer...but he looks like he knows greatness personally.

And seeing as that I also have exquisite taste, If Prince isn't the greatest, why have I been buying his records all these years? huh?

Tame said:

For a non player like me, that was a great answer!

DerekH said:

I didn't even think about the acoustic playing. Thanks for bringing that up. Yeah, I think everyone at the Muscicology concert liked/loved it. Just another example of his versatility.....

blackguitaristz said:

My question is: is there a way to tell what guitar Prince was using on his songs or during a certain era?

I love his versatility as a guitarist, which has been a major influence on the way I play. He can jump from Rock to Funk to Blues to Jazz to some experimental shit. And that's another thing I like too. He experiments with different sounds and textures on his guitars using different pedals and effects. Everything from wah-wah to chorus to flanger to distortion to whatever.

Another major thing about him is that he plays with what few guitarists play with: SOUL! You can feel the soul and emotion coming out of those notes and melodies he plays in his solos. He's making his guitar sing to you when he plays, and it fucking RAAAAWWWWWKKKSSSS!!!

It's been a dream of mine to jam with Prince so that maybe he can teach me something.

madhouseman said:

I can't tell exactly just from listening, but his main guitar has been the Telecaster (Hohner) for most of his career. Lately he's also been using Fender Strats and he still uses the "symbol" guitar sometimes.

I have noticed some similarities between the "cloud", "Symbol", and some of his Fender Strats: They all have the same pickup design. He likes a single-coil pickup at the neck and a humbucker at the bridge. I think this is so he can go from a bright clean tone from the neck pickup for the funk and a heavier tone at the bridge for the rock sound.

I think he's got at least one Strat that has a tremolo bar, but most of his guitars don't have one.

P also knows how to use his effects sparingly. I love his flange setting and when he uses the octave divider he makes it sound like a church organ. I always dug the way he plays against the notes while using delay. He's the real reason why I use BOSS effects.

Thanks for all of the repsonses! Those of us that don't play, recognize some of the things that you professionals are saying, and I'm sure you can really recognize it because you know the technical side of things.....