tonyat said:

I forgot about that. It is pretty good.

I've kept my eye on this thread for a while. I was going to start a thread just like this, talking about particular songs that highlight him as a piano player.

The first time he heard him play a song with the piano as the main instrument was when he did "The Beautiful Ones" in Purple Rain when I saw the movie the first time.
When I saw that, I didn't know that Prince played piano (maybe I forgot that I saw him do so in the video for "Diamonds & Pearls" in midst of all those videos I was watching of his b4 I got a single album)
and as I listened to that song, I was blown away. He made it sound incredible.

Other great uses of him on piano include:

The Beautiful Ones
Condition of the Heart
Pop Life (not sure if he was the one playing the keys, though )
The Dance
Somewhere here on Earth

his piano tracks are usually his contemporary tracks and I have somewhat of a weakness for the sound of a grand piano

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

you have ONA piano?

Flowers2 said:

I do not... but its one I've had in the back of my mind. I figure I might like it cuz I enjoy his piano tracks so much. I once saw ONA Live! at a Best Buy, but it was over $50 plus we were on vacation at the time. Wasn't gonna explain that "souvnier" to my folks.
I'm not sure which of the two ONA sets I'd consider if I could find them

I prefer him as a Pianist to a Guitarist.

'dre

don't forget "How come you don't call me!"

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

Prince, in my opinion, is quite overrated as a piano player.

I'm a professional pianist and teacher, and it sounds to me like Prince is missing a lot of basic skills. His harmonic knowledge is way less than some people seem to think it is;
his technique is uneven; and his mastery of different styles is quite poor compared to what he can do on guitar.

Or let me put it like this: Prince has the skills to be a competent session player on both guitar and bass, but he's nowhere near that level on keyboards.
While he can play certain things incredibly well, there are also some really basic things that I suspect he simply can't do.

What he does have, however, is a unique style of his own. I think much of that actually comes from working around his limitations, instead of learning what you're "supposed to" play.
And of course there's nothing wrong with that - if he feels he has the necessary skills to convey what he wants to convey, then it's just fine.

Although, if you ask me, I have a feeling Prince is not really happy with his keyboard playing at all times. I think you can hear it in his touch - sometimes he doesn't really dig into the notes, but plays very light and "feathery", which sounds to me like he's not really sure of what notes to play. Almost like he knows he's really faking, but hopes that noone will notice.

...whereas on guitar, he is always confident. His touch is accurate and uncompromising, and even when he's actually out on a limb sometimes, he knows he masters the instrument well enough to be able to cover up for every mistake he might make. On piano, he doesn't really have that.

Hey, I'm satisfied, that's what counts to me.

RealMusician said:

I agree with a lot of this - but I think he's actually an overrated GUITARIST personally.

See your opinion on his guitar skills is of one coming from a master of Piano, not Guitar, so I think a guitarist (or any of the other Rock instruments P. plays) would have a not too dissimilar approach to yours.

However, I believe U don't need to be a Dr. John or Jerry Lee Lewis and annihilate the keys to get your point across to the consumer.

Prince plays what he knows and does it very well.
Being a multi-instrumentalist is likely to come with the phrase

"Jack Of All Trades - Master Of None"

In prince's case, I think this much is definitely true - BUT he has mastered all he needs to know.

I think that to judge Prince in particular as a musician - U'd have to get the opinion of a multi-instrumentalist. Once U start homogenising, the pedantics kick in.

'dre

RealMusician said:

Very interesting. Can you give us examples of songs on which is playing is less than confident?

Prince is neither an amazing guitarist nor an amazing piano player, but he has a very strong personality on both instruments unlike many of the sharper professional players. And personality is what matters ultimately. I find him amazing for that.

And do not forget that even Miles Davis developed his personality out of his limitations (he could never play as fast as Dizzy Gillespie, which largely explains the "birth of the cool"....)

I'm a pianist too. That was my instrument in college. I am not skilled with the greated classical ability but I can hear when someone puts emotion into there music, and Prince does.

i like his piano playing, however i wish he would b more on a actual piano than the keyboard type of piano sound he has used whether in the studio or live. the electric piano's and such he has used on tour imo doesn't give him the right type of sound as a true grand piano would.

LizaWoman08 said:

Co-sign. I wish I could play like him (around his limitations my ass). I think about the little piano interlude on the LoveSexy tour where he went all classical for a moment dressed like Mozart and I have to smile. He's an excellent piano player considering he's self taught and plays by ear. That's just natural talent. I don't know how many times I've read that the piano solo portion of his performances are the best part, I'm just glad I got to see and hear it last year.

Lovesxy piano interlude is the best!!

Where it starts raining and P jumps on the piano!

Aaaaaahhhhh


da best!

I love listening to Prince on piano.

Anxiety said:

what else has claire fischer done???

he's ill on the guitar no doubt but i agree his piano playing is just to beautiful ..wish more of his songs now-a-days could be more piano based

Tame said:

I could listen 2 Prince play the piano all day long.
As far as skillz go, I really don't know, I'd have to talk with Dino, and ask his opinion.

Darwintheorgangrinder said:

I was there freezing my a off outside.

i swear 'one night alone' is without doubt the best cure 4 PMT. should be availble on prescription..

[Edited 10/11/08 18:21pm]

RealMusician said:

No disrespect and I'm not saying you are incorrect but I'm always very very skeptical of musicians opinions. I am a musician and realize how much jealousy and envy skews opinions. I've gotten rid of several teachers when they couldn't face the fact that i might be better than them as a result. The thinking "why him" which is rampant with musicians but to which no one will cop. Anyway, prince is a fine pianist. Like any pianist he has certain things he does well and others that he doesn't do as well. ONA has some fantastic stuff on it. I don't sense any of that light touching (which I've done at times) in P's playing. Also, he does have a harmonic knowledge, either instinctively or learned that goes beyond what most Pop musicians will exhibit. Now you know how seldom we get a variety of the chord structures with a pop artist that we do with Prince. The other people here may not know, but if you are a pianist you will recognize the beauty of his gospel chords, the complexity of some of his jazz chords and how they are not all that common in popular music. So, i'd rebut your statements this way although I would agree and I know that Prince would and has stated that he is not the keyboardist that a guy like Renato is. Still all things considered, he is phenomenal on piano considering all the other skills he has had to master.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

People forget that the piano was the first instrument he taught himself to play. Well ... his first instrument. In my opinion he plays piano better than he plays guitar. I love the songs you mentioned, especially Condition Of The Heart and The Dance, but don't When The Lights Go Down and his live renditions of Dorothy Parker.

mozfonky said:

Really, for me, this has nothing to do with my personal taste. I actually love most of what Prince has done, from an artistic and emotional point of view. The opinions I've expressed here are rather a judgment of skills and craftmanship, where I have tried to be as objective as possible, based on what knowledge I might possess.

And I definitely think that, all emotional aspects aside, Prince's pure skills on piano are nowhere near the level people seem to think they are.

It's not so much about what we've heard him do - it's more what we actually haven't heard, but give him credit for anyway. People tend to say "Oh, Prince could play anything...jazz, classical...no problem, he's a genius!" etc. But the truth is, we have never heard him do those things. Some people maybe think they have - but there's a big difference between playing some random major 7th arpeggios and the Waldstein Sonata; a big difference between playing an Eb minor pentatonic scale on a funk vamp and John Coltrane improvising on "Moment's Notice".

And again, this has nothing to do with taste. I'm just talking about skills and complexity. And from that viewpoint, Prince doesn't impress me that much as a piano player, I'm sorry. I actually don't find his gospel chords that remarkable, neither are his jazz voicings particularly complex - Stevie Wonder is way ahead of him in that area, for instance (and most jazz musicians, in turn, are way ahead of Stevie Wonder...)

Still, I like Prince's piano playing very much. I'm just not impressed by it.

RealMusician said:

Stevie was probably the best in the field as far as having distinctive chordings. not a fair comparison. I think Prince must have done some learning from his jazz father and his great teacher in h.s. as well as in church to play some of the stuff he has. He may not be as good as some people think he is but he's far from not knowing what the hell he's doing.

dseann said:

I heard that it was the first instrument he learned how to play and I always forgot that

And I haven't heard the songs you mentioned that I supposedly "forgot" to mention

I'm sure there are plenty of other songs I love for his piano work, but the ones I mentioned are among the ones I remember most.

mozfonky said:

I hear a classical influence along with what you mentioned in his style of play as well.

mozfonky said:

I hear a classical influence along with what you mentioned in his style of play as well.