Ive always been curious. Does anyone know how he learned, and how he got so good?

by picking one up and playing with it and learning his way around it ... i am sure his ears helped lots along the way..as he became quite good very quickly

I reckon he was born with it..... ouch!!
[Edited 3/27/09 15:41pm]

I was hoping for something slightly more specific.

Does anyone actually know?

In a past life...Prince designed it.

I think I heard a story years ago that his father initially introduced him to the piano so maybe he started him on guitar too, just maybe

Well ive heard that playing the piano is excellent for finger independence, and Prince did say once to me personally (no no, it was in a biography, i forget) that when you know piano, it all comes together. I wouldnt really know as i dont practise keyboard like i should.

Dre, do you know how he learned?

He say's he taught himself.

No no no. No such thing. No man is an island. Ive been playing for 20 years and im still not great, and ive had lessons, read books, devised exercises, watched others and picked things up, etc etc.

He learned from somewhere, somehow, some way, and i wanna know. You dont just know stuff like how to play a guitar well and correctly, you learn somehow. A guitar + music theory + everything else related to playing guitar is way too specific to just be born knowing it all.

passion.

He has said that everything he learnt about guitar he learnt from Sonny T.

That might be hyperbole. But at least it proves he wasn't born a genius.

I think he practiced. A lot. That combined with pitch perfect ears.

You know, apparently the diference between elite professionals is very small - something like 5% of what they do is unique to them The other 95% is exactly the same as the rest. So music theory, chords, figure exercises etc - Prince and Eric Clapton share that dna. That 5% difference to me is his passion and his muscial signature - that ability to translate feelings into notes. And he can only do that by nailing the 95% "boring" stuff.

Plus - he's been playing a long time. Probably 5 hours a day over what - 40 years - you're gonna be good. No work, kids, bills to take you away from the instrument.

But he is phenomonal - at the Indogo in 07 I just stared at his fingers on that fretboard - so fast and fluid and precise. Scary.

Musical savants are born knowing how to play music without lessons. Not saying Prince is a savant, but I don't think he's had formal lessons. Like the piano, or the drums, he probably just listened, played and got better and better. I mean, they don't call him a musical genius for nothing. Not too many of those in the world today. And in other fields, like sports or art, there are people that are just naturally talented. They are born with it and are better than others.

One of the bio books(DMSR or Possessed), mentioned that he took lessons in middle school..the band director at his school would let him practise in the band room during lunch break.

Yes i understand that people are born with an ability to learn something, but you still do have to learn. Athletes may be born with the natural ability to pick things up but they still have to train, and then, their natural ability develops. Ability isnt something that you just have in its developed form, its a seed, and it cant turn into anything without training.

And thats what id like to find out, what he did to develop that ability. He says practise scales, ok, but there has to be more to it than that. Because at the end of the day it is perfectly possible to be born with all the right stuff, yet never go through what it takes to develop it.
[Edited 3/27/09 17:30pm]