I heard a lot of Revolution concerts and what bothers me is how weak Wendy's guitar playing was.
Her rhythm playing was just ok but her solo work was awfull.
She wasn't able do reproduce what Prince played originally in the studio on Purple Rain album.
Guitar solos on When Doves Cry ,the Beautiful ones,Darling Nikki played by Wendy were really weak and painful to hear.
not to mention she everytime fucked up Little red corvette solo
Imagine if Dez played on that ?
Concerts would be so much better.
With Dez Dickerson departure with the band and
Wendy's addition to the band live performances become less tight
because of her sloppy guitar work.

Was Prince unhappy with the fact she couldn't play or was it all about image:look i have a girl on guitar in the band.

have any of you actually listened to ANY Parade shows ?

possibly his most musically great shows he's done

and-as an example-watch the Syracruse show-at one point he has her follow him up stairs-along the walkways-back down-all the time playing.....any of you would do this perfectly-i seriously doubt it.....

he's always said-as long as folk play FROM THE HEART-they're ok-and you cannot say Wendy didn't/ does not play from the heart

man-all these bum notes you talk about must be why she's one of the most respected players in the business-EVERTYONE wants to work with her and Lisa

cool you hate her-but sayin she's a duff musician is ridiculous-I'm sure even Prince would vouch for her playing
[Edited 8/22/09 10:38am]

I heard a lot of Revolution concerts and what bothers me is how weak Wendy's guitar playing was.
Her rhythm playing was just ok but her solo work was awfull.
She wasn't able do reproduce what Prince played originally in the studio on Purple Rain album.
Guitar solos on When Doves Cry ,the Beautiful ones,Darling Nikki played by Wendy were really weak and painful to hear.
not to mention she everytime fucked up Little red corvette solo
Imagine if Dez played on that ?
Concerts would be so much better.
With Dez Dickerson departure with the band and
Wendy's addition to the band live performances become less tight
because of her sloppy guitar work.

Was Prince unhappy with the fact she couldn't play or was it all about image:look i have a girl on guitar in the band.

^^^
good post

I've always thought Prince's music and shows shined with 'unpolished' people those early musicians in my opinion really reflected Prince's image sound and vision

yeah your right-nobody said hate-but calling her sloppy's not exactly the most respectful thing to say-about a musician i personally admire-for her abilities NOT cuz shes a girl that plays.....

I guess I get used to the usual we hate W+L shit on here so i get a little over defensive

and i mentioned playing from the heart as it overides the odd missed note/phrase kinda cancelling the tag out-but I actually don't think her playing is anything like sloppy anyway

In the old stuff-Atlanta, Syracruse for example-I know these shows very well-and can't honestly find a section I'd call Wendy sloppy in at all

The Avenue when she debutted-yeah there were parts-but on her very first gig-at such a young age-man give her a break-she must've been shitting herself

anyone can see she aint the most comfortable girl in front of a camera or a crowd even still today

the most recent time I can think of is Reflection -where her playing was faultless and made P's performance shine a little more than it would have if he'd have been alone

OldFriends4Sale said:

Agreed.

When everybody in the band is too technically brilliant, that's when you get unnecessary three minute drum solos.

I understand all what you're saying banished but (and this is coming from someone who always champions Dez) I highly doubt that Prince was unhappy, overall, with Wendy's playing while she was in The Revolution. I myself have stated several times in this forum over the years that everytime I saw Wendy live on the PR tiur, I could see her tense up when it was time for her to take the solo to When Doves Cry. When she would get to a certain point of the solo, everytime, she would blow it. Same spot. To her credit though, she always recovered well and florished on the repetitive riff of the solo and then she would nail the last run of notes that ended the solo. Did she nail the solo on Little Red Corvette on the PR tour? It was o.k. But hell, the two shows I saw on the 1999 tour, Dez also kinda fucked up on the same solo. And it was Dez's solo to begin with. I've heard Dez, also on one of the 1999 shows, during the song Automatic, totally blow it during the solo. Almost like he was playing to an entirely different song. There was no telling what the hell was going on in Prince's mind. The next show I saw, I sure in the hell keyed in on that song when they played it again. Dez's solo was on point and was great. I mention all of this to say that even though Dez was a very good guitarist live, he has had his off nights. It happens to everyone. I've seen Van Halen in concert twice and on certain solos, Eddie has played bum notes, bends that were flat or out of key, etc. But does that mean that Eddie isn't a killer guitarist? Hell nah. In Wendy's case, especially on the PR tour, the girl was scared probably throughout the whole tour. That show played to at least 40,000 a night of screaming beserk ass fans. That's A LOT for someone to be thrown into that type of a situation who had NEVER had any touring experience. She was no where near as seasoned as the rest of the band. This was Mark's third full scale tour so he was damn near a veteran on the PR tour. For her to be upfront, right next to Prince, filling in for a MUCH beloved band member such as Dez, I thought she did well. Her rhythm playing was killin' on the PR tour and she sounded good on Darling Nikki, which is hella riffish. To compare her to Dez, I don't think is realistic. Dez was a seasoned guitarist waaay before he even knew Prince existed. So he brought all of that experience to P's band. I think P expected Wendy to fuck up a little here and there, especially playing in front of packed arenas. But honestly, on the PR tour, and again, this is coming from a cat that hated that Dez was no longer in the band, overall, I thought Wendy played well.
[Edited 8/23/09 0:59am]

blackguitaristz said:

Excellent points! Hell even Jimi, EC, Santana, and P himself have blown a note or 2 in concerts. I give W her props. Hell she was just a kid barely out of high school when PR dropped.

I understand all what you're saying banished but (and this is coming from someone who always champions Dez) I highly doubt that Prince was unhappy, overall, with Wendy's playing while she was in The Revolution. I myself have stated several times in this forum over the years that everytime I saw Wendy live on the PR tiur, I could see her tense up when it was time for her to take the solo to When Doves Cry. When she would get to a certain point of the solo, everytime, she would blow it. Same spot. To her credit though, she always recovered well and florished on the repetitive riff of the solo and then she would nail the last run of notes that ended the solo. Did she nail the solo on Little Red Corvette on the PR tour? It was o.k. But hell, the two shows I saw on the 1999 tour, Dez also kinda fucked up on the same solo. And it was Dez's solo to begin with. I've heard Dez, also on one of the 1999 shows, during the song Automatic, totally blow it during the solo. Almost like he was playing to an entirely different song. There was no telling what the hell was going on in Prince's mind. The next show I saw, I sure in the hell keyed in on that song when they played it again. Dez's solo was on point and was great. I mention all of this to say that even though Dez was a very good guitarist live, he has had his off nights. It happens to everyone. I've seen Van Halen in concert twice and on certain solos, Eddie has played bum notes, bends that were flat or out of key, etc. But does that mean that Eddie isn't a killer guitarist? Hell nah. In Wendy's case, especially on the PR tour, the girl was scared probably throughout the whole tour. That show played to at least 40,000 a night of screaming beserk ass fans. That's A LOT for someone to be thrown into that type of a situation who had NEVER had any touring experience. She was no where near as seasoned as the rest of the band. This was Mark's third full scale tour so he was damn near a veteran on the PR tour. For her to be upfront, right next to Prince, filling in for a MUCH beloved band member such as Dez, I thought she did well. Her rhythm playing was killin' on the PR tour and she sounded good on Darling Nikki, which is hella riffish. To compare her to Dez, I don't think is realistic. Dez was a seasoned guitarist waaay before he even knew Prince existed. So he brought all of that experience to P's band. I think P expected Wendy to fuck up a little here and there, especially playing in front of packed arenas. But honestly, on the PR tour, and again, this is coming from a cat that hated that Dez was no longer in the band, overall, I thought Wendy played well.
[Edited 8/23/09 0:59am]

BlackguitaristZ thanks for a great replay.
I'm not saying she is bad,she just never was the player
up to Prince's standards and i think if Dez stayed he would brought us better
performances on Purple Rain songs.