prince is a good guitarist .. i think he shines on tracks like controversy ... but he has not laid down a memorable guitar solo since purple rain ... unfortunately ... he could learn a LOT from eddie van halen but both guitar tones really annoy me ... i am sure both of their eardrums are shot at this point which is why the tones on their albums have remained flat for many years ... i am not sure if i believe that prince never heard while my guitar gently weeps ... it seems quite unlikely but at the same time i have heard him describe the beatles as sub par compared to stevie wonder and angry that they get such adoration that stevie does not ... non the less its a pretty typical rock cord progression in A minor no less which is the easiest key ever to solo over ... but the fact is that was a pretty boring rendition before prince stepped in and he really tore it up nice ... not just the theatrics but there were some very nice runs accompanied by hitting the important notes while the singers came back in and followed up with some excellently chosen counter dischordant melody runs down on the lower register ... prince typically plays some pretty boring solos .... same couple of notes ... NO melody ... (thats not to say he doesnt write great guitar riffs and melodys in the song, just his actually solos make me yawn) ... all in all i was very excited to hear him do this and he did a great job ... and played the kind of solo that any guitarist would want to slow down and learn ... sadly it was a flash of what he had and not indicative of what he will likely do in the future ...
i pulled out pe 3121 and lotus yesterday and played all 5 discs hoping for that feeling of ... wow lots of great stuff here that i didnt get the first few times around ... revelation was nice as was "here" but was spoiled by the bridge (why does prince keep ruining songs with the bridge... its like he thinks he is mozart and puts in these stupid and i mean stupid little hop around classical style bridges that just kill good songs .. see dance for me ... sunshine and here which is his best best song of late so freakin beautiful blows away everything on that album until the bridge) but yeah overall still a very very disappointing 5 album run ... and it was supposed to be his guitar based comeback ... yawn

wow Zaza and others: some people don't appreciate this fine, magic moment?


imo. it's "throwing pearls before the swine"..

I'm surprised and sad and disappointed when such a fine moment isn't appreciated....



Rant begins....

I would understand if it was the Christ performance 1997
or TMBGITW World Music Awards 1994

tastes sure are difficult to understand sometimes. You critics are entitled to have your opinions, it's just very hard to understand...

that solo was original performed by Eric Clapton on the White album, one of the finest songs from The Beatles from one of their finest albums.

On stage Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Harrison juniour and Prince. A beautiful song...

And Prince did a marvelous job playing that solo. I can't see it otherwise. It's long and Prince is Prince trying to make it as long as possible, teasing the other musicians in the band, and they enjoyed it, were laughing.

Well to me this performance is no less than brilliant.

Sad some of you can't enjoy and appreciate.

My rant is over.
[Edited 11/30/09 8:50am]

^ I don't even like his Super Bowl performance that much.. The reason why the both performances are so popular is that many people saw them and realized how much talented Prince is (some people didn't even know he can play guitar!). But he has played much better performances in the past. Just my 2 cents

Just because one can finger fast along the neck of a guitar means absolutely nothing. It's just making noise and I can do that. Prince can probably finger just as fast as EVH and Malestrom, but the thing is that Prince would make it sound like music. Here's the question, has anyone ever seen Prince play in the style of Metal Rockers. Probably not, but it's not to say he can't. I mean over the last 40 years which is a relatively short time, what revlotionary thing have you seen done on a guitar? Not much, everyone does the same thing with their own little twist. The only thing to change in guitar playing in the last 40 years is that we have better efx with new pedals and electronics. To say one is technically better is hard to say, unless you say "play the classical piece from The Crossroads" and not mess up. Other than that, Prince is now finally seen and respected as one of the baddest guitarist on the planet.

squirrelgrease said:

Ummm, not true. Prince was sent a tape of the song weeks in advance. C'mon you must know by now Prince is the most rehearsed musician on the planet, a perfectionist. Unfortunately this takes away from the spotenaity for me but to each his own.

Farfunknugin said:

I thought that squirrelgrease was joking..but damn, this is some serious shit!

Farfunknugin said:

I don't believe for a minute that he had never heard it either, but just because he was sent the tape doesn't mean he listened to it.

I haven't read this amount of stupid s.it for a long time.
Prince is not a great rock guitar player?

Are we talking about the same Prince who nailed that

jaw dropping rock solo on Get IT Up(the Time)?
he was only 23 years old .
Prince is Excelent rock guitar player,he played big
amount of great rock guitar solos on his
records and on other peoples records.

And those leads were always classy leads with style
starting with so underrated solo on My Love is Forever from Prince's debut album.
Guitar solo on My Love is Forever is in a range of one Carlos Santana but Prince was only 18 years old when he nailed the solo.
Huh i can go on for days but lets say this

Prince always had great rock guitar solos but why those weren't market to a rock audience is another thing.

While My Guitar isn't Prince's best solo but it's full of passion and raw emotion
Gerge would loved that solo 'cuz guitar really had
weaped that nite and Prince got a ticket to a
place where he belongs long time ago Guitar God.

look at the change of Intensity and energy of the Rock n Roll hall fame band when Prince steps in,he inspired the band to go someplace else and made that performance legendary.
and for all those of you who say it ain't that special i ask
Well,Could u do better?

and that guy who said Prince didn't do memorable solo since Purple rain
what about
i Could never take the place of your Man 1987
Shhh 1994
I Hate U 1994
Dinner with Dolores 1996
One of US 1996
Savior 1996
So Far So Pleased 1999
for example?
all melodic and great memorable solos

zaza said:

Me?

squirrelgrease said:

thebanishedone said:

It's not about me doing better.
And please, even if he hadn't ever listened to that song it's not any problem for a proffesional guitar player like him to do a solo over 3 or 4 basic chords. I won't discuss the feeling he put on, that's another story. But I dind't enjoyed it, if you did, that's perfect.
By the way, I dind't like his superbowl performance neither. I thought it was cheesy.

MuyMalaPersona said:

Pearls before the swine

This and super bowl were "better than ever"....



why not critizise the bad things/ albums/ appearances, why critizise the great. Kind of sad...

thedance said:

To be fair, what I didn't like in that show was the sound and arrangement of the songs, not the Prince performance in itself. Why so sad? it's only an opinion.

The fact that people diss the performance itself along with the Super Bowl performance speaks volumes.

zaza said:

I wouldnt call it overrating. It was a great solo. EVH is one of few greatest technical guitarists ever. Prince is definitely in my top ten of great guitar player, no doubt!

NPGman said:

Hmm... Well I can def appreciate your enthusiasm over Prince's guitar playing, BUT... I wouldnt say he would be a 2-1 favorite against anyone.
To me, Keith Urban is one of the greatest at the moment. The guy is around 40 and already being put in the same class as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Hendrix and Clapton.
If you watch Prince play, youll notice he rarely, if ever, plays scales with his pinky finger. As ridiculous as it may sound, it is very hard to compete with another skilled guitarist that plays scales with his pinky if you cant.
It opens up so many more licks and sounds that just cant be reached when you only use your first 3 fingers (and thumb).
Prince is ONE of the greatest, no doubt! But THE greatest?.... Unfortunately, not.

Roon about that Prince don't use pinky when he plays scales
that's not true
yes he use other fingers more because he is blues guitar based and your vibrato is better with other fingers,pinky finger is the weakest.
but Prince uses pinky frequently, listen to the fast runs he often do even from the early days
on why you wanna treat me so bad early live videos Prince used all fingers to play faster runs
he plays guitar with all his fingers.

The greatest guitar player on the world don't exist
every guitar player have something that the other don't have and vice versa
Prince have imagination,style tehnique and lot of soul
that are the most impostyant thing for a guitar player
much more important then wheather Priince use or not use his little finger while jammin' on guitar
Diango had 2 fingers on his left hand and belive me
he played with only 2 fingers what many guitar player can't do with 5

thebanishedone said:

Hmmm..Guess Ill have to go back and look harder. Ive seen him hit scales with the pinky, but very very rarely.

Prince uses pinky look and listen better
his finger work is cool and unusual
and not easy at all to pick by ear
[Edited 12/3/09 20:00pm]

zaza said:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...GCzpvQ0r7E

Like in this? His solo at 3:15 is too die for.

Spinzilla said:

That's rich. My my my...

Spinzilla said:

They should've never gave that negro Guitar Hero!!!
[Edited 12/3/09 21:06pm]

nyse said:

The first time I saw Prince's WMGGW solo at the RRHOF performance,
I cried, I got chills and goosebumps...I think I even had an orgasm!
No musical artist has ever drawn such a reaction from me.
I still get chills and all excited whenever I look at it (and that's often) .

It was brilliant performance to me and I loved it. Don't really care who you think can outplay Prince cause they are on my list of people to listen to. Well,at least not all the time. Prince was jamming that night!!! Nuff said!!!

Spinzilla said:

zaza said:

It never fails....eventually every rapper forgets that he or she is a rapper and will try to sing....OMG! Lil Wayne is so sad....

See Prince....this is why...YOU ARE ANNOYING THE FUCK OUT OF ME!!!

This discussion started out about your stellar performance at the RRHOF but without the visuals to cement the only point necessary...it descended to Lil' Wayne.

That's a damn shame and you know it!

I hope you're satisfied!

.
[Edited 12/19/09 20:41pm]

whodknee said:

he probably dropped it under his bike rolled over the top of it