From watching the early to mid Prince concerts, I only took special liking to some few of them. The best solos go along with the melody of the song, but when it's only him and his guitar w/ no music in background, his guitar solos were choppy and sound different every diff. concert (which of course, I knew he was still perfecting it).

I guess this is due to him moving around while he plays on stage vs the latter where he's in the studio (imagining him standing still while playing) that differientiates the sound.

I think the best solo when it's stark quiet, that I can recall right now, is the end of Let's Go Crazy.

Best solo with musc in background is Purple Rain

Good solos, when music in background, is end of Why U Wanna Treat Me So Bad in Controversy concerts (well they're all 2gether, so don't know if that counts)

Kinda bad, when quiet, are Dirty Mind and Controversy show solos.

What do you think on the idea and the 2 diff. styles of solos explained? Would love to see

P has had so many cool guitar solos that it's hard to pick just a few. He sometimes can be a disciplined guitarist who plays exactly what's right for the song and then turn around and play

something completely off the wall. Here's some of my faves...

1) "Purple Rain" Hohner Tele clean intro from Syracuse 85.

2) "Just My Imagination" clean delay solo..everyone on the org seems to love that one too.

3) "Why U Wanna" solo live after he screams "BITCH!"..very rockin'.

4) "Rock Hard In A Funky Place"

5) "Sexy Dancer" (long version)

6) "Joy In Repetition" - Live aftershow version with Larry on bass.

7) "Lovesexy" era solos studio and live 88 - P reallly seemed to dig the guitar again and was all

over the fretboard. I think he discovered the T-Wah around that time also.

8) "Lady Cab Driver" - that quick solo still to this day has me hit the playback button.

9) "When Doves Cry" intro.

10) "I'm Yours"

11) "Bambi" 93 with Sonny T and Micheal B.

..that's one of things I've always loved about P's playing because it's all over the place. I even dug his guitar stuff on "Lotus". Good thread idea BTW.

SPYZFAN1 said:

P has had so many cool guitar solos that it's hard to pick just a few. He sometimes can be a disciplined guitarist who plays exactly what's right for the song and then turn around and play

something completely off the wall. Here's some of my faves...

1) "Purple Rain" Hohner Tele clean intro from Syracuse 85.

2) "Just My Imagination" clean delay solo..everyone on the org seems to love that one too.

3) "Why U Wanna" solo live after he screams "BITCH!"..very rockin'.

4) "Rock Hard In A Funky Place"

5) "Sexy Dancer" (long version)

6) "Joy In Repetition" - Live aftershow version with Larry on bass.

7) "Lovesexy" era solos studio and live 88 - P reallly seemed to dig the guitar again and was all

over the fretboard. I think he discovered the T-Wah around that time also.

8) "Lady Cab Driver" - that quick solo still to this day has me hit the playback button.

9) "When Doves Cry" intro.

10) "I'm Yours"

11) "Bambi" 93 with Sonny T and Micheal B.

..that's one of things I've always loved about P's playing because it's all over the place. I even dug his guitar stuff on "Lotus". Good thread idea BTW.

YUP

I also love the solos in Temptation and Bambi

SPYZFAN1 said:

P has had so many cool guitar solos that it's hard to pick just a few. He sometimes can be a disciplined guitarist who plays exactly what's right for the song and then turn around and play

something completely off the wall. Here's some of my faves...

1) "Purple Rain" Hohner Tele clean intro from Syracuse 85.

2) "Just My Imagination" clean delay solo..everyone on the org seems to love that one too.

3) "Why U Wanna" solo live after he screams "BITCH!"..very rockin'.

4) "Rock Hard In A Funky Place"

5) "Sexy Dancer" (long version)

6) "Joy In Repetition" - Live aftershow version with Larry on bass.

7) "Lovesexy" era solos studio and live 88 - P reallly seemed to dig the guitar again and was all

over the fretboard. I think he discovered the T-Wah around that time also.

8) "Lady Cab Driver" - that quick solo still to this day has me hit the playback button.

9) "When Doves Cry" intro.

10) "I'm Yours"

11) "Bambi" 93 with Sonny T and Micheal B.

..that's one of things I've always loved about P's playing because it's all over the place. I even dug his guitar stuff on "Lotus". Good thread idea BTW.

Yes, definitely Lady Cab Driver's guitar, I'm surprised I forgot all about that. My fav. Really one of the highlights of 1999 as an album

I know there are many many great Prince guitar solos, but I'm talking about the ones where he's the one only playing where all other instruments are silent (ex. end of Let's Go Crazy and beginning of When Doves Cry b4 the Linn comes in).

Hell, Computer Blue is a solo all in itself now that I think about it, of course w/ additional music. When I first heard it, I didn't notice how short the lyrics were compared to the whole of the song. Because I was occupied with listening to the meaning and emotion of the chords he was playing. U kno a solo is great if it claerly "speaks" to u w/o having lyrics to explain its purpose. Similar to the feeling, but so strong as, 26's Something In the Water. That's just the way i c it And the way Prince's musique catalogue is if u think about it.

That's my ramble

CallMeCarrie said:

I also love the solos in Temptation and Bambi

Beautiful! That's what I'm talking about <- When it comes to studio songs.

What about concert editions songs though?

i like Shockadelia

Do you mean solos when he plays and the band stops?

"Joy Of Repetition" end solo - 96 Emancipation live mini-show. You can actually feel and hear the pain he was going thru (at that time).

"Lovesexy" live 88 TV concert - Many moments when he rips on the guitar when the band stops.

"Fury" - End guitar solo from SNL show.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Do you mean solos when he plays and the band stops?

guitar and gingerbread man blew me away live

Love2C him recreate the solo on SugarWalls live.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Do you mean solos when he plays and the band stops?

"Joy Of Repetition" end solo - 96 Emancipation live mini-show. You can actually feel and hear the pain he was going thru (at that time).

"Lovesexy" live 88 TV concert - Many moments when he rips on the guitar when the band stops.

"Fury" - End guitar solo from SNL show.

Sooooooo true And then he appears to wave goodbye. Probably the most beautiful solo he ever performed.

What about the solo at the end of '3 Chains o' Gold'? Not many people mention that screamer!

Yeah "3 Chains" is cool too. When I saw him on that tour he did a lead solo by himself for about 5

minutes and ripped it up...he also included the licks from "Voodoo Child".. I'd never seen him do that before.

Oh yeah minneapolisFung..His solo on "Sugar Walls" is slammin' also! It almost sounds like he's

barely playing the guitar but he's hitting every right note.

I also liked his Jimi style feedback whammy solo at the end of "Private Joy". I was shocked when I heard it come back in "Orgasm".