In the early days who was playing better riffs,licks and guitar solos live ,Prince or Dez?

Yeah Prince created most of the riffs played live but when i listen to Dez playing Prince's guitar riffs

i think wow he plays this rhythm licks better

,groovier and more meatier then Prince.

However when i listen to the solos

Dez was never much of the soloist,his solos very angry but disconnected in a way,while Prince

played more prettier and melodic guitar solos.

thebanishedone said:

In the early days who was playing better riffs,licks and guitar solos live ,Prince or Dez?

Yeah Prince created most of the riffs played live but when i listen to Dez playing Prince's guitar riffs

i think wow he plays this rhythm licks better

,groovier and more meatier then Prince.

However when i listen to the solos

Dez was never much of the soloist,his solos very angry but disconnected in a way,while Prince

played more prettier and melodic guitar solos.

That last sentense is why you can not really make any comparisons with the intention of ranking one over the other. People used to automatically compare Prince to Hendrix all the time. He commented on it during that infamous MTV interview from France during Under The Cherry Moon promo. He said something about the color of his skin being the influence of those who compared him to Hendrix. He playing is more like Santana because it is prettier and melodic. Dez is in the Hendrix/metal mode and almost completely different from Prince. I have several concerts from Dez's tenure with the Revolution and you can always hear the contract when they play. He is still the best guitarist that Prince ever employed and teh only former associate that I am interested in hearing him play with again.

There is something to the fact that with all the guitar greatness that Prince has on record, the guitar solo that gets mentioned the most by those who know something about guitar is one from Dez (albeit spliced together by Prince).

[Edited 4/22/11 12:55pm]

thebanishedone said:

In the early days who was playing better riffs,licks and guitar solos live ,Prince or Dez?

Yeah Prince created most of the riffs played live but when i listen to Dez playing Prince's guitar riffs

i think wow he plays this rhythm licks better

,groovier and more meatier then Prince.

However when i listen to the solos

Dez was never much of the soloist,his solos very angry but disconnected in a way,while Prince

played more prettier and melodic guitar solos.

... back in the day when Dez auditioned for Prince he was impressed with Dez. Dez is a true Rock Guitarist. I've just acquired Dez Dickerson - A Retrospective 1982-1987 and my man was Rockin' out. If Dez has stayed the Rock route then P may be a better rhythm guitarist then Dez but, I don't know who's a better 'Hard Rocker' between the two of em. Now what if we slide Jesse in this convo ...

"Dez is in the Hendrix/metal mode".

I have to agree with that. On the live early stuff you can hear Dez stretch out and do a lot of things (whammy/fingertaps/quick flurries of notes) that P wasn't doing. Plus Dez had the most

experience playing live and fronted his own bands before P.

Dez to me was always the most recognizable (and popular) guitarists to play with P. He also had a cool stage image too. I love Wendy but Dez was THE dude. And he's still a great player today. I wish he would do an all out hard rock guitar record.

purplenuts said:

thebanishedone said:

In the early days who was playing better riffs,licks and guitar solos live ,Prince or Dez?

Yeah Prince created most of the riffs played live but when i listen to Dez playing Prince's guitar riffs

i think wow he plays this rhythm licks better

,groovier and more meatier then Prince.

However when i listen to the solos

Dez was never much of the soloist,his solos very angry but disconnected in a way,while Prince

played more prettier and melodic guitar solos.

That last sentense is why you can not really make any comparisons with the intention of ranking one over the other. People used to automatically compare Prince to Hendrix all the time. He commented on it during that infamous MTV interview from France during Under The Cherry Moon promo. He said something about the color of his skin being the influence of those who compared him to Hendrix. He playing is more like Santana because it is prettier and melodic. Dez is in the Hendrix/metal mode and almost completely different from Prince. I have several concerts from Dez's tenure with the Revolution and you can always hear the contract when they play. He is still the best guitarist that Prince ever employed and teh only former associate that I am interested in hearing him play with again.

There is something to the fact that with all the guitar greatness that Prince has on record, the guitar solo that gets mentioned the most by those who know something about guitar is one from Dez (albeit spliced together by Prince).

[Edited 4/22/11 12:55pm]

i would say the solo at the end of Lets Go Crazy is just as well known as the one on Little Red Corvette, but i agree that Dez is an excellent guitarist.

Dez and Jesse Johnson are probably the best Prince has ever worked with.