Whos playing the bass guitar, is it Levi?

Just recently discovered this beauty and damn the bass guitar is jammin! Its unusual in that for the most part the bass guitar is the lead instrument backed by rythm guitar , horns etc and thats what i found so appealing about it.

PS: does Prince have any songs where he himself plays bass?

Not sure if it's Levi or Prince playing bass on Alphabet St. But according to Princevault, they say it's Prince... and they're pretty reliable, so I'll take their word for it.

tsangpogorge said:
PS: does Prince have any songs where he himself plays bass?

For the vast majority of his songs he plays bass. I think it would be easier to ask: What songs doesn't he play bass... In which case here's some examples:

- Brown Mark on most of the Purple Rain, ATWIAD, Parade albums
- Sonny T on most of the Diamonds & Pearls, , Come, Gold Experience, Chaos & Disorder, The Vault albums
- The Planet Earth and Lotusflow3r albums are also mostly either Sonny T or Josh Dunham

And then of course there's a few one offs that I won't get into here... But for the vast majority of the rest of the albums/songs, Prince plays bass.

Princevault is awesome for this kind of info...

.

[Edited 12/8/11 13:05pm]

thanks I totally forgot that Prince plays all the instruments on most of his records, my bad

i guess a better question is which of his songs are heavy in the bass department (would especially love t if you could name any instrumentals).

alphabet street is a mixture of sampled (keyboard) bass and bass guitar, very stylishly played and mixed together (great feel and funky lines, probably by prince). its easier to hear this with the extended mixes.

I still remember the clip they showed on Friday Night Videos, P recording the bass overdubs on Partyman (Video Mix).

tsangpogorge said:

thanks I totally forgot that Prince plays all the instruments on most of his records, my bad

i guess a better question is which of his songs are heavy in the bass department (would especially love t if you could name any instrumentals).

I like "Let's Work." Check the first two albums by the Time for some funky bass.

smokeverbs said:

I still remember the clip they showed on Friday Night Videos, P recording the bass overdubs on Partyman (Video Mix).

I know the clip you mean but I don't think any of that extremely funky bass playing was ever released (other than in the clip).

rialb said:

smokeverbs said:

I still remember the clip they showed on Friday Night Videos, P recording the bass overdubs on Partyman (Video Mix).

I know the clip you mean but I don't think any of that extremely funky bass playing was ever released (other than in the clip).

Yes it was, Check out the video mix on the 12", what he plays in that clip appears at 3:51.

tsangpogorge said:

thanks I totally forgot that Prince plays all the instruments on most of his records, my bad

i guess a better question is which of his songs are heavy in the bass department (would especially love t if you could name any instrumentals).

Days Of Wild and 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton are examples of Prince showcasing his bass playing.

just heard '2 nigs for Compton' and wow that bass guitar solo was a treat and the whole jam just left me breathless! Prince really can tear it up just like Marcus Miller. easy to forget what an incredibly talented guy he is. thank u!

squirrelgrease said:

tsangpogorge said:

thanks I totally forgot that Prince plays all the instruments on most of his records, my bad

i guess a better question is which of his songs are heavy in the bass department (would especially love t if you could name any instrumentals).

Days Of Wild and 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton are examples of Prince showcasing his bass playing.

YA holy shit!

The long version of LA LA LA HE HE HE is a particularly good example of Prince's studio bass work

squirrelgrease said:

tsangpogorge said:

thanks I totally forgot that Prince plays all the instruments on most of his records, my bad

i guess a better question is which of his songs are heavy in the bass department (would especially love t if you could name any instrumentals).

Days Of Wild and 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton are examples of Prince showcasing his bass playing.

Spot on!

chopingard said:

The long version of LA LA LA HE HE HE is a particularly good example of Prince's studio bass work

This too!

If the music playing through my head right now is correct, the bass line to "Alphabet Street" is really similar to the guitar break in Joe Walsh's "Funk 49". When I get home, I'm going to play them both and see if I'm right.

Mind you, I am NOT saying Prince ripped of that riff for his bass line. I usually figure out how to play stuff by seeing if any part of it resembles some other song I know how to play, and then building from there.

So I just want to see if my in-the-head imaginary analysis is right. Therefore, I will not read any responses to this thread until I've tried it myself. I don't want any of you real musicians ruining this for me.

No offense.

rialb said:

tsangpogorge said:

thanks I totally forgot that Prince plays all the instruments on most of his records, my bad

i guess a better question is which of his songs are heavy in the bass department (would especially love t if you could name any instrumentals).

I like "Let's Work." Check the first two albums by the Time for some funky bass.

No kidding, that is one of the best. There are a couple good tutorials on YouTube about how to play it.

That's Levi on the bass!!!

[Edited 12/13/11 16:38pm]

RodeoSchro said:

If the music playing through my head right now is correct, the bass line to "Alphabet Street" is really similar to the guitar break in Joe Walsh's "Funk 49". When I get home, I'm going to play them both and see if I'm right.

Mind you, I am NOT saying Prince ripped of that riff for his bass line. I usually figure out how to play stuff by seeing if any part of it resembles some other song I know how to play, and then building from there.

So I just want to see if my in-the-head imaginary analysis is right. Therefore, I will not read any responses to this thread until I've tried it myself. I don't want any of you real musicians ruining this for me.

No offense.