Can anyone tell me what effect is being used on the guitar at the end of Computer Blue as it segues into Darling Nikki on PR? A kind of stuttering delay which makes it sound birdlike - I think used on a few tracks round this era. [Thought it was uniquely Prince but just noticed the same effect in the long intro to 'Station to Station' on Bowie's 'Stage' album]. Thanks all.

[Edited 4/24/12 14:37pm]

Feedback from the guitar coupled with a Boss Flanger.

thanks

SPYZFAN1 said:

Feedback from the guitar coupled with a Boss Flanger.

Would you know how many Guitar (pedal) does Prince have SPYZFAN1?

iloveannie said:

There are pictures of his rig on google. Or just look at the complete uninspiring Boss range. He keeps it simple. If you want to ask hard questions then just mention The Smiths. Phenomenal guitarist. Really dedicated.

Thank you iloveannie

Co-sign with iloveannie on the uninspiring BOSS pedal setup. I used to have an all BOSS pedal setup (influenced by him of course) years ago and I stopped.

Got rid of the BOSS stuff (except the tuner) and bought better and diff brands and my tone is much better. As much as I love his guitar playing I don't like his distortion tone these days. Way

too harsh. His 80's tone (1981 to 87) was better.

...and don't get me started on that damn Floyd Rose.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Co-sign with iloveannie on the uninspiring BOSS pedal setup. I used to have an all BOSS pedal setup (influenced by him of course) years ago and I stopped.

Got rid of the BOSS stuff (except the tuner) and bought better and diff brands and my tone is much better. As much as I love his guitar playing I don't like his distortion tone these days. Way

too harsh. His 80's tone (1981 to 87) was better.

...and don't get me started on that damn Floyd Rose.

I'm gonna try to get you started because I still don't fully understand what's wrong with it.

lol...OK Marq. ..I dig the Floyd when it's in the hands of guys like EVH, Geo. Lynch, Satch, Holdsworth, Vernon Reid, etc. Those cats came out at the starting gate with the Floyd (well

maybe except EVH..he had a stock tremelo in the beginning) and made it a part of their style

and did crazy, magical and musical things with it.

P started using the Floyd in early 2000's and it altered his style to me. Don't get me wrong, I still love his playing but his natural vibrato is much better. I felt the same way when Micheal Schencker, Leslie West and Ace Frehley jumped on the Floyd bandwagon.

When P uses the bar I think it takes away from his natural vibe. It's more like "look at what I can do". When I listen to his old live bootlegs (can I say that?) from the 80's and 90's he is tearing the

guitar up. Now when he jams, he'll stop, grab the bar and totally kill the vibe.

I understand that musicians want to try and do new things, but I think P jumped on the Floyd bandwagon too late. His playing is great without it.

SPYZFAN1 said:

lol...OK Marq. ..I dig the Floyd when it's in the hands of guys like EVH, Geo. Lynch, Satch, Holdsworth, Vernon Reid, etc. Those cats came out at the starting gate with the Floyd (well

maybe except EVH..he had a stock tremelo in the beginning) and made it a part of their style

and did crazy, magical and musical things with it.

P started using the Floyd in early 2000's and it altered his style to me. Don't get me wrong, I still love his playing but his natural vibrato is much better. I felt the same way when Micheal Schencker, Leslie West and Ace Frehley jumped on the Floyd bandwagon.

When P uses the bar I think it takes away from his natural vibe. It's more like "look at what I can do". When I listen to his old live bootlegs (can I say that?) from the 80's and 90's he is tearing the guitar up. Now when he jams, he'll stop, grab the bar and totally kill the vibe.

I understand that musicians want to try and do new things, but I think P jumped on the Floyd bandwagon too late. His playing is great without it.

THANK YOU !

No more whammy bar !! Leave it at home Prince ...

Thanks for the input SPYZFAN1. I've always wondered why an artist as prolific as Prince hasn't experimented with a more diverse guitar set up.

SPYZFAN1 said:

lol...OK Marq. ..I dig the Floyd when it's in the hands of guys like EVH, Geo. Lynch, Satch, Holdsworth, Vernon Reid, etc. Those cats came out at the starting gate with the Floyd (well

maybe except EVH..he had a stock tremelo in the beginning) and made it a part of their style

and did crazy, magical and musical things with it.

P started using the Floyd in early 2000's and it altered his style to me. Don't get me wrong, I still love his playing but his natural vibrato is much better. I felt the same way when Micheal Schencker, Leslie West and Ace Frehley jumped on the Floyd bandwagon.

When P uses the bar I think it takes away from his natural vibe. It's more like "look at what I can do". When I listen to his old live bootlegs (can I say that?) from the 80's and 90's he is tearing the

guitar up. Now when he jams, he'll stop, grab the bar and totally kill the vibe.

I understand that musicians want to try and do new things, but I think P jumped on the Floyd bandwagon too late. His playing is great without it.

Thank you! Now i Have 2 go and listen 2 all his music again lol!!!

I think you can listen a based Guitar and electric guitar piece then you fill it.

thebanishedone said:

I bet all of you guys complaining on Prince's whammy bar work wouldn't know how to use whammy in a proper way if your life depends on it. Prince is great with whammy bar,he isn't Jeff Beck but i absolutely love what Prince do with a tremolo bar,i love his dive bombs,harmonics and all other extra something he does with whammy.instead of whinning go and listen to Shhh Paris 2011 performance Prince did in that French Studio and tell me he isn't a master. And it isn't true that because of whammy Prince use his finger vibrato,he uses it a great deal and majority of guitar solos last few tours were played on Hohner and that guitar don't have tremolo bar. But nowdays Prince's best solos are played on Fender Strat whammy included. [Edited 4/26/12 10:13am]

Don't get me wrong, I personally enjoy The Purple Yoda's current guitar soloing efforts. But I've heard the whammy comments before from numerous people, and I'm no guitar head so I'm interested in hearing why they feel the way they do.

Personally I think Prince has phenomenal solos buried deep in the history of his live performances, right up to the current day. As far as which solos are truly better than which, isn't that up to taste?

Good is good.

Great is great.

The best is subjective.

Good stuff.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Don't get me wrong, I still love his playing but his natural vibrato is much better.

When P uses the bar I think it takes away from his natural vibe. It's more like "look at what I can do". When I listen to his old live bootlegs (can I say that?) from the 80's and 90's he is tearing the

guitar up. Now when he jams, he'll stop, grab the bar and totally kill the vibe.

I understand that musicians want to try and do new things, but I think P jumped on the Floyd bandwagon too late. His playing is great without it.

Very excellent points.

Do you have nay examples in mind I might be able to sink my teeth into?

WILSO said:

Can anyone tell me what effect is being used on the guitar at the end of Computer Blue as it segues into Darling Nikki on PR? A kind of stuttering delay which makes it sound birdlike - I think used on a few tracks round this era. [Thought it was uniquely Prince but just noticed the same effect in the long intro to 'Station to Station' on Bowie's 'Stage' album]. Thanks all.

[Edited 4/24/12 14:37pm]

http://www.ehow.com/video_2378428_flanger-effects-electric-guitar.html

pretty easy to do once you get your chain correct

I'm showing my age but guitar has been one of my other instruments since the early 80's. So I've been thru the whole "divebomb/whammy scoop/Floyd-double lock dance" for quite sometime. I

still own (and play) some of my Floyded Superstrats from time to time but lately my Tele has

been getting some love.

banished you know I love and respect you as one my several org. brothers and I would never say

anything bad about you...I've checked out your music and I like it a lot...but I would say you're

outvoted on this one.

Jake E. Lee (one of my metal faves and a no Floyd guy) said "some guitar players reach for the bar when their minds give up". I hate to say it but since P added those bars

that is the vibe that I get from him.

I've heard the version of "Bambi" you mentioned and it does rock. But I could do without the

gymnastics on the Floyd. I even loved the Undertaker version of "Bambi" from 1993 but that

Digitech Whammy Pedal he used irritated the hell out of me.

Go back and listen to Houston 81, Paris 80 (some1 correct me if I'm wrong) or the "guitar jams"

off of "Crystal Ball"..("The Ride", "Interactive", the solo in "Crucial")..killer licks and bends..no bar! ..(sorry for the CB mentioned but I just rediscovered it after a long time).

If you love what he does with the Floyd..cool. If you're really into some of things that he does w/

it and you think it's fantastic then I have no problem with you digging it. It's OK with me and I would never insult you over that.

I don't mind him playing Strats..I think they look cool on him..I liked the Cloud and love his Tele..He ripped on those guitars..I'm not anti-Floyd..but I just don't like it in P's hands.

No problem Marq. And as I said the last time I'm glad we can all have a cool, fun and civil discussion about this. I liked everyone's points.

I know it's only a whammy bar...but you got me started!

SPYZFAN1 said:

No problem Marq. And as I said the last time I'm glad we can all have a cool, fun and civil discussion about this. I liked everyone's points.

I know it's only a whammy bar...but you got me started!

Too much a rarity in these parts. Great responses

SPYZFAN1 said:

banished..cool that everything is mutual..again this is all civil but fun also.

I usually try not to criticize P when it comes to his music, gear, production, etc. But I also

believe "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Like you, I wasn't crazy about the "Rave" era guitar tone

also. Too much ZOOM processing, amp simulators and distortion..(not the good kind but the

irritating white noise sound).

As I mentioned before I like him with the Strats. I'm know he used them in the studio back

on his early recordings ("For You", "Controversy" and "1999") and they sounded great. So

far the last "guitar show" boot that I've dug was the Conga Room - New Power Trio gig. Now

I know he did use the bar but he didn't go too ape s&it with it.

I guess I'm an old school funk P lover. That overdriven Tele tone that he gets still rocks to me.

I'll also admit that I love the rocking guitar stuff on "Chaos And Disorder" and "Gold Exp"....

now if he had put those 2 together as one CD it would been great...

...but maybe that's for another thread.

I asked a question/topic a while ago... no one responded, well, no one knew I guess. Not trying to be a dick and garner attention, just really wanna know. What's that effect he has on the Fly Away solo on the Rave DVD that makes it sound like a synth or something?

Please help.

PurpleMusiq8...The effect you're talking about is probably the Digitech Whammy System. I know

when you set the pedal in a certain way you'll get different harmonized tones. I know he was

heavily into that pedal back then. I just watched the clip on line and that sounds like it.

You're not being a dick..cool question.

banished..It's possible he may have used both Gibson and Fender. The studio solo for "I'm Yours"

has that sharp Strat bite. He may have used a distortion box on that also. Some of the clean tones on the 1st two have that nice funky Fender sound.

There are pics of him live (around 79 or 80) where he used an actual Fender Tele instead of the Hohner..who knows?..maybe he used both and decided on the Hohner exclusively.

PurpleMusiq8 said:

I asked a question/topic a while ago... no one responded, well, no one knew I guess. Not trying to be a dick and garner attention, just really wanna know. What's that effect he has on the Fly Away solo on the Rave DVD that makes it sound like a synth or something?

Please help.

I also asked this question while back, I was under the impression that it was the Digitech Whammy as well. I was told it was the Roland GP-16 which I still leave open to debate. Does anyone have know of any song where the Digitech Whammy was used live or in studio?

SPYZFAN1 said:

I've heard the version of "Bambi" you mentioned and it does rock. But I could do without the

gymnastics on the Floyd. I even loved the Undertaker version of "Bambi" from 1993 but that

Digitech Whammy Pedal he used irritated the hell out of me.

Everyone praises The Undertaker album and his playing on it, but THAT is the reason I just can't get into it. I actually like his current overdrive/distortion tone with the Hohner, especially that 2010 Milan Purple Rain video.