alandail said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Yep, it takes a lot of rehearsal to be that spontaneous. Seems like a good time to recount a story I've posted in the past.

I know a guy who used to be in the music biz, worked with many people. One day he's in the studio and Mathilda May is there and this is at the time she was involved with Prince. She related a story about a time she was at Prince's place and pretty bored because he spent the whole day working out a new piece of music on the piano. Working for hours on it.

The next day some record execs were there talking about the upcoming album and saying there was one track which needed something more. Prince said he would come up with something, went to the piano and 'spontaneously' played the music he'd be working so hard on the previous day. The execs said it was perfect and were amazed by his genius at being able to just come up with it there and then.

there are also the stories of spontenaity like when Stevie Nicks called him in to her studio to play for him her thought to be finshed song "Stand Back" where he listend once to it once, added a keyboard track they didn't know it needed that also made the song in 1 take that and left.

Or the story about him laying down the drum track for the entire first side of Lovesexy in one take.

Of course you don't get to the level Prince is at without a lot of hard work. In just about anything it takes a lot of hard work to make it not look like hard work when you do it.

As for the topic of the thread, the main problem prince faces in a discussion like this is he's not exclusively a guitar player. And he's not also exclusively one kind of guitar. On the same song he can play lead, rhythm, bass, and also play keyboards and drums. The next song he could leave out the guitars all togther. The people he gets compared to will exclusively play lead guitar in every song they are on, so that becomes their reputation.

Is the best exclusively lead guitar player going to play rhythm guitar as well as Prince does? Can they pick up the base and play it as well as Prince?

also, why can't I get blank lines between my paragraphs when I post on here?

And his skills as a producer, composer and arranger makes him hear very fast what is suitable for that particular song he is making or participating in. He also often blends in the guitar way behind in the background just for texture to the overall sound. He usually didn't make the guitar the main instrument. The song as a whole has usually been important to Prince. However for legends like Santana and Hendrix, the guitar was usually one of the most important elements of the song, since it actually was the only thing they were known for. They were branding themselves as guitar players, while Prince was branding himself as an allrounder that happened to make great pop, rock, funk, new wave, gospelish, rnb , bluesy, jazzy music. Often a seamless mix of many of those, impossible to label . His ability to see the whole picture, as well as feeling the instrument as if it was a part of his body made him one of the most amazing guitarist atleast. I wont say best, but most entertaining and adaptable.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

By Tom Dunphy

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

There. I said it.

With my sincerest apologies to fans of Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton, I say without hyperbole that no person currently breathing air can play the guitar with more passion, ferocity or raw ability than Prince. There is simply no comparison.

Jazz legend and Prince collaborator Miles Davis may have said it best, likening him to a combination of Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Charlie Chaplin.

Rolling Stone named him number 33 of their 100 Greatest Guitarists, which I consider an affront to the man in purple.

While lauded for his decades-long music career, which netted him ten platinum albums and 30 top 40 singles, Prince is rarely recognized for his astounding musical abilities, let alone his guitar playing.

Prince produces all of his own music and performs the majority of the instruments on every recording. He recorded what is widely considered the greatest power ballad of all time, the 8:41 long “Purple Rain,” and he topped it off with an epic solo deserving of the soaring anthem.

But it isn’t just his ability to shred guitar solos with the dexterity and technical proficiency that makes him great. He can create a funk and a groove better than anyone. He adds nuance and subtlety to densely produced tracks. The power behind his playing is his ability to channel raw emotion through the instrument, to truly speak through his guitar.

As evidence, I present a performance from the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Prince performs “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in honor of posthumous inductee George Harrison alongside Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Harrison’s son Dhani.

A generally lifeless and dull performance is set on fire when Prince strides onto stage and proceeds to melt the face off everyone in the building.

the shock and admiration on Dhani Harrison’s face . Adding to the mystery and the allure of his playing, at the end of the song, Prince throws his guitar seemingly into thin air and saunters confidently off stage.

There is nothing he isn't good at!!!!

Read More: Prince is the Greatest Gu...ayer Alive | http://1057thehawk.com/pr...ck=tsmclip

KCOOLMUZIQ, You the man with your write up!

You ever make any money off your admiration of the Purple One, you'd be good at bookings on the other International Circuits!!!

Replica said:

alandail said:

there are also the stories of spontenaity like when Stevie Nicks called him in to her studio to play for him her thought to be finshed song "Stand Back" where he listend once to it once, added a keyboard track they didn't know it needed that also made the song in 1 take that and left.

Or the story about him laying down the drum track for the entire first side of Lovesexy in one take.

Of course you don't get to the level Prince is at without a lot of hard work. In just about anything it takes a lot of hard work to make it not look like hard work when you do it.

As for the topic of the thread, the main problem prince faces in a discussion like this is he's not exclusively a guitar player. And he's not also exclusively one kind of guitar. On the same song he can play lead, rhythm, bass, and also play keyboards and drums. The next song he could leave out the guitars all togther. The people he gets compared to will exclusively play lead guitar in every song they are on, so that becomes their reputation.

Is the best exclusively lead guitar player going to play rhythm guitar as well as Prince does? Can they pick up the base and play it as well as Prince?

also, why can't I get blank lines between my paragraphs when I post on here?

And his skills as a producer, composer and arranger makes him hear very fast what is suitable for that particular song he is making or participating in. He also often blends in the guitar way behind in the background just for texture to the overall sound. He usually didn't make the guitar the main instrument. The song as a whole has usually been important to Prince. However for legends like Santana and Hendrix, the guitar was usually one of the most important elements of the song, since it actually was the only thing they were known for. They were branding themselves as guitar players, while Prince was branding himself as an allrounder that happened to make great pop, rock, funk, new wave, gospelish, rnb , bluesy, jazzy music. Often a seamless mix of many of those, impossible to label . His ability to see the whole picture, as well as feeling the instrument as if it was a part of his body made him one of the most amazing guitarist atleast. I wont say best, but most entertaining and adaptable.

Well said!

Astasheiks said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

By Tom Dunphy

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

There. I said it.

With my sincerest apologies to fans of Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton, I say without hyperbole that no person currently breathing air can play the guitar with more passion, ferocity or raw ability than Prince. There is simply no comparison.

Jazz legend and Prince collaborator Miles Davis may have said it best, likening him to a combination of Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Charlie Chaplin.

Rolling Stone named him number 33 of their 100 Greatest Guitarists, which I consider an affront to the man in purple.

While lauded for his decades-long music career, which netted him ten platinum albums and 30 top 40 singles, Prince is rarely recognized for his astounding musical abilities, let alone his guitar playing.

Prince produces all of his own music and performs the majority of the instruments on every recording. He recorded what is widely considered the greatest power ballad of all time, the 8:41 long “Purple Rain,” and he topped it off with an epic solo deserving of the soaring anthem.

But it isn’t just his ability to shred guitar solos with the dexterity and technical proficiency that makes him great. He can create a funk and a groove better than anyone. He adds nuance and subtlety to densely produced tracks. The power behind his playing is his ability to channel raw emotion through the instrument, to truly speak through his guitar.

As evidence, I present a performance from the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Prince performs “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in honor of posthumous inductee George Harrison alongside Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Harrison’s son Dhani.

A generally lifeless and dull performance is set on fire when Prince strides onto stage and proceeds to melt the face off everyone in the building.

the shock and admiration on Dhani Harrison’s face . Adding to the mystery and the allure of his playing, at the end of the song, Prince throws his guitar seemingly into thin air and saunters confidently off stage.

There is nothing he isn't good at!!!!

Read More: Prince is the Greatest Gu...ayer Alive | http://1057thehawk.com/pr...ck=tsmclip

KCOOLMUZIQ, You the man with your write up!

You ever make any money off your admiration of the Purple One, you'd be good at bookings on the other International Circuits!!!

babynoz said:

The author of the article cites the reason that Prince is my favorite guitar player....

"The power behind his playing is his ability to channel raw emotion through the instrument, to truly speak through his guitar."


This is the single, most important thing for an artist/musician to be able to do IMO. The way Prince is able to convey emotion through his guitar is positively phenomenal.

This is his strength and others rarely come to that level regularly (Santana can at times). I think the reason prince tends to be further down the list of favorites is because he didn't create a style of playing like Santana and Hendrix did. Prince is the creator behind the MPLS sound not creator behind a style of playing guitar. That doesn't mean he isn't a great guitar player, because we already know Prince is a great guitar player.

spontaneous. Seems like a good time to recount a story I've posted in the past.

I know a guy who used to be in the music biz, worked with many people. One day he's in the studio and Mathilda May is there and this is at the time she was involved with Prince. She related a story about a time she was at Prince's place and pretty bored because he spent the whole day working out a new piece of music on the piano. Working for hours on it.

The next day some record execs were there talking about the upcoming album and saying there was one track which needed something more. Prince said he would come up with something, went to the piano and 'spontaneously' played the music he'd be working so hard on the previous day. The execs said it was perfect and were amazed by his genius at being able to just come up with it there and then.

I got one too...heard from a very reliable source....

The solo he does during the RORHOF show where he smokes everyone during While My GUitar Gently Sleeps was rehearsed. Apparently, he had the recording of the song brought to him at his LA house and he worked out that awesome solo. Now, does this take away from his greatness...no way. He is a pro...he's not going to leave it up in the air when he's going to play such an important/high profile show. However, does it mean he can't do it on the spot...I would say NO. This guy can do anything. The 1988 Small Club show is the best evidence of him just freaking out on the guitar.

This guy can do everything and he does make it look all easy.

Sure guys play faster and are more technically great...but I still say, very few play with his style. He's exciting to watch ...no one plays with his style.

JoeyCococo said:

spontaneous. Seems like a good time to recount a story I've posted in the past.

I know a guy who used to be in the music biz, worked with many people. One day he's in the studio and Mathilda May is there and this is at the time she was involved with Prince. She related a story about a time she was at Prince's place and pretty bored because he spent the whole day working out a new piece of music on the piano. Working for hours on it.

The next day some record execs were there talking about the upcoming album and saying there was one track which needed something more. Prince said he would come up with something, went to the piano and 'spontaneously' played the music he'd be working so hard on the previous day. The execs said it was perfect and were amazed by his genius at being able to just come up with it there and then.

I got one too...heard from a very reliable source....

The solo he does during the RORHOF show where he smokes everyone during While My GUitar Gently Sleeps was rehearsed. Apparently, he had the recording of the song brought to him at his LA house and he worked out that awesome solo. Now, does this take away from his greatness...no way. He is a pro...he's not going to leave it up in the air when he's going to play such an important/high profile show. However, does it mean he can't do it on the spot...I would say NO. This guy can do anything. The 1988 Small Club show is the best evidence of him just freaking out on the guitar.

This guy can do everything and he does make it look all easy.

Sure guys play faster and are more technically great...but I still say, very few play with his style. He's exciting to watch ...no one plays with his style.

Not true.when they rehearsed before the show Tom Petty said Prince was holding a bit,he didnt play the same as RNR hall of fame performance

thebanishedone said:

Prince had some kind of idea what he should play,but i dont think Prince played a rehearsed guitar solo.

Prince knew he would play a guitar solo but no way he knew how many

bars it would last.

If you watch the video you will see that Prince

wanted to end solo on

at least two ocassions mone is when PRince smiles because Tom motivated

Prince to go a few more bars.

I dont think that Prince wanted to impress anyone,he was obligated

as a rnr hall of famer to pay homage to George Harrison and he did it.

I bet he was more concern with his segment,i doubt he thought WMGGW would become a legendary performance that resurect his career at least as a great axe man.

Its not what he plays that makes solo impressive.its the way he played it

,bending the strings with ferocity power and stamina and i bet Prince was pissed

by

the lack of balls during performance of that song,you can hear the difference before his solo and after he starts playing.

[Edited 6/12/14 21:07pm]

[Edited 6/12/14 21:08pm]

Replica said:

alandail said:

stuff

I wont say best, but most entertaining and adaptable.

Maybe "versatile" is a better word because he can do rythym, blistering solos, lead, acoustic, bombastic, gentle/delicate, bass, riff-oriented stuff - all seemingly by flipping a switch. I personally like the face melters he pulls off (Joy in Repitition, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Let's Go Crazy, etc.) but I can appreciate the delicate stuff too (The Truth, Don't Play Me, Reflection, etc.)

.

Prince is great, and certainly underrated, but any argument about "best" gets bogged down in personal taste. I mean Zappa was great too but, like Prince, not as many people know it because he didn't showcase it all the time.

FunkDr said:

Johnny Marr ???? Same jingly jangly stuff on every song Not fit to string Prince's guitar ! Crappy Manc scene drove me mad ! And Trevor - how can you not FEEL prince's playing ? You may have heard lots of. Prince on guitar but seems like u don't listen or feel. I'm not into who's best at this or that as people play different things/ genres and the listener, to some extent at least, will be subjective - but I do know that Prince is a KILLER on guitar ! [Edited 6/6/14 16:10pm] [Edited 6/6/14 16:11pm]

Sorry i'm not letting you get away with that. Definitely maybe, the queen is dead, stangeways here we come, the stone roses debut are all top 50 albums all time. It's just not your music that's all

herb4 said:

KlyphIsBackAgain said:

Robert Fripp is still alive. Santana is still alive. Adrian Belew is still alive. Joey Eppard is still alive. Guthrie Govan is still alive. Omar Rodriguez Lopez is still alive. ..... I could keep going...

Buckethead.

Me.

there are not a lot of guitar players that can't play many different styles .. if u are one dimensional u probably aren't even in a band .. not a brilliant point .. do u really think santana can't play rythm guitar if he wants to? hell led zep pulled off reggae slightly better than prince .. with far more numerous memorable leads and riffs and orchestral and country guitar parts than prince .. i find that what makes prince lacking in the guitar department is his lack of bravery .. everything is too prethought out and nothing feels like it just exploded out of him anymore .. this is also why he is much better on guitar live than in the studio .. sometimes he does let it rip live .. and its great .. not the greatest by far .. but way way better than the snooze fests he lays down on record .. i actually think he is far more adventurous on drums and bass than he is on guitar or keys .. both guitar and keys sound just kinda there for the sake of being there .. crazy stuff like tamborine and crystal ball make me wish he put that kind of let it fly attitude into his guitar