Do you have examples of Prince songs that sounds good on acoustic guitar along with vocals in that singer songwriter way, without being very difficult to play?

Personally I find Crazy You to be crazy cool on acoustic guitar and falsetto. When you were mine can be sung with a more "masculine" and bassy tone, and it'll sound pretty damn good also. It's always fun to hear Prince himself sing Cream with the acoustic guitar. Gotta learn that one. What about his ballads?

ballad: sometimes it snows in april is easy

not ballad: when you were mine is easy and fun to play

of course the cross is as easy as it gets

Try Cinnamon Girl

I enjoy playing Strange Relationship and Starfish and Coffee. I Could Never Take is also fun, but that descending G-F-E-D line on top of the F chord is tricky.

Gotta Broken Heart Again

Last December

I Feel 4 U

How Come U Dont Call Me Anymore

In my eyes just watch Prince's acoustic guitar set from the Musicology tour when he is swiveling on his seat 360 while playing snippets of about 20 songs. Just priceless to me. No special effects, just raw talent and great music in the most basic of ways. Thats a good place to start in my opinion. Check it out.

I've always wanted to learn how to play "Shy".

For me, I love playing "Little Red Corvette" and "When U Were Mine" on my acoustic

"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" is pretty simple. Same three chords over and over. Plus - easy register to sing in

The chords change completely during the second half of the chorus.

Kiss, Willing & Able, Purple Rain, Paisley Park, Dinner With Delores.

novabrkr said:

The chords change completely during the second half of the chorus.

Yes: F, Fm, Em7, D7, Dm7, G7.

("wouldn't be satisfied", etc.)

[Edited 12/19/14 9:44am]

Seriously, play "Kiss" like Prince plays it on the demo. People will like it.

My favorites to play acoustically are:

Take Me With U
Play F# minor/G/A progression on top four strings, and let A string ring as bass line throughout whole progression. In the bridge, play it as Prince does now by playing an Fmaj7 for a bar, then a G/A chord for a bar (G with an A note played on second fret of the G string).

Strange Relationship
Play the Dm7 chord as a barre chord on the fifth fret. In fact, play all chords as barre chords. You can play the main riff either solely on the high E string, or within the Dm7 chord.
1999
I play it in G instead of F, and use a chord progression of G - C/D for the verses. I play the G in the four-finger method, and just move the pointer/index finger to the A and D strings to make the C/D chord. It really sounds full on a 12-string if you have one
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Play it like Prince did on the MTV special by adding a second to each chord the first four times through the C-G-F progression. For instance, play a C chord starting on the 8th fret like a barre but don't make a barre - just play the top four strings and play a D note with your pinky on the 10th fret of the high E string. Then slide that chord down to G (which adds an A note on the high E string), then to F (which adds the G note). It really adds a fullness to it. Then play either traditional or barre chords for the rest of the verse. To play that little progression (which is actually an F-E-D-E if you're playing in the original key of C), you can do that on the D string.
Thieves in the Temple
What makes this song is the D7. Again, I play this one with all barre chords except for the D7, which is a regular C7 figure moved up two frets. The opening riff playing on the low strings starts this song off in a great way
Alphabet Street

The whole key to this song is the little riff at the "Yeah yeah yeah" parts. It's a neat and easy riff that will impress your audience
Love
What is so great about this song is how you can envision Prince writing this on an acousitc guitar, and then turning it into the full studio version we hear on "3121". Hit me up if you need the chords. The Bminor-to-B7 change at the end of the chorus always gives me goosebumps.

And just a whole lot more. Prince songs are a blast to arrange acoustically.

.

[Edited 12/19/14 11:14am]

RodeoSchro said:

My favorites to play acoustically are:

Take Me With U
Play F# minor/G/A progression on top four strings, and let A string ring as bass line throughout whole progression. In the bridge, play it as Prince does now by playing an Fmaj7 for a bar, then a G/A chord for a bar (G with an A note played on second fret of the G string).

Strange Relationship
Play the Dm7 chord as a barre chord on the fifth fret. In fact, play all chords as barre chords. You can play the main riff either solely on the high E string, or within the Dm7 chord.
1999
I play it in G instead of F, and use a chord progression of G - C/D for the verses. I play the G in the four-finger method, and just move the pointer/index finger to the A and D strings to make the C/D chord. It really sounds full on a 12-string if you have one
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Play it like Prince did on the MTV special by adding a second to each chord the first four times through the C-G-F progression. For instance, play a C chord starting on the 8th fret like a barre but don't make a barre - just play the top four strings and play a D note with your pinky on the 10th fret of the high E string. Then slide that chord down to G (which adds an A note on the high E string), then to F (which adds the G note). It really adds a fullness to it. Then play either traditional or barre chords for the rest of the verse. To play that little progression (which is actually an F-E-D-E if you're playing in the original key of C), you can do that on the D string.
Thieves in the Temple
What makes this song is the D7. Again, I play this one with all barre chords except for the D7, which is a regular C7 figure moved up two frets. The opening riff playing on the low strings starts this song off in a great way
Alphabet Street

The whole key to this song is the little riff at the "Yeah yeah yeah" parts. It's a neat and easy riff that will impress your audience
Love
What is so great about this song is how you can envision Prince writing this on an acousitc guitar, and then turning it into the full studio version we hear on "3121". Hit me up if you need the chords. The Bminor-to-B7 change at the end of the chorus always gives me goosebumps.

And just a whole lot more. Prince songs are a blast to arrange acoustically.

.

[Edited 12/19/14 11:14am]

Thank you! And to everyone else on this thread. This is great. Prince has so many different types of songs, that people that don't know Prince wouldn't be able to tell if it's the same person that has written all of these. That's why I love covering him when I'm practicing my guitar.

Replica said:

RodeoSchro said:

My favorites to play acoustically are:

Take Me With U
Play F# minor/G/A progression on top four strings, and let A string ring as bass line throughout whole progression. In the bridge, play it as Prince does now by playing an Fmaj7 for a bar, then a G/A chord for a bar (G with an A note played on second fret of the G string).

Strange Relationship
Play the Dm7 chord as a barre chord on the fifth fret. In fact, play all chords as barre chords. You can play the main riff either solely on the high E string, or within the Dm7 chord.
1999
I play it in G instead of F, and use a chord progression of G - C/D for the verses. I play the G in the four-finger method, and just move the pointer/index finger to the A and D strings to make the C/D chord. It really sounds full on a 12-string if you have one
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Play it like Prince did on the MTV special by adding a second to each chord the first four times through the C-G-F progression. For instance, play a C chord starting on the 8th fret like a barre but don't make a barre - just play the top four strings and play a D note with your pinky on the 10th fret of the high E string. Then slide that chord down to G (which adds an A note on the high E string), then to F (which adds the G note). It really adds a fullness to it. Then play either traditional or barre chords for the rest of the verse. To play that little progression (which is actually an F-E-D-E if you're playing in the original key of C), you can do that on the D string.
Thieves in the Temple
What makes this song is the D7. Again, I play this one with all barre chords except for the D7, which is a regular C7 figure moved up two frets. The opening riff playing on the low strings starts this song off in a great way
Alphabet Street

The whole key to this song is the little riff at the "Yeah yeah yeah" parts. It's a neat and easy riff that will impress your audience
Love
What is so great about this song is how you can envision Prince writing this on an acousitc guitar, and then turning it into the full studio version we hear on "3121". Hit me up if you need the chords. The Bminor-to-B7 change at the end of the chorus always gives me goosebumps.

And just a whole lot more. Prince songs are a blast to arrange acoustically.

.

[Edited 12/19/14 11:14am]

Thank you! And to everyone else on this thread. This is great. Prince has so many different types of songs, that people that don't know Prince wouldn't be able to tell if it's the same person that has written all of these. That's why I love covering him when I'm practicing my guitar.

My pleasure! I learned how to play guitar by playing the chord diagrams over the bars that you find in sheet music. If you can find the "Purple Rain" album sheet music book, you can learn a decade's worth of chords and musical theory just from that album!

Replica said:

Do you have examples of Prince songs that sounds good on acoustic guitar along with vocals in that singer songwriter way, without being very difficult to play?

Personally I find Crazy You to be crazy cool on acoustic guitar and falsetto. When you were mine can be sung with a more "masculine" and bassy tone, and it'll sound pretty damn good also. It's always fun to hear Prince himself sing Cream with the acoustic guitar. Gotta learn that one. What about his ballads?

There was a video on youtube of a guy playing this. It started just finger style and built up. It was very melancholy/blues. I dont think it's still there but it wa awesome

I just want to second what RodeoSchro suggested. Take me with u is such a good song done acoustically, it really makes you appreciate the chord structure. Oh and all of the other suggestions sound on point as well.