If Prince was just a session musician, not the famous "Prince The Artist," would he be able to make a living? Would he be as successful as Nile Rodgers, Nathan East, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, as a session musician for hire? Would you hire him? And in what capacity? Background vox/bass/guitar/keyboard/synths/piano/drums? Is his instrumentation skills really on a par with some of the most successful session musicians?

I think he would be able to hold his own. He's backed up his own artists live and in the studio, he's done guests apperances on other CD's and according to singer Col. Abrams P played guitar for him in the mid 70's.

Of course I would hire him. Think about it - if you hire Prince you don't have to hire anyone else. He can play all the instruments. Much cheaper that way.

SPYZFAN1 said:

I think he would be able to hold his own. He's backed up his own artists live and in the studio, he's done guests apperances on other CD's and according to singer Col. Abrams P played guitar for him in the mid 70's.

Which track?

SPYZFAN1 said:

I think what the OP is really asking is whether anyone thinks Prince could play any of the instruments on the song Happy.

Rebeljuice said:

I think what the OP is really asking is whether anyone thinks Prince could play any of the instruments on the song Happy.

nuttynutmeg said:

If Prince was just a session musician, not the famous "Prince The Artist," would he be able to make a living? Would he be as successful as Nile Rodgers, Nathan East, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, as a session musician for hire? Would you hire him? And in what capacity? Background vox/bass/guitar/keyboard/synths/piano/drums? Is his instrumentation skills really on a par with some of the most successful session musicians?

.

i dunno, you seem to know more about session musicians than i do. Sounds like the answer is no.

.

I have to say -

I'm all for deconstructing the myth of prince, but the way you're going about it really irritates me. You're pointing out all these totally valid reasons why prince isn't the gold standard, but you're doing it by one-upping him with other gold standards that are equally fake. It just makes you sound like a snob.

nuttynutmeg said:

If Prince was just a session musician, not the famous "Prince The Artist," would he be able to make a living?

Let me guess how you will end this thread

CONCLUSION : This thread is hereby closed as not a single reply has been able to prove he would be a successful session musician

[Edited 2/20/15 0:56am]

fusk said:

nuttynutmeg said:

If Prince was just a session musician, not the famous "Prince The Artist," would he be able to make a living? Would he be as successful as Nile Rodgers, Nathan East, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, as a session musician for hire? Would you hire him? And in what capacity? Background vox/bass/guitar/keyboard/synths/piano/drums? Is his instrumentation skills really on a par with some of the most successful session musicians?

.

i dunno, you seem to know more about session musicians than i do. Sounds like the answer is no.

.

I have to say -

I'm all for deconstructing the myth of prince, but the way you're going about it really irritates me. You're pointing out all these totally valid reasons why prince isn't the gold standard, but you're doing it by one-upping him with other gold standards that are equally fake. It just makes you sound like a snob.

I see you accidently his the "s" key....

Nile Rodgers isn't a great session musician. He's a songwriter and producer who's contribution is his son- writing and production more than his actual guitar playing.

So, if Nile Rodgers was just a guitarist who wasn't famous and wasn't hired to write songs would he be a successful session player? Nope.

Prince would do far better than Nile lets put it that way.

dandan said:

dandan said:

Nile Rodgers isn't a great session musician. He's a songwriter and producer who's contribution is his son- writing and production more than his actual guitar playing.

So, if Nile Rodgers was just a guitarist who wasn't famous and wasn't hired to write songs would he be a successful session player? Nope.

Prince would do far better than Nile lets put it that way.

Quite the contrary, he's a session musician first, a very accomplished and skilled one, before he went on to form Chic with B. Edwards.

What if Mike Tyson was only a sparring partner?

What if Michael Jordan only came off the bench?

What if Ferrari only made economy cars?

What if Bruce Lee was shy?

Where the hell are u pulling these asinine questions from?

nuttynutmeg said:

dandan said:

Nile Rodgers isn't a great session musician. He's a songwriter and producer who's contribution is his son- writing and production more than his actual guitar playing.

So, if Nile Rodgers was just a guitarist who wasn't famous and wasn't hired to write songs would he be a successful session player? Nope.

Prince would do far better than Nile lets put it that way.

Quite the contrary, he's a session musician first, a very accomplished and skilled one, before he went on to form Chic with B. Edwards.

Just like Jimmy Page is a session musician first, and a member of/ songwriter for Led Zeppelin as an afterthought?

I think, somehow, given he's generally considered to be one of the greatest guitarists in the world, P would do OK. Might need to do the odd shift in Mickey D's now and again, but he'd probably put pancakes on the table...

He'd be the number 1 session musician out there.

Listen to Stevie Wonder's "So What The Fuss" where Prince just plays guitar, or Stevie Nicks "Stand Back" where Prince just played the synths. It's primarily those parts that make those songs as fantastic as they are.

Aerogram said:

I love Niles, perhaps you don't know he's absolutely in awe of Prince's guitar playing? I'm pretty sure he'd set you straight, not just for rhythm guitar but the rest of his skills. There used to be a video, fairly recent, of Niles and Prince playing Let's Dance, and jeez Niles was grinning so wide just watching Prince. They influenced each other, Niles produced a few albums heavily based on Prince's 80's sound and I think there was talk of them touring together recently. The thing is most artists you have named on this thread and others would probably tell you you are way off on just about every opinion you have, especially Niles and Stevie.

omg that would be so awesome!!!!

nuttynutmeg said:

If Prince was just a session musician, not the famous "Prince The Artist," would he be able to make a living? Would he be as successful as Nile Rodgers, Nathan East, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, as a session musician for hire? Would you hire him? And in what capacity? Background vox/bass/guitar/keyboard/synths/piano/drums? Is his instrumentation skills really on a par with some of the most successful session musicians?

Great question!

I think Prince would be a great session musician as a guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist. I think
his musicianship skills are adequate enough for him to make a living. Now, he's no virtuoso on
any instrument so that he could sit in on serious jazz or classical sessions and rip shit, but in a pop
music context, he definitely could hold it down.

Prince and Paul McCartney are the greatest pop musicians of all time, and I think both would be
able to have satisfying careers as session musicians if they chose to.

Militant said:

He'd be the number 1 session musician out there.

Listen to Stevie Wonder's "So What The Fuss" where Prince just plays guitar, or Stevie Nicks "Stand Back" where Prince just played the synths. It's primarily those parts that make those songs as fantastic as they are.

That's all pretty subjective, though. For example, I think his guitar part on "So What The Fuss" didn't add to the song at all and I was kind of let down by it. I think for guitar that was one of the few time I actually had a better idea for a guitar part. But that's just what I like. I love what he did on the Stevie Nicks song, so there's that. As for the question at hand, I'm quite sure Prince could have been a great session musician and very successful. I'm sure he would've put in the work necessary if he'd gone down that path and his life philosophy according to his own words is to be the best at whatever you set out to do. I know as a multi-instrumentalist myself that Prince is an AMAZING bassist. I would say that I'm most interested in his bass playing if we're talking strictly instrumental skills. No matter what I think of the quality of his music lately, (I like it, mostly) the bass guitar is always a surprise everytime he picks it up. Of course that's just my opinion.

Prince is a session musician.................on ALL of his projects.

Militant said:

I know as a multi-instrumentalist myself that Prince is an AMAZING bassist. I would say that I'm most interested in his bass playing if we're talking strictly instrumental skills. No matter what I think of the quality of his music lately, (I like it, mostly) the bass guitar is always a surprise everytime he picks it up. Of course that's just my opinion.

He'd be the number 1 session musician out there.

Listen to Stevie Wonder's "So What The Fuss" where Prince just plays guitar, or Stevie Nicks "Stand Back" where Prince just played the synths. It's primarily those parts that make those songs as fantastic as they are.

As a multi-instrumentalist as well, I agree with you that Prince's base work is amazing and much
more interesting as a musician than his keyboard parts and his guitar work. I disagree with him
being the #1 session musician out there as he's not as virtuosic as an instrumentalist as this
board portrays him and individually, there are musicians more adept at their instrument than
Prince is.

So, if you wanted to hire ONE session musician to play all the parts on your album, I'd hire Prince
or Paul McCartney or, hold your breath, even Lenny Kravitz. If you wanted to hire virtuosic ses-
sion musicians, then you'd hire individual musicians. Yet, pop music doesn't require virtuosity, so
yes, Prince could be a top session musician.

Angelsoncrack said:

dandan said:

Nile Rodgers isn't a great session musician. He's a songwriter and producer who's contribution is his son- writing and production more than his actual guitar playing.

So, if Nile Rodgers was just a guitarist who wasn't famous and wasn't hired to write songs would he be a successful session player? Nope.

Prince would do far better than Nile lets put it that way.

Have you read Niles autobiography? He's actually a more accomplished musician than you might think. My dad read my copy and he said the same as you, didn't think he was all that on guitar but after reading about his training he came to realise he's more than just his 'chucking' style or whatever he calls it. I wouldn't say he's as good as P though.

Oh I don't doubt his guitar playing, or his music knowledge. It's just his guitar playing alone is not really what he is hired for.

Colonel Abrams (not sure if I spelled it right) was a popular R&B-club singer in the mid 1980's. His biggest hit was called "Trapped". He had a great voice..similar to Teddy Pendergrass. Col Abrams said that he did not do any recordings with P..he just played guitar in his backup band. When the "Purple Rain mania" was going on back then, he mentioned this in a interview.

Militant said:

He'd be the number 1 session musician out there.

Listen to Stevie Wonder's "So What The Fuss" where Prince just plays guitar, or Stevie Nicks "Stand Back" where Prince just played the synths. It's primarily those parts that make those songs as fantastic as they are.

LOL, the greatest ever, how would you quantify that, disciple?

Militant said:

A hypothetical scenario that can never be proven or demonstrated.

In his own universe of course he seems competent, but even today session musicians are sometimes required to read charts which he cannot.

oh, the praise for your superhero P, shouldn't that be the net thread? What would be/is Prince's superpower?

laughable...

[Edited 2/20/15 20:47pm]

Not one of those you named can play guitar like Prince so just as a guitar player, he would be the top session man. Nevermind what he could do on bass and keys.