aaroncanderson said:

Funkyalien said:

I love Prince, but I'm afraid you're not quite on the money there. Ask any skilled guitar player and he will tell you exactly how and why hendrix is technically superior to Prince. Better still, pick up the instrument and try yourself. Paul McCartney said a few years ago Hendrix was still the best. There is a reason Hendrix is still revered. Prince is excellent. But he is not quite canon. By the way, Hendrix's playing had shades of unorthodox funk too -- you'll enjoy them if you pick up the bits.

Paul McCartney also said that God Only Knows by the Beach Boys is the best song ever recorded. Paul is an average bass player and his opinions on music mean nothing to me. Yes I know he is a legend but so is Tom Jones. What does Eric Clapton or Tom Petty think? Prince or Jimi?

You know, I'm not sure why you bring up Paul's endorsement of God Only Knows. It might very well be the best song ever recorded--I think it should be in the discussion anyway.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Yes "Machine Gun" is sick...I think P has his own version of it too....I read online recently that when Jimi jammed with Cream for the 1st time he kicked Eric's Clapton's ass. Said his guitar playing was so fierce that Eric was speechless. So was Jeff Beck and Pete Townshend (who were there).

I remember a few Clapton interviews back in the day, he had nothing but praise for Prince.

Yup....EC has had nothing but good words about P......... Townshend and Jeff Beck too.

aaroncanderson said:

Funkyalien said:

I love Prince, but I'm afraid you're not quite on the money there. Ask any skilled guitar player and he will tell you exactly how and why hendrix is technically superior to Prince. Better still, pick up the instrument and try yourself. Paul McCartney said a few years ago Hendrix was still the best. There is a reason Hendrix is still revered. Prince is excellent. But he is not quite canon. By the way, Hendrix's playing had shades of unorthodox funk too -- you'll enjoy them if you pick up the bits.

Paul McCartney also said that God Only Knows by the Beach Boys is the best song ever recorded. Paul is an average bass player and his opinions on music mean nothing to me. Yes I know he is a legend but so is Tom Jones. What does Eric Clapton or Tom Petty think? Prince or Jimi?

Anybody who says Paul McCartney is an average bass player is..ahem...hahahha. Silly.

I think they are similar in the attitude on guitar, in that each one channels their personality into the guitar. That is hard to do in the outrageous ways both Jimi and Prince do it! They have firey guitar styles. I have the guitars they ply their craft on and I would say its a lot harder on a Telecaster copy or a Gibson L6-S to breathe fire thru, like Prince did. The Stratocaster is a lot easier, just ask Jesse Johnson!!

Also they both chose Purple as the color that expresses their inner personality. And this may be racist, but they're both black, and in this country we haven't got past that. I'm black so don't flame me! Well, I'll call them an amalgam (maybe amalglam for Prince) of black, Jimi of American Cherokee/ African roots and Prince of Puerto Rican(?)/African roots. We are all amalgams, but we are only the unified human race. Categorizations aside, this is why they(whoever 'they' is) put them together.

I also think their composing ability is just so creative. If you can, listen to the first two Experience recordings, where Jimi wrote some of his best songs. Electric Ladyland is a freakin' masterpiece. If he had lived we may have felt more of his ability to compose. In some ways Prince is the perfect extension of Jimi, in that they worked, straddling the rock-to pop area of music, but never forgetting doo-wop, soul and funk. Compare (Have you ever been to) Electric Ladyland with any Prince ballad. The Isley brothers are the real influence that locks together the influences of Prince and Jimi's composing efforts.

All that said, I don't think Prince would claim any of this. He is an American original and should be celebrated in that vein. He is on the frontlines for gettin' musicians paid, and has been at it long before Taylor Swift or JZ/Beyonce!! Other musicians should kiss his ring for what he has done in the past. While he can be self-serving, he otherwise has his priorities in order. And I love listening to his music and would pay to get in his Vault just to hear it!!!

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!

I almost lost ALL respect for you ..

I was reading your post wrong..

I thought you were saying Prince's HOF solo was better than anything Jimi ever did...

I was about to find machine gun and tell you to sit down with your ignorance!

You know what's up!

SPYZFAN1 said:

"Show me one guitar performance by Jimi that outshined Prince's performance at the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame"......Yes P kicked all kinds of ass on that solo. I was happy and proud of him too...I must have re-played that solo back 5 or 6 times after it was over...He was the talk on all of the guitar sites that week after the show. One of my favorite P moments..sheer greatness.......................................but it still doesn't touch Jimi's rendition of "The Banner" or "Machine Gun" or the opening live solo on "Power Of Soul".

[Edited 6/27/15 8:35am]

Prince has had 3 decades to not even come close to what

Jimi was able to achieve in only 4 years..

Why even discuss this?!?!!?

Funkyalien said:

aaroncanderson said:

Paul McCartney also said that God Only Knows by the Beach Boys is the best song ever recorded. Paul is an average bass player and his opinions on music mean nothing to me. Yes I know he is a legend but so is Tom Jones. What does Eric Clapton or Tom Petty think? Prince or Jimi?

Anybody who says Paul McCartney is an average bass player is..ahem...hahahha. Silly.

Paul McCartney is an average bass player

honer said:

Funkyalien said:

Anybody who says Paul McCartney is an average bass player is..ahem...hahahha. Silly.

Paul McCartney is an average bass player

Yeah, and the beatles were a boy band. I don't want to get into a slanging match here, but you don't know your bass from shit. But that's not the point. Pick up a bass, get a feel and come back to some beatles tracks. or you can study some of the bass lines, and why they're unique. If the bass enhances your feel and enjoyment of music, then it's all worthwhile. Isn't that what it's about? enjoyment. This "this guy sucks" and "this guy is the best" attitude is not what music's about.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/comments/21oi9r/is_it_me_or_is_any_bass_riff_by_paul_mccartney/

http://www.studybass.com/lessons/harmony/heat-map-paul-mccartney/

http://bassmusicianmagazi...b-collier/

lol Ego!.....Gotcha!

Funkyalien said:

honer said:

Paul McCartney is an average bass player

Yeah, and the beatles were a boy band. I don't want to get into a slanging match here, but you don't know your bass from shit. But that's not the point. Pick up a bass, get a feel and come back to some beatles tracks. or you can study some of the bass lines, and why they're unique. If the bass enhances your feel and enjoyment of music, then it's all worthwhile. Isn't that what it's about? enjoyment. This "this guy sucks" and "this guy is the best" attitude is not what music's about.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/comments/21oi9r/is_it_me_or_is_any_bass_riff_by_paul_mccartney/

http://www.studybass.com/lessons/harmony/heat-map-paul-mccartney/

http://bassmusicianmagazi...b-collier/

I'm pretty sure I can tell a bass from shit and Paul McCartney is fukin average as fuck!

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion about Sir Paul's bass playing. I've always enjoyed his bass lines on "Paperback Writer", "Drive My Car", "Goodnight Tonight" and others. He's always stayed in the pocket but at the same time has had a melodic groove too....I also dig his earlier solo records where he played all the instruments by himself... I remember reading that Miles wanted to jam with Paul, Jimi and Tony Williams on a project but Paul was on vacation. That would have been interesting.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion about Sir Paul's bass playing. I've always enjoyed his bass lines on "Paperback Writer", "Drive My Car", "Goodnight Tonight" and others. He's always stayed in the pocket but at the same time has had a melodic groove too....I also dig his earlier solo records where he played all the instruments by himself... I remember reading that Miles wanted to jam with Paul, Jimi and Tony Williams on a project but Paul was on vacation. That would have been interesting.

Interesting. There's also Rain, Penny Lane, Something, Lucy and Come Together which come to mind regarding Sir Paul. His playing is inventive and melodic, though very ocassionally it threatens to take over the song, like in Rain. Prince is a good bass player too, but I'm always confused about which parts he has played on a record and which parts he hasn't!

As for Prince's lead guitar parts, a friend of mine, for example, thought he hadn't played the solo on 'Kiss' because Wendy played it on the video. Years earlier, I remember I was disappointed to learn that the crisp solo in Sexy MF wasn't played by him!! There's only the huge bank of illegal live recordings to fall back on to showcase Prince's 'rock god' lead guitar persona, I guess. And a song or two on every album. Some of his best playing is understated elegance.

Very true. That's a good description.

Ego101 said:

i know more about Jimi than most..

i was talking about his professional 'solo' career..

what made him JIMI HENDRIX!

not Jimmy James or Maurice James or whatever...

BobGeorge909 said:

Ego101 said:

Prince has had 3 decades to not even come close to what

Jimi was able to achieve in only 4 years..

Why even discuss this?!?!!?

Jiminplayed guitar for a lot longer than four years. He spent more than four years on the chitlin circut alone.

Ego101 said:

Wow, really nice thread to shit on both performers. On one hand, we got a legend guitarist who didn't live long, althought long enough to made an huge impact and cemented him as a legend. On the other hand we got maybe our times greatest talents and musicians who ever stepped on this earth. The thing with the majority of people is that they tend to raise deceased human being to another level (and Jimi should be on another level) than the ones living right now. Prince fucking can do it all. But since he released Jughead, Arrogance, Grafitti Bridge etc he doesn't deserve the high praise as others. In the words of Digital Underground "We're giving heartbeat props (Why wait until the heartbeat stops?)". Prince can sing better than Jimi, Prince can (could) dance better than Jimi, Prince could produce better than Jimi, Prince has more styles in his music during his years than Jimi, Prince can play the same instruments and even more than Jimi. And foremost, Prince can do this all in fucking High Heel shoes! Does this mean I don't respect Jimi? Hell No!!!!!! I remember Jimi on a talk show when during interview was said to be the greatest guitar player on the planet. And Hendrix in a shy manner says "No, I believe there's two who are better than me in this room" *points at the studio band*" or something like that. What a great guy! How could you not like him. But get your godamm act together and start overestimate Prince a bit more, you just seem to underestimate and look down on him...just because.

[Edited 6/27/15 16:59pm]

What was said in that 'Dick Cavette' interview from 1969 was...

'You're considered one of the greatest guitar players in the world'...

Jimi replied

'what about the greatest sitting in this chair'

and yes Prince is BEYOND talented... But...

lets say if we take Prince from For You-Controversy ..

thats basically Jimi from Are you experienced?-Band of Gypsies..

Who do you think was more influential & IMPORTANT?

I know my answer!

Wolfie87 said:

Wow, really nice thread to shit on both performers. On one hand, we got a legend guitarist who didn't live long, althought long enough to made an huge impact and cemented him as a legend. On the other hand we got maybe our times greatest talents and musicians who ever stepped on this earth. The thing with the majority of people is that they tend to raise deceased human being to another level (and Jimi should be on another level) than the ones living right now. Prince fucking can do it all. But since he released Jughead, Arrogance, Grafitti Bridge etc he doesn't deserve the high praise as others. In the words of Digital Underground "We're giving heartbeat props (Why wait until the heartbeat stops?)". Prince can sing better than Jimi, Prince can (could) dance better than Jimi, Prince could produce better than Jimi, Prince has more styles in his music during his years than Jimi, Prince can play the same instruments and even more than Jimi. And foremost, Prince can do this all in fucking High Heel shoes! Does this mean I don't respect Jimi? Hell No!!!!!! I remember Jimi on a talk show when during interview was said to be the greatest guitar player on the planet. And Hendrix in a shy manner says "No, I believe there's two who are better than me in this room" *points at the studio band*" or something like that. What a great guy! How could you not like him. But get your godamm act together and start overestimate Prince a bit more, you just seem to underestimate and look down on him...just because.

[Edited 6/27/15 16:59pm]

[Edited 6/28/15 20:58pm]