To you Expert and Advanced Guitar Players, Did Prince invent any Guitar Chords never made? Or every chord he ever played had been played or existed before?

I don't know about invented... but I always thought the Controversy chord was deceptively simple but powerful.

It's just two notes, E and F#. But he gets so much power out of it.

The weed must be good in Texas.

No, not as far as I know. I highly doubt anyone has discovered a new chord in several centuries.

BUT - Prince had a knowledge of chords that was extremely advanced. Plus, his imagination was just off the hook. So, you have lots and lots and lots of songs where he fiddled with different chords and that's part of what made him sound like no one else.

Check out "Last December" for some of his best work. Or, the recently-released acoustic version of "I Feel for You". Those are brilliant.

On the other hand, he could take two simple chords like E and A, write a song like "The Cross", and get you that way, too.

While TrivialPursuit try to be smart ...PurpleDorothy and RodeoSchro gave very good insight and information on what I was asking! Thanks for the info!

[Edited 1/10/20 11:10am]

Astasheiks said:

While TrivialPursuit try to be smart ...PurpleDorothy and RodeoSchro gave very good insight and information on what I was asking! Thanks for the info!

[Edited 1/10/20 11:10am]

It didn't take a genius or a troll thread on the Org to know you can't invent a goddamn guitar chord.

Not the chords, you can't really invent a chord and Prince didn't mess with alternative tunings, but some of the feeback, textural sounds he'd use might count.

He may have been exposed early to unusual chords via his dad's music.

Astasheiks said:

To you Expert and Advanced Guitar Players, Did Prince invent any Guitar Chords never made? Or every chord he ever played had been played or existed before?

No. He didn't play a single thing on the guitar that hadn't been played before him by someone else. Neither did Jimi Hendrix, for that matter. It's how you combine all your influences into something that is unique to you, but there are only 12 notes repeating over octaves and every combination of them has been used. Prince was a lot of things, but he was not an innovative guitarist. He was a very cool guitarist, but Hendrix broke a lot more ground that was new at the time. Music doesn't work that way, usually. If a new musician (like Jaco on the bass), comes along, the innovation tends to be in the sound they make or the bring a new level of athleticism to the art. Prince used fairly normal guitar sounds 99% of the time and his athletic skill on the guitar was somewhere in the middle. The music was cool and that's what made him, not his playing.

TrivialPursuit said:

Astasheiks said:

While TrivialPursuit try to be smart ...PurpleDorothy and RodeoSchro gave very good insight and information on what I was asking! Thanks for the info!

[Edited 1/10/20 11:10am]

It didn't take a genius or a troll thread on the Org to know you can't invent a goddamn guitar chord.

A lot people are not as verse as you in Guitar Chords. And besides its not something worth taking The Lords name in vain over!

lavendardrummachine said:

Not the chords, you can't really invent a chord and Prince didn't mess with alternative tunings, but some of the feeback, textural sounds he'd use might count.

Thank you

steakfinger said:

Astasheiks said:

To you Expert and Advanced Guitar Players, Did Prince invent any Guitar Chords never made? Or every chord he ever played had been played or existed before?

No. He didn't play a single thing on the guitar that hadn't been played before him by someone else. Neither did Jimi Hendrix, for that matter. It's how you combine all your influences into something that is unique to you, but there are only 12 notes repeating over octaves and every combination of them has been used. Prince was a lot of things, but he was not an innovative guitarist. He was a very cool guitarist, but Hendrix broke a lot more ground that was new at the time. Music doesn't work that way, usually. If a new musician (like Jaco on the bass), comes along, the innovation tends to be in the sound they make or the bring a new level of athleticism to the art. Prince used fairly normal guitar sounds 99% of the time and his athletic skill on the guitar was somewhere in the middle. The music was cool and that's what made him, not his playing.

Very cool information... Thanks