Just a thought: you know how it is always said that you need to put 10.000 hours more into something than the Average Joe to really master a skill, to be up there with the best?

Well, isn't Prince a perfect example of this - he undeniably had a great talent, but boy did he also do the practice work. This becomes even more apparent now that all the vault stuff comes to light (seems he had his tape rolling most of the time...) , and of course his relentless aftershow gigging and long rehearsal jams are already stuff of legend.

Really, a great example that talent + discipline get you far!

They should teach this at music school !!!

Krid said:

They should teach this at music school !!!

LOL since when do music classes or any art class not teach practice, practice, practice?

Hmm, I think it was more than 10% talent.

If anything, he wasn't a prefectionist in the studio, and he put in the preparation.

You could argue that what you classified as the "hard work" was detrimental to his output. He grinded himself down and had to always be on, always be creating, to the point where he lost perspective and it wasn't sustainable. A lot of his music wasn't complicated enough that he needed to be rehearsing it all day for months between tours.

Born musicians play though. It would have taken work to stop himself.

[Edited 7/9/20 12:06pm]

Krid said:

Just a thought: you know how it is always said that you need to put 10.000 hours more into something than the Average Joe to really master a skill, to be up there with the best?

Well, isn't Prince a perfect example of this - he undeniably had a great talent, but boy did he also do the practice work. This becomes even more apparent now that all the vault stuff comes to light (seems he had his tape rolling most of the time...) , and of course his relentless aftershow gigging and long rehearsal jams are already stuff of legend.

Really, a great example that talent + discipline get you far!

They should teach this at music school !!!

As someone who went to a music college, I can assure that hard work and practice is definitely being taught lol

lavendardrummachine said:

masaba said:

masaba said:

No better or worse way it could have gone.

Really? Cause I can think of both.

Nobody is second guessing how he lived his life, it was his life to live and he created amazing work, but if someone wants to sum it up by minimizing the born talent and claiming it was some Malcolm Gladwell nonsense application of practice, then yeah let's scrutinize that. He worked harder than everyone else, but not because he had to overcome a lack of talent, it was a compulsion.

[Edited 7/10/20 3:32am]

With hard work and talent, it doesnt mean you automatially get something good. Look at all those savants.

.

Without taste and creativity, work and talent don't mean much where it comes to art.

Luckily Prince had all the above.

v10letblues said:

With hard work and talent, it doesnt mean you automatially get something good. Look at all those savants.

.

Without taste and creativity, work and talent don't mean much where it comes to art.

Luckily Prince had all the above.

This combined with the 100% talent, 100% work post above are the correct answers, in my opinion.

Prince was way more than 10% talent. While he was an incredibly hard worker, there are millions of hard workers in whatever field they are in but still don't come close to Prince's level of creative success. I think the 90% rule is more relevant for the masses who aren't extremely gifted. I do believe the 905 - 10% breaddown is closer to what Madonna did, when you consider all the thought and effort she put into promotion, videos, and staying current enough to be relevant on pop radio for over a couple of decades.

To take nothing away from Prince's incredible discipline, obviously he was wired a certain way, early on. A lot of people, including Prince himself, would think it a divine intervention. But Prince compared himself to Mozart, and one thing they did have in common was early exposure to music from musical fathers. I doubt John raised Prince on Raffi records. Study after study shows listening to music and especially playing music early on yields massive cognitive benefits. The best thing you can do for your kid's brain is stick an instrument in their hands before the age of 5.

Fate is the key. His fate was to be the artist he became.

masaba said:

masaba said:

lavendardrummachine said:

Hmm, I think it was more than 10% talent.

If anything, he wasn't a prefectionist in the studio, and he put in the preparation.

You could argue that what you classified as the "hard work" was detrimental to his output. He grinded himself down and had to always be on, always be creating, to the point where he lost perspective and it wasn't sustainable. A lot of his music wasn't complicated enough that he needed to be rehearsing it all day for months between tours.

Born musicians play though. It would have taken work to stop himself.

[Edited 7/9/20 12:06pm]

I disagree completely. We love Prince because of who he was. Don't get some of y'all who wish he was different in some way. He DID need to be rehearsing those uncomplicated songs all day for months, because if he didn't he wouldn't be Prince and we wouldn't have all this great music or be on this site. It was part of who he was as a musician and as a person. To assert that Prince practiced too much is so ridiculous to me... he lived the way he lived, played what he played, died the way he died. That's it. There's no other story. No better or worse way it could have gone. Sorry to be so morbid, but dude is a legend, the flaws and falls come with that. But yeah as for the topic in question, he clearly had a shitload of natural ability but put in a herculean amount of work.

The beauty of theorizing/spitballing/daydreaming about this stuff is that it doesn't have to change the story. Luckily for purists, it couldn't anyway. And that's really not the point - even though I don't agree with lavendar, I still think theorizing about what may or may not have changed the present is a pretty naturally human thing to do. Pretending to be above it all is a bit of a tell.

Personally, I love Prince's history and his output. Not all of the music is really my favorite, but Prince's true knack and genius (to me) was that he could inject emotion, color, and fantasy into a blender and turn "simple" songs into powerhouses that resonated with a hugely diverse set of realities. Could he have done it without exhaustive rehearsing and recording? IMO, not likely. Prince was so comfortable, so familiar in the space of his compositions that it freed him to take it to the moon nearly every time.

10% talent? WTF He ain't Justin Bieber