SPYZFAN1 said:

IMO Prince's only real rival in being very accomplished on all the major rock instruments would be Todd Rundgren, who was pumping out mostly one man band masterpieces like 'Something/Anything' and 'A Wizard, a True Star' while P was still in high school. I'm sure he, along with Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder, were big influences in his whole one man band thang. And Todd, like P, is a pretty major lead guitarist too. Paul McCartney also deserves respect in being a great multi-instrumentalist, though as a lead guitarist, he's less flashy than Prince and Todd. Vitally, all these guys had 'the songs' too, not just the skills.

And also shout-outs to the late, great Junie Morrison and Glenn Goins, who were also no slouches in playing lots of instruments on their records.

Prince and McCartney are probably my favourates as multi-instrumental recording artists though.

[Edited 12/2/21 13:39pm]

Hamad said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

Who cares if he's not at the virtoustic level of P?..I enjoy his talent..it's not a contest to me. Another one is Johnny "Guitar" Watson. He started out as a piano player and later moved to guitar. He played most of the instruments on his albums....I'd have to throw Ike Turner in there too (guitar/piano/synth/bass/percussion) on his solo albums.

That’s pretty cool! I didn’t know that about JGW & it makes alot of sense why his music have a certain sonic quality, he’s one of my fave rhythm guitarists btw & I feel he doesn’t get his dues for his playing.

JGW is the man!!

i agree Bruno Mars a beast

He was great overall in the beginning but his considerable pocket drumming skills seriously and quickly deteriorated as he moved to drum machines. He improved exponentially on bass over the years. His funk rhythm guitar skills were consistantly amazing, though his lead guitar ideas became much less interesting (from a musician's standpoint), post-Gold Experience. I would say his keyboard skills leveled out early on but were more than adequate for the job he was doing. His voice never ceased to improve/evolve. At the end of the day what REALLY matters is whether or not one likes the music once the studio lights are turned off. There are people out there who can play circles around Prince even on his best day, but they don't make interesting music.

steakfinger said:

He was great overall in the beginning but his considerable pocket drumming skills seriously and quickly deteriorated as he moved to drum machines. He improved exponentially on bass over the years. His funk rhythm guitar skills were consistantly amazing, though his lead guitar ideas became much less interesting (from a musician's standpoint), post-Gold Experience. I would say his keyboard skills leveled out early on but were more than adequate for the job he was doing. His voice never ceased to improve/evolve. At the end of the day what REALLY matters is whether or not one likes the music once the studio lights are turned off. There are people out there who can play circles around Prince even on his best day, but they don't make interesting music.

Which songs would you say show his bass playing best?

steakfinger said:

pernil said:

Jeff Lynne (of ELO) is another masterful multi-instrumentalist, comfortable on guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and an amazing vocalist, producer, songwriter. Not to be overlooked!

Roy Wood (of ELO) was better Guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, sax, oboe, banjar and bagpipes!

MarshallStacks said:

IMO Prince's only real rival in being very accomplished on all the major rock instruments would be Todd Rundgren, who was pumping out mostly one man band masterpieces like 'Something/Anything' and 'A Wizard, a True Star' while P was still in high school. I'm sure he, along with Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder, were big influences in his whole one man band thang. And Todd, like P, is a pretty major lead guitarist too. Paul McCartney also deserves respect in being a great multi-instrumentalist, though as a lead guitarist, he's less flashy than Prince and Todd. Vitally, all these guys had 'the songs' too, not just the skills.

And also shout-outs to the late, great Junie Morrison and Glenn Goins, who were also no slouches in playing lots of instruments on their records.

Prince and McCartney are probably my favourates as multi-instrumental recording artists though.

[Edited 12/2/21 13:39pm]

Prince, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder are the holy trinity of balladeering in my book. Most of my fave Todd and Stevie songs are ballads. I wonder if it's mere coincidence they're multi-instrumentalists.

Todd is the man. "Wizard" to me was his "Gold Experience". Remy Shand's debut was cool too. He played everything on that album.

The problem with this kind of debate is that our answers are necessarily determined by the limits of our listening habits. There are countless great multi-instrumentalist across a wide range of genres, and I imagine that there are many great session musicians who work beyond the limelight etc. The person that I consider to be the greatest overall multi-instrumentalist is probably Hermeto Pascoal, but I wouldn’t assert that he was the best… I don’t know. Jacob Collier is possibly a superior musician to Prince overall, technically speaking, but I don’t like his music at all.

funkman88 said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

..and Marcus Miller has plenty of videos on his FB page of him playing different instruments on his own original compositions. He also played all the instruments on Miles' album "Tutu".

but not the virtuostic level of Prince...

.

look up the definition of virtuoso, go listen to Marcus, and then get back to us.

Does Frank Zappa count?

Do I care?

herb4 said:

Does Frank Zappa count?

Definitely a guitar virtuoso and was competent on the drums. But I'm not sure he could do any more than plink plonk on the piano. There's certainly no video evidence of him playing the keys.

fortuneandserendipity said:

herb4 said:

Does Frank Zappa count?

Definitely a guitar virtuoso and was competent on the drums. But I'm not sure he could do any more than plink plonk on the piano. There's certainly no video evidence of him playing the keys.

.

I wouldnt say drums specifically. He was a proficient percussionist including things like marimba, which translates to a little more than just plink plonk on the piano. But no, even as amazing as he was, i wouldnt put im the same categorey as some as a multi instumentalist.

[Edited 12/4/21 8:07am]

I dunno. I watched Frank play the bicycle spokes one time when he was a kid, Ed Sullivan Show or something like that. It's on YouTube. He was more of a composer though I suppose.

Thinking on it, I'd say Prince is right up there though. How about Beck?

I've been hard pressed to think of someone that supercedes him (or is even really close) besides some of the ones people have already posted. I watched Prince play keys, drums, bass, percussion, and rythym/lead guitar just in one aftershow. I've always wondered where the "24 instruments" meme came from that was part of his early publicity/hype. What exactly were those 24 instruments? Or was it 27?

Like, would a tamborine go in the plus column? The recorder or the triangle? A gong? Is piano much different than "synthesizer"? Bongos different than drums? Never say him play the harmonica but I bet he could.

herb4 said:

I dunno. I watched Frank play the bicycle spokes one time when he was a kid, Ed Sullivan Show or something like that. It's on YouTube. He was more of a composer though I suppose.

Thinking on it, I'd say Prince is right up there though. How about Beck?

I've been hard pressed to think of someone that supercedes him (or is even really close) besides some of the ones people have already posted. I watched Prince play keys, drums, bass, percussion, and rythym/lead guitar just in one aftershow. I've always wondered where the "24 instruments" meme came from that was part of his early publicity/hype. What exactly were those 24 instruments? Or was it 27?

Like, would a tamborine go in the plus column? The recorder or the triangle? A gong? Is piano much different than "synthesizer"? Bongos different than drums? Never say him play the harmonica but I bet he could.

Everything went in the plus column. Yeah, it was just part of the marketing spin accompanying For You (Husney's idea I think). I seem to remember that every synthesizer model was listed separately as well. In reality it was keys, guitar, bass, drums and various types of percussion (as though that isn't impressive enough!). As much as I love Prince, it still winds me up that every other YouTube comment peddles this BS.

[Edited 12/4/21 15:34pm]

MarshallStacks said:

And also shout-outs to the late, great Junie Morrison and Glenn Goins, who were also no slouches in playing lots of instruments on their records.

Prince and McCartney are probably my favourates as multi-instrumental recording artists though.

[Edited 12/2/21 13:39pm]

Yeah, Junie was a great musician by all accounts, but he always seemed more comfortable working in the background so probably doesn't get the recognition that he deserves (unless you're deep into P-Funk).

Glen's Quazar project was amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/w...pSldUE_OYQ

savagedreams said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

Definitely a guitar virtuoso and was competent on the drums. But I'm not sure he could do any more than plink plonk on the piano. There's certainly no video evidence of him playing the keys.

.

I wouldnt say drums specifically. He was a proficient percussionist including things like marimba, which translates to a little more than just plink plonk on the piano. But no, even as amazing as he was, i wouldnt put im the same categorey as some as a multi instumentalist.

[Edited 12/4/21 8:07am]

I think it's fair to say that Zappa's greatest gift was as a composer. Mindblowingly good.

What about Mark E Smith?

'How does Prince rank amonsgt the greatest multi-instrumentalists of all time?' is an unecessary, confusing question as it is very subjective without clear factual criteria attached. Please move to the chit-chat department yet to be created.

I dont believe in ranking when it comes to art, but I have to say something: when I started listening to Prince, I thought multi-instrumentalists were very rare. After some years, I realized it is not that rare as I thought. But Prince has something I dont see very often between them. He really is able to improvise in all those instruments and play in several genres.

.

Like George Benson said: "Every time I saw him on an instrument, I was surprised that he had that much knowledge of that instrument. Every now and then there is someone who will come along with gifts like that. He was always comfortable, whatever he played, and it didn’t make no difference what he was playing, he was just as comfortable. He didn’t work hard at it. It seemed as natural as breathing for him."

udo said:

'How does Prince rank amonsgt the greatest multi-instrumentalists of all time?' is an unecessary, confusing question
as it is very subjective without clear factual criteria attached. Please move to the chit-chat department yet to be created.

Phishanga said:

Which songs would you say show his bass playing best?

.

In studio, some songs that I would recommend that he played some bass solos are:

- I´m yours

- 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton

- What´s my name

But there are songs that show his groovy side, like ´Le Grind´, , ´7779311´, ´Alphabet Street´, ´Let´s work´, etc

.

..

Not to mention that some of his best bass moments were live. Like on the 2011 Bass Medley at Stade de France or the Bass Medley at Le Bataclan, 2002. There is one where he played some cool slap bass over a James Brown groove in one of those 2007 concerts, but I need more details.

.

.

[Edited 12/5/21 13:00pm]

GustavoRibas said:

Wolfie87 said:

I REALLY want to hear those isolated instruments on Alphabet St. As you probably already knew Morris Hayes talked about that on The Peach and Black Podcast. And he still claimed that it was an mind boggling experience just listening to the instruments. THAT is something for the estate to give us hardcore fans. Morris knows.

.

Yeah, the bass is buried in the mix. Ida Nielsen once said her fave P bassline was from ´Alphabet Street´, and I thought ´What? Love that song, but it isnt acknowledged by the bass, like Let´s Work´. I would love to listen to that bass isolated.

Wolfie87 said:

GustavoRibas said:

.

In studio, some songs that I would recommend that he played some bass solos are:

- I´m yours

- 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton

- What´s my name

But there are songs that show his groovy side, like ´Le Grind´, , ´7779311´, ´Alphabet Street´, ´Let´s work´, etc

.

..

Not to mention that some of his best bass moments were live. Like on the 2011 Bass Medley at Stade de France or the Bass Medley at Le Bataclan, 2002. There is one where he played some cool slap bass over a James Brown groove in one of those 2007 concerts, but I need more details.

.

.

[Edited 12/5/21 13:00pm]

I REALLY want to hear those isolated instruments on Alphabet St. As you probably already knew Morris Hayes talked about that on The Peach and Black Podcast. And he still claimed that it was an mind boggling experience just listening to the instruments. THAT is something for the estate to give us hardcore fans. Morris knows.

Exactly !