We all know that Prince is a master on guitar, bass, piano & keys. But what about drums? During long periods some drummers have played regularly with Prince (John Blackwell, Sheila E. and Michael Bland are in my opinion the best ones), and in a lot of songs and albums he has used drum programming.
But, especially in the past, he has played drums and percussion. If it’s him who actually plays in that songs, I think the best examples of Prince drumming are “The Tambourine”, “The Cross”, “Slow Love”, “Bambi”, “Sexual suicide”, “Starfish and coffee”, and my favourite one “Crystal Ball”. We can’t forget when Prince drummed on “It’s gonna be a beautiful night” while Sheila E. rapped during the “Sign O’ The Times tour”.
What do you think? Is he a good drummer? Should he play drums more often? In what songs does he play durms better?

A) Prince has played drums on nearly every song on every Prince release, so the list would be huge.
B) John Blackwell has mentioned Prince as an influence on his drumming more than once.
C) He's more versatile on drums than people realize.
D) He's real tight on the hi-hat.

The most unique thing about Prince, is the level of dedication he must have had as a kid to learn all of these instruments so well. You can hear it starting before his first album when you listen to the early instrumental "demos" from 1975-1977.
He also played all drums on the Madhouse stuff, according to Eric Leeds... I think.

Peace.

Giovanni.

Giovanni777 said:

HE'S THE BEST DRUMMER IN THE WORLD!!!111

Blackwell said in Sydney earlier this year "the man (Prince) can play some serious drums".

i think prince practises the drums the least, and that shows on some recordings i.e. tamborine and the cross, he aint really all THAT tight.

on the other hand, the studio nights demos and madhouse 8 are excellent examples of prince drumming to a very high standard.
As is often the case with prince's playing, it may not be excellent technically, but the vibe he gets across is great. He plays so that all the instruments lock together very well on his solo recording.

NME said:

what did you think about his drumming on Emancipation?

I think he's an excellent drummer. Remember in the Sign O' the Times when he was working the double-bass drums? That was cool. Oh yeah, and another proof in the pudding was the live video for "America". One of his best performances ever.

I have a problem with Emancipation. There are some good performances on drums, for example "The holy river". But the question is: did Prince played that drums? In the booklet, next to "Sleep around", "Da da da" credits you can read about Kirk Johnson: associate producer, arranger, drums, additional shynt programming. Does it mean that it's Kirk who has played drums on Emancipation? Or only in that songs? Or sometimes Kirk and sometimes Prince?
What do you know about that?

femi jiya said he thought prince was excellent on drums, even better than the usual instruments he plays.

I always Irresistable Bitch was a great example og Prince on drums

I think prince is an average drummer. For a start, he rarely gets on them, and being the show boater that he is, he would do it all the time if he felt he was good.

As for the Cross, I though Sheila E drummed on the album version.

As for its gonna be a beautiful night, thats sheila. The studio "mix" used her throughout. Her rap was an overdub.

Tamborine was good, but easy in a studio on your own. I saw prince do it live in London last year, and it was pretty good, but that doesn't make him a good drummer.

Check out the America video. Average at best.

SquirrelMeat said:

LaMont said:

That's only because it is.

SquirrelMeat said:

Nah, being the showboater that he is wouldn't jibe for him to be behind the entire band the entire show - not a place for someone of his mentality. If he felt he was an average Joe on the kit I don't think he would play them publicly at all. How often does he attempt playing the sax in front of an audience at a gig?

In many cases a performer's main axe seems to be an extention of their personality on stage. Usually it's the most extroverted people in bands who are guitar players and singers.


æ
[This message was edited Tue Sep 23 18:43:06 PDT 2003 by Supernova]

but what about what femi jiya said? he would know.

SquirrelMeat said:

ufoclub said:

But Femi thought the "Good Question" album was a masterpiece of pop!?!?!

Just like the issue with people accepting his guitar playing...

If he was just a guitar player, he'd get props.

If he just played drums, he'd get props.

If he just played Bass, he'd get props...

ETC.


Give it up, SquirrelMeat... he's pretty tight on skins.

Peace.

SquirrelMeat said:

On the SOTT studio album Bobby Z is drumming, the music score was recorded live during the Parade tour in Paris 1986. The overdubs - if any for the drums - may be Prince or Sheila.

But during the SOTT shows Prince drummed when Sheila did her rap. In the video recording of the show you can see Prince sneaking behind the drumkit and Sheila rapping in front.
That piece shows what kind of drummer Prince is... he sure is funky on them drums... whether he is the best or not: who gives a f...? He is funky and that is all what matters imho.

JavierAlcalde said:

Isn't most of Emanc on keys and drum machines?

As far as I know it's Prince who playes drums on The Cross, Sheila E. only played in one song in Sign O' The Times album ("U Got The Look").
As one guy has said, when I talked about "It's gonna be a beautiful night", I was thinking about the live version you can watch in the official video of this tour. Prince played drums while Shela rapped.
I think he is not thecnically an incredible durmmer, he plays guitar or piano better, and I guess that is one of the reason he usually has a drummer with him, but when I listen to Bambi, for example, I'm very surprised that he can play damn well.
By the way, a guy has mentioned sax.
I heard once he played sax when teenager, but does he really play sax?

candy dulfer said she heard some average to poor playing on a tape once of prince on sax

JavierAlcalde said: