i think most would agree that zappa had a slight edge on prince on the guitar but who was the best all round musician?
...i think prince gets the vote here here...what do you think?

This again?

No contest really. Nobody (not even Prince) comes close to Zappa. He was in a league of his own.

TheGoldExperience puts it perfectly in this thread http://www.prince.org/msg/7/78037

TheGoldExperience

Thanks to TheGoldExperience for saying it so well.

While Prince can play more instruments than Frank, when you're a composer, that puts you at the top of the food chain. Just about anyone can learn to play other instruments. But to be able to compose music well is something very few can do. Prince's composition skills are limited in that he can't seem to get beyond his funk/rock stylings. On the other hand Zappa's musical composition diversities are limitless.

In the '60s & '70s:

~ revolutionized & brought jazz-fusion to the fore, when no one knew what to call this type of music
~ proto-type 16 track tape machine
~ Creating Avante-Garde fusions of: R&B/Doo-Wop/Soul/Classical, resulting in the first labelings of "Underground" or "Cult" artist or followings
~ Big Band fusion
~ one of the first (if not the first) Popular artists to write satirical, iconoclastic, political, scathing & "blue" lyrics
~ rock orchestral concerts
~ mind bending time signatures, dipped in flexible time arrangements

In the '80s & '90s:

~ brought digital technology to the fore in becoming the first person to push for CD technology in 1983, while record companies laughed at him for even considering releasing his albums on CDs
~ brought the synclavier into the spotlight
~ succeeded in hiring the German Modern Ensemble, who became the first orchestra to properly perform his most challenging compositions


The answer is clear:

Zappa is God.

Zappa No Doubt About It. That Man Is (was) a MUSICAL God!!!

i think zappa is up their with the greats but i think as a songwriter, prince was/is better. i think zappa was a genius in a lot of different musicial styles and a great musician but i dont think he wrote as many classics as prince has.
...
...i feel that overall...composer, musician,live performance, range of styles, prince edges it although i do feel that zappa is his closest challenger as far as musicial genius goes.

blackboab said:

Yeah, but your question was "Best musician...Prince or Zappa?"

Best musician - Zappa.

Best songwriter - Prince.

sorry, i have to disagree with you,cloudbuster.(love that song,by the way) zappa edges it on guitar...yes , zappa edges it on mastering a whole range of music styles...yes, but could zappa kill a bass guitar like prince can...nope...could zappa hammer those piano keys like little richard...nope. could zappa sing like an angel then do the splits while dancing with his mike stand...nope.
...
...as a overall musicial package, prince is the one.

Zappa!???

He ain't FUNKY!

blackboab said:

Yes, Zappa he could do all of those things better than Prince, well apart from doing the splits. Prince is an ok bass player - just because he plays slap, don't mean a great player. He's a good player, yes. Prince's keyboard & bass lines aren't even remotely difficult...

this is impossible, It's like choosing between air and water.

...many of U r choosing one over the other but in the end U'll die of thirst.

heh heh heh


Marcus Miller.

Reply to 'best musician...prince or zappa?'

Are you kidding?

I wouldn't know. I'm always out of money by the time I get to the "Z" section.

BTW, if you cross Zappa and Prince, you get mid-period Funkadelic. Agree?

Revolution said:

?!?!??

You REALLY need to hear some of the shit off You Are What You Is, Sheik Yerbouti and Tinseltown Rebellion.

TheGoldExperience said:

yeah right...you should try to play Lovesexy on the keyboards. Or Partyman bass line. Quite obviously you are neither a bass player nor a keyboard player.

blackboab said:

Same tired old shit over and over again. Prince is crap. In fact there are and have been millions of musicians better than him. He is a very average singer, producer, musician, performer etc... blablabla...zzz

Oscar Peterson is better than him on the piano...Miles on the trumpet balblabla.

There are no real interesting news about Prince and most prince forums have become pathetic. Adios.

Stevie Wonder!

Zappa's music is much deeper and more diverse than Prince's (diverse as that is). He was a better guitar soloist/ improviser by far.

However, Prince is probably a more versatile guitarist (and I'm particularly talking about Prince's rhythm playing). And Prince can sing and play at the same time. By his own admission, Frank couldn't!

Zappa was a true composer. Prince is a very talented singer/songwriter/performer. These are different skills.Had Zappa lived longer, he would probably have gone on to create more truly great works in his studio and for orchestra. He was a better record producer too, in my opinion. The sound on his '70's albums is normally far better than other albums of the period, even after remastering.

Also, Zappa's bands were far superior to most of Prince's. Any Zappa band (after the original Mothers of Invention, at least) would have destroyed the Revolution or the Lovesexy bands (good as they were). I think only the current NPG line-up would have any real chance of standing up to Frank's virtuosic bands in a one-on-one battle of the bands.

On balance, Zappa is definitely the better all-round music man, but Prince at his best produces music just as enjoyable and interesting, if less sophisticated and varied. I hate to say it, but much as I appreciate 'NEWS', compared, say, to Zappa's 'The Grand Wazoo', no contest. But -Prince still has time to add great new things to his musical legacy. Poor Frank doesn't.