Don't know if this was mentioned already...(like I come to this forum enough to know...sheesh.. )...but

According to this site:

http://www.thumpcity.com/...arists.htm

...Prince is listed as the 13th most underrated guitarist. The text:

"Admittedly, this guy is a whack job. That much is certain. But what is also certain is how outstanding a musician he is. Born Prince Rogers Nelson in the city that spawned Husker Du, Soul Asylum and the players formerly known as the NHL's North Stars, Prince first hit the music scene late in the 1970s with a couple of relatively anonymous releases. Drawing on his child prodigy-like experience of learning more than 20 instruments by ear, Prince has always been an innovator in the realm of rock/soul/funk/pop.

The Purple One's main strength (aside from inexplicably getting hotties like Vanity and Appolonia to sleep with his scrawny ass) is the way he integrates all different styles into his compositions. Also drawing on gospel, Prince (as he is now again called) crafted some of the more intricate and grandiose arrangements heard in an era characterized by synth pop. Of course, everything came to a head (pardon the pun) with the release of 1982's 1999 album. Powered by the singles "Little Red Corvette," "Delirious" and the title track, Prince solidified himself as one of the more charismatic, provocative and reclusive musicians of his era. Outlandishly dressed, Prince would often prance around in various states of undress while singing songs with thinly veiled sexual metaphors like "Gett Off," "Cream" and "I Can't Wait to Get You Home and Screw You Eight Ways To Tuesday."

The ever-popular PURPLE RAIN soundtrack and movie highlighted not only his increasing songwriting talent, but also his invigorating guitar playing. The end solo to "Let's Go Crazy" is just one of the many sticking points of his six-string work. Although Prince's latter works have gone largely unnoticed and unpublicized, just one listen to tracks from EMANCIPATION or any release for that matter completely illustrates his amazing musicianship. Being more known for his funky shaped guitars, bizarre name changes and borderline androgynous behavior may be his own fault. But being known as an underrated guitar player who seamlessly meshed rock, pop, funk, soul and gospel for some of the most musically and lyrically perverted songs in the history of music should be something to his credit."







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[This message was edited Sat Mar 6 23:42:02 2004 by Byron]

Bob Mould at number 3. Props to the article's author.

J Mascis and Robert Smith should have been on the list too...

To be perfectly honest, although I like Prince as an artist, (excuse me while I don my asbestos body suit) i've never considered him to be one of the "great" guitarists. IMHO, his strengths are in other areas (performer, vocalist, songwriter).

I'll give the writer Ty Tabor though.

Hmmmm, i think Prince is the one of most underated guitarists, he is one of the best, and i listen to led zepelin, jimi hendrix, and some eric clapton. His lead breaks are great, in "lets go crazy" that part where all the music stops, (except for the guitar) is really gr8, and the lead break to purple rain, is simple, but goes with the song very well. He's doesn't use major chords all the time, he plays around with wierd chords, and still can play a gr8 guitar lead break around them. The twin lead in computer blue is brill, and in sign 'o' the times he shows how his guitar breaks vary, unlike sum artists...

I think in his latest albums, he doesn't play much guitar, or any obvious guitar, he aint as much rock anymore as he is pop/soul/r'n'b

our man is the most underrated guitarist, only because he does so many other things.

most general music lovers dont even kno p plays guitar, u wouldnt believe the amount of people ive spoken 2 over the years who have said 2 me "i always thought prince was a pop singer like michael jackson but not as good" the general record buying public dont really kno anything about prince ! a friend of mine went 2 see p in concert simply 2 c, if he was as good as i had been saying he was ,....and he couldnt believe how well p performed and actually said was he really playing the GUITAR the guy just couldnt believe how good he was !!!

danielboon said:

Just watching him do that Blues Jam on the Alladin video should be enough proof of how great this man is on guitar...so understated and punctuating the song in between lines and then just exploding a nasty lead towards the end...OMG.

in times when he had great drummers like sheila,john b. michael bland his guitar playing was way much better then the periods where drummers were not so god or he had drum machines.
maybe its because good drummer give you on dinamics.

theAudience said:

The only way to really know his skills is to hear him rip on guitar live. Have you?

Nice to see Lindsey Buckingham get a mention.

theAudience said:

- well, I agree and disagree.
I think Prince is responsible for being underrated. Guys like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Steve Vai, etc played the guitar all the time, while Prince spends so much time dancing and acting like a pop star. And these guys usually do albums full of great guitar solos, while lots of Prince songs dont have them. And some of his best solos are on bootlegs and outtakes. There is one amazing guitar solo in a track called ´My summertime thang´.
But on the other hand, Prince can be very good when he wants to. The guitar work of ´When doves cry´ is amazing, even Jeff Beck praised it. His solo on ´Joy in repetition´ of ONA live set is so cool too. There is a live version of ´Strollin´ (I think it´s ONA Zurich) that has a picking sequence that owes nothing to Benson.
My honest opinion is.....I think Prince doesn´t challenge himself too much on the guitar. Sometimes, he plays those pentatonic solos all the time and it sounds like auto-pilot. He has the talent to be great, to do interesting solos, but he doesn´t seem to want. The guitar solos of NEWS, for example, are so minimalistic it hurts.

NPGLOVER said:

- Not always. Lots of his live performances aren´t that good. For example, Rave 2000 is boring to death. But when he is inspired, he can be great

I do think his performances on the guitar are excellent - in a live forum. It doesn't surprise me that his guitar skills are underrated, given that on record he has been a bit restrained at times. That's why i love the undertaker - it's as close to his funky guitar ramblings as we've ever got, I think. Rave - i agree, the guitar on there is a bit boring and that's live. But then at times on the Beautiful Experience, again you can see some real guitar showmanship there. Whether or not, technically, he's a great guitar player i'm not qualified to say. But he damn impresses me when he lets rip.

JCL04 said:

Huh? Have you not listened to TRC? Lotsa guitar on that one!