Prince came close last night man.

As a musician I can't believe what i'm reading.

But as was so aptly put by "SPRAKA", "That's what the internet is for baby! Serious debate about trivial topics."

With that in mind, i've counted to 10 and will attempt to write a sane post.

1st let me say that I AM a Prince fan who laid down good money to see him here at Staples in L.A. on 5/26.

I'm guessing the majority of you that are flat out saying that Prince is a better guitar player that Jimi Hendrix are relatively young (nothing wrong with that) and have never actually heard him play live (my point for bringing up age) or have not seriously listened to Are You Experienced, Axis Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland, Band of Gypsies or the Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock performances. Jimi introduced a new palette of sounds for electric guitarists.

Another element to consider is that, for the most part, Hendrix did what he did the context of a 3 piece format. He is extremely fortunate that Mitch Mitchell had some jazz chops which kept Hendrix's music from being restricted to strictly rock rhythms. (We won't discuss the bass player. True Hendrix fans will know why.) Now i'm not saying the Prince can't do this, but it would be interesting to see how he'd fare in stripped down 3 piece setting. The best Hendrix concert I saw was at Hunter College (NYC) (relatively intimate and great acoustics) where he decided to minimize the theatrics and focus on straight guitar playing. It was simply amazing how he could effortlessly shift from the funkiest rhythm guitar playing, something he doesn't get enough credit for (Remember, he "put in work" with the likes of Sam Cooke, B.B. King, Little Richard, The Isley Brothers, Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett and Ike and Tina Turner. Not much room for soloing here.) to the most unearthly solos and soundscapes using relatively pedestrian equipment by today's standards.

I'm going to skip over some of the more flamboyant and obvious examples of his guitar techniques but for rhythm guitar check out his treatment of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" from the Monterey Pop Festival or the classic "Little Wing" from Axis: Bold As Love. For the pure Hendrix tone check out "Voodoo Chile" from Electric Ladyland (a cut that Steve Winwood, another inductee, played on). For pure innovative experimentation check out "Third Stone From The Sun" from Are You Experienced or "1983 ... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)" and "Moon, Turn The Tides ... Gently Gently Away" from Electric Ladyland.

Btw, regarding the "to not die in his prime by something as pathetic as an overdose" statement, a leading forensic scientist said at the time that the dose of sleeping pills was too low to be fatal in itself. The official cause of death rendered was "inhalation of vomit due to barbiturate intoxication". Who knows, if he had received better medical care he might still be here today and settle this "silly" argument himself.

All in all, Supernova has said it best, "I'm just glad BOTH of them graced the earth with their talents."

As a musician I can't believe what i'm reading.

But as was so aptly put by "SPRAKA", "That's what the internet is for baby! Serious debate about trivial topics."

With that in mind, i've counted to 10 and will attempt to write a sane post.

1st let me say that I AM a Prince fan who laid down good money to see him here at Staples in L.A. on 5/26.

I'm guessing the majority of you that are flat out saying that Prince is a better guitar player that Jimi Hendrix are relatively young (nothing wrong with that) and have never actually heard him play live (my point for bringing up age) or have not seriously listened to Are You Experienced, Axis Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland, Band of Gypsies or the Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock performances. Jimi introduced a new palette of sounds for electric guitarists.

Another element to consider is that, for the most part, Hendrix did what he did the context of a 3 piece format. He is extremely fortunate that Mitch Mitchell had some jazz chops which kept Hendrix's music from being restricted to strictly rock rhythms. (We won't discuss the bass player. True Hendrix fans will know why.) Now i'm not saying the Prince can't do this, but it would be interesting to see how he'd fare in stripped down 3 piece setting. The best Hendrix concert I saw was at Hunter College (NYC) (relatively intimate and great acoustics) where he decided to minimize the theatrics and focus on straight guitar playing. It was simply amazing how he could effortlessly shift from the funkiest rhythm guitar playing, something he doesn't get enough credit for (Remember, he "put in work" with the likes of Sam Cooke, B.B. King, Little Richard, The Isley Brothers, Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett and Ike and Tina Turner. Not much room for soloing here.) to the most unearthly solos and soundscapes using relatively pedestrian equipment by today's standards.

I'm going to skip over some of the more flamboyant and obvious examples of his guitar techniques but for rhythm guitar check out his treatment of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" from the Monterey Pop Festival or the classic "Little Wing" from Axis: Bold As Love. For the pure Hendrix tone check out "Voodoo Chile" from Electric Ladyland (a cut that Steve Winwood, another inductee, played on). For pure innovative experimentation check out "Third Stone From The Sun" from Are You Experienced or "1983 ... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)" and "Moon, Turn The Tides ... Gently Gently Away" from Electric Ladyland.

Btw, regarding the "to not die in his prime by something as pathetic as an overdose" statement, a leading forensic scientist said at the time that the dose of sleeping pills was too low to be fatal in itself. The official cause of death rendered was "inhalation of vomit due to barbiturate intoxication". Who knows, if he had received better medical care he might still be here today and settle this "silly" argument himself.

All in all, Supernova has said it best, "I'm just glad BOTH of them graced the earth with their talents."

I agree with some of your points Blaque Knight but there are always people that will over play a guitarist and then others tear them down unecessarily.
I feel sorry for Prince coz he is never going to get his dues.
Take the example of Stevie Ray Vaughan ,was very similar to Hendrix played his songs and was even influenced by the same guitarists and yet he is one of the most highly rated guitarist there has been. But Prince dosent fall into any particular group ,he isnt rated in the same group as Hendrix and Clapton etc nor Vai ,Van Halen or even the power chord merchants like cobain or jack white.
To me he is underated and I say this because almost anyone I speak to dont even realise he can play.

Well BlaqueNight thats where the problem lies,you get Prince fans who are going over the top about him and have no real clue about guitar playing.

richierich said:

so because we have no clue about guitar playing, we dont have a right to enjoy Prince's guitar playing??? cuz that's the feeling I get from blaqueknight....just because we're not all hendrix historians like he is, we're not allowed to get away with something like "Prince's guitar is awesome" w/o first checking with Hendrix's catalogue first...well fuck that....I REFUSE to do that....I am not going to get caught up in this game of over-intellectualizing every piece of music I hear....Prince's guitar sounds pleasing to my ear...and that's all that matters...sorry if that doesnt measure up to your music snobbery...I'm just hear to enjoy the music, and not get caught up in all this other bullshit...I'll leave that to blaqueknight...

theAudience said:

Tell tha truth Bruh'...

in the undertaker video prince had the new power trio goin on... just him sonny and michael.. prince loves to experiment and he's still alive to try anything and everything and then some... here's something I wonder, does prince think he's better than hendrix or does he have a completely different way of thinking than who's the best guitar player in the world, prince has played gracefull guitar to hard rock guitar with every other style you can think of... jazz,funk,blues... you name it he has proven he can do it...

he keeps us comin back so he must have broke ground at one time or those of us who appreciate guitar skills would have moved on a long lime ago ..

Audience makes some good points, and I am envious of anyone who saw Hendrix, before he died.

Most Prince fans are not guitar players, so they can't really understand what it takes to play certain things, and to have certain ideas. And guitar is not just technique; it is heart and soul, and gut feeling. Prince plays with a lot of feeling, but not much originality. He borrows from other players, but I will agree that he is really powerful when he gets in the zone.

Prince is probably holding back. The Hall solo is proof he still has cats of many colors to be let out of the bag.

Audience, being a musician is great, but even musicians rely on taste as much as the next man. Everyone has a different way of looking at music. Music is a very subjective art form. Certain things can be seen for the crap that they are, but lots of music is subjectively good or bad, depending on the taste of the listener. You just like Hendrix better. Better to leave it at that.

Don't forget, Rolling Stone magazine picked Kurt Cobain as the 12the best guitar player of all time! See what I mean by subjective?

Prince, I bet, would be the first to admit that Hendrix was the better guitarist.

Two of my favorite guitar players are Jimmy Page
and Prince.
The other day at best buy i bought led zeppelin's live dvd

I appoligise SquarePeg If i came across as being snobbish as that was not my intention.
I myself hate guitar snobbery and have often had arguments about that kind of attitude.

When I said that "the problem lies,you get Prince fans who are going over the top about him and have no real clue about guitar playing". All I was saying is that people come on here and claim outright that Prince or Hendrix is the best like its a fact and there will always be a negative reaction to that.
I play guitar myself but I have mates that know as much about guitarists and they dont play guitar. I really enjoy Princes guitar playing and Jimi's I have equal time for both. I also agree with your statement about just enjoying the music instead of getting all scientific about it.

Prince, I bet, would be the first to admit that Hendrix was the better guitarist.

chrisslope9 said:

Yes, but he would also probably say that Larry was a better bass player which I would disagree with.