First of all i was not the one bringing the thread. It is blaquekight who said i think that prince is the god of all guitar playing. I was just defending one's point of view. The discussion is silly, i only joined because it is about guitar. Just because i think that halen cant play jazz doesent mean that I think the discussion is valid or that i think Pricne is the end all and be all of guitar.

Blaquekight first of all we should define what is better. You are condratiction in human form. You always praise BBKing and Hendrix and tell how much they were great, and you know Prince got skills to play any of their songs. so do this means he is better than them? or at least as good? No uh? Why? Can you base your argument that hendrix was great based on abilities? I think hendrix is great for his innovantions and SOUL, but if you try to play his solos they are not that difficult. Some Prince's solo are more difficult, so does it means that Prince is better at lead guitar than hendrix?
Why when you compare Steve Vai to Prince all you talk about is skills and abilities and when you compare Prince to a legend like hendrix you forget the skills and only talk about how much innovative hendrix was.

The way you compare guitar player are made to please your preferences, you are very objective when you compare Prince to a virtuoso like Vai, but when one's compare Prince with a idol of yours like those 70's legends, all you talk about is things that have nothing to do with the actual playing. Like innovation. If hendrix lived on a jamaican island and didn't care for being seen and if nobody never heard of him, would he be a less of a musican?

If we cannot say that Prince is better than Hendrix, you cannot say that Steve Vai is better than Prince. Influence and inovattion has nothing to do with ability.

P.S. I think that Steve Vai and Hendrix are better guitar players than Prince.

BlaqueKnight said:

Pat Metheny is a better jazz guitarist than P because that's what HE does. Why compare? EVH and SV are primarily rock guitarists so why compare them to P's jazz work? I don't get it. Isn't that comparing apples and oranges...yet again!!!????

Calm down man. Hendrix is not only praised because he was inovvative. My point was that being inovative don't make him better than Prince. It makes him more important. Not better.

Truth of the fact. You can whine what you want. I take guys like hendrix, nuno bettencourt, pet metheny, stanley jordan over Prince any day AT GUITAR PLAYING. But it's not a fact. Its only my opinion. There's no way to prove that one musican is better than the other. Only if we talk about technical abilite. And if we go on that vein. Prince is better than Hendrix, Jimi Page, BBKing, Eric CLapton and tons of guitar players whoa re famous for guitar playing. And yes, he is worse than tons of other guitar players.
But we'll never agree that it is a fair way to compare. So yes, it IS subjective.

Look people all i have to say: Prince is Prince.
He isn't the greatest at any instrument, that's just a silly thing
to say really. Yes he's a damn fine musician and creative artist,
Prince is a legend in its own right.

But he isn't the alpha and omega of all music, are you people stupid?

Not stupid... just opinionated.

I respect anybody that can play an instrument, whether it's Prince or the musicians in my church band... they're all amazing.

But only Prince can just hold a guitar... just hold it. And you're imagination flows about what kind of magic will flow out of one of his solos... the chills that go up the back of your spine and all over your arms...

Sorry. Eddie, Stevie Ray, Steve Vai, Santana, hell I'm sure even Jimi. Great guitarists, but none of them can touch the magic that Prince creates while playing.

Just my opinion.

laylow03 said:

Well said my friend. You know I luv Pat's stuff!!

thebanishedone said:

Have you listened to many jazz guitarists. I don't think Prince plays jazz, he doesn't improvise. He has set ideas and perfects them until he thinks they sound bad ass, they aren't off the cuff or spontaneous. He's a perfectionist. He's an AWESOME guitarist, one of the best in his class. BUT Jazz, he does not. he's pop and his ideas and notes are pop.

Prince does not improvise?
It does not make sense, of course he improvises. It's all he does, he always improvises over the theme of the songs.
[This message was edited Mon May 10 17:55:02 2004 by 7salles]

SteamForest said:

Pat is one of the greatest! I grew up listening to his work and will always be a devoted fan. But I understand the difference between a jazz guitarist and a rock guitarist. It's simply ridiculous to compare the two. You got fine tastes in music, my friend.

BlaqueKnight said:

Quick note: Like the surgeon point.


I think I should respond to this since it seems to be addressing my post somewhat. I hear what you're saying about ability, and I was being a little mischevious I guess, but I was trying to point out how something that we consider every day, the idea of 'quality', is an abstract concept and not as set in stone as we may think.

'Certain aspects of ability are NOT subjective'.

But they are aren't they. When you talk about ability you're talking about quality. I know it's hardly necessary for this thread, which is a rather crap one, but I'll make my point anyway. The factors that govern what is of quality and what demonstrates ability are entirely subjective i.e. based on peoples' opinions, thoughts, preferences and such like.

That's not to say that we can deny them and ignore the idea of quality. It's only natural for humans to seek out what they think is of quality and find what pleases them. Prestige and importance are then placed upon these things.

The quality is not in the object or thing itself, but is subjectively endowed. Think about a nice wooden table. Nowhere in the table can you find the quality. It's just a wooden table. The quality is subjective and entirely in the human mind. It all comes down to how you are going to judge things and what various elements you are going to attribute importance to.

Therefore, one can (just about) argue that Prince is a better guitarist than blahblahblah as a result of attributing importance to different aspects of guitar playing in regards to another listener.

However, the fam worship factor cannot be overestimated, and of course we live in the real world where quality is very real and a big part of our lives. People are coming from different places based upon their musical tastes and perhaps most importantly their degree of musical experience (wot music they heard). This could lead them to place vastly different degrees of importance on aspects of guitar playing such as feel, technique, improvisation, simply how it makes you feel etc.

So, looked at philosophically? Yes, Prince can be better than anyone somebody cares to compare him with, no matter how absurdly innappropriate.

Realistically? Perhaps, but the author of this thread could have picked some better players to compare to Prince. What we've ended up with is a pretty crap thread.

And, as has been said many, many times, who care who Prince is better or worse than? Prince is a really good guitarist who I think we all enjoy listening to immensely. That is more than enough. Why trouble yourself over anything more?

from the silly topic i posted,this became great guitar playing discussion.wow

BlaqueKnight said:

I agree with Blaque. Very well said, too.

BlaqueKnight said:

lookie here y'all.
some kind of reasoned synthesis has to be found that addresses everybody's points about great guitar playin' and who's the best. we gotta weigh all the arguments pro and con, and see how the whole thing comes together. and i think i really discovered the only right way of viewing this neverending battle. if you want to call this all encompassing view a compromise, then that's fine, but here it is:

PRINCE IS THE FRIGGIN GREATEST GUITARIST EVER IN EVERY STYLE!!!!



if there's one thing the good Lord love, it's the truth!!
[This message was edited Tue May 11 15:24:37 2004 by HiinEnkelte]