It's been said that Prince is a better keyboardist than he is a guitarist.

He is a phenomenal musician. No doubt about it.

On this board you often see Prince compared to musicians who specialize on only guitar; the posts are usually of the form "Prince is better on guitar than XXX because.....". Music is not a sporting event and it's difficult to say that one guy is "better" than another. For example, saw a DVD of Yngwie Malmsteen playing blues riffs. As much a speed-demon he is, playing a lot of notes and playing them fast didn't make his blues sound all that good. He's great at what he does, but a jazzman or bluesman, he ain't.

Forgetting the word "better", as a pure guitarist, how would you guys describe Prince's playing, and what exactly makes a "great" guitarist?

As a guitarist, I would put Prince in the top 5

1. Stevie Ray Vaughn
2. Prince
3. Eric Clapton
4. Jimmy Paige
5. Eddie Van Halen.

Now, I know a few of you are asking, "What about Hendrix"? Well, He just doesn't do it for me.

I've wanted to ask this question myself. I've always thought Prince was a great guitarist, but after Prince's absence from the recent Rolling Stone list of 100 greatest guitarists ever and hearing Warrant's Jani Lane call him a "suck-ass guitarist", makes me think that I'm not hearing what other people are hearing. I'm not a musician so I just may not know.

Is Prince really a great guitarist? Be honest with me.

i think he has a incredible sense of melody while playing, he knows lots of ways in his frets, he is very good at rock and funk improvisations, he has very good technique, he likes very much to hammer notes but his picking is good too. hmm, his blues playing is ok, he knows very well how to build a solo and achieve a climax. this is what i think of him.

sextonseven said:

Who said that prince was a suck ass guitarist? when and where did they say it?

i think that his solos are as beautiful as santana solo's, but he can go crazy too, like any turbo rocker :p

his playing nowadays are much better than before, on the aladdin las vegas he shows great playing.

Solos liek the one from i coudl never take the place of your man are not very difficult to play if you're a good guitarist, but it is very difficult to create, most guitar players would play a ordinary solo over a 3 chords progression, prince made a perfect solo. that's why he is great because he use guitar as an extension of himself to the music, he does not use it to show off, well, at least he shows of eheh

Like other instruments, he can play many styles on guitar effortlessly, jazz, rock, funk.
I was very impressed when he played Alphabet Street on acoustic, and was able to include the little fills from the record. He also scatted along with his playing like George Benson does. Cool

Still:
He's not a metal virtuoso like Steve Vai or Eddie van Halen.
He's not as revolutionary as Jimi Hendrix
He's not as powerful as Stevie Ray Vaughn
He doesn't do jazz quite like George Benson or Wes Montgomery.

But the fact that he's versatile enough to be compared to any of those people (who are some of the greatest) means he's pretty damn great, especially when you consider he's great on Bass, keyboards, drums, vocals, producing, arranging, and composing!

I think his strengths might be his rhythm (his acoustic playing, for example, or the funky stuff on Illusion Coma...), and his melodic leads.

Like other instruments, he can play many styles on guitar effortlessly, jazz, rock, funk.
I was very impressed when he played Alphabet Street on acoustic, and was able to include the little fills from the record. He also scatted along with his playing like George Benson does. Cool

Still:
He's not a metal virtuoso like Steve Vai or Eddie van Halen.
He's not as revolutionary as Jimi Hendrix
He's not as powerful as Stevie Ray Vaughn
He doesn't do jazz quite like George Benson or Wes Montgomery.

But the fact that he's versatile enough to be compared to any of those people (who are some of the greatest) means he's pretty damn great, especially when you consider he's great on Bass, keyboards, drums, vocals, producing, arranging, and composing!

I think his strengths might be that he ususlly, like 7salles said, uses the guitar as part of the music, not as an excuse to show off.

PRNelson said:

I read it in this thread: http://www.prince.org/msg/5/88093

It's the 40th post down.

This thread has been run to death. It baffles me that so many people trip on this topic. Being a guitarist myself who happens to play other instuments, I can say with confidence that Prince is a great guitarist. All facets of his playing. Prince has always been somewhat overlooked by the music press for being a great guitarist, hence polls. That has alot to do with not being able to get past Prince's image, and jealousy of Prince's other talents such as being a great vocalist, being a great musician on other instuments, being a great songwriter/producer and just being a great performer. That's a lot for a lot of jealous people to accept. So they justify it with downplaying him as a guitarist. Hendrix as great as he was, wasn't as great as a singer, same with Santana, Van Halen, Clapton, etc. Prince is different from them because of this. And the media knows it. Music legends know P is a great guitarist.

Prince is a great guitarist. I would put him in the top 20, which is pretty damn good IMO.

shorttrini said:

I like Stevie Ray as well, but his style and also his wardrobe was so heavily influenced by Jimi that I wonder how u can dig Stevie but not Hendrix.


Are you experienced? Well, I am.

Jimi Hendrix

sextonseven said:

Thats funny; a Jani Lane quote...who listening to him. Must of been like this: "okay sir, would u like fries with that?....alright sir that'll be $6.14. And Prince is a suck ass guitarist...." too funny. I'm not clowning u Sexton7, just thought that was funny.

But Sexton7, looks like we have similar taste in music. And I also play guitar (suck ass by the way). But to answer your question
Prince is the shit, he is really good...great. He isn't over schooled, so there is a rawness in all of his stuff. And his chord progressions can be way way simple too really advanced. So his songwriting is really fresh & varied on his songs. Where on the keys he seems to write much more experiemental stuff (check Sign O The Times album). As a pure player barring songwriter: he's tops. He has his own voice, and he does what works...all players have a bag of tricks-but with Prince it seems like all of his tricks are a bunch of "man, why don't I do that there...I never thought" or "man, thats one note...why does it sound so right"
He has great tone (most of the time) and he knows to use noise and space perfectly. I'm always blown away by him. I'm not a fan of the more conventional guitar heroes (Malmsteen, Vai, Van Halen, Satriani). I favor Daniel Ash, Buddy Guy, Lou Reed, Carlos, and even Joni.

Prince is great

my 2 sense

nero

andyman91 said:

This post helped conclude my thought:

All & all Prince has a unique voice on guitar, nothing technically to fancy...but like Miles: on his instrument when u hear it you go "Thats....(insert name)" Thats a testament to being a great artist.

Nero

shorttrini said:

I agree..Prince #2 #1 Hendrix, sorry .....If you where at the staples Center Sat. June 5, you know what I mean when I say "he killed his guitar while performing a whole lotta love". He brought the roof down that night. He soo funky he cant even sleep with himself!!!!

I honestly don't know why people get into heated debates over this. People are gonna like who they like. I remember Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists and it didn't bother me. After all, they're just offering an opinion. If we take it as the final word then that's our fault. I personally love Prince's guitar playing. I don't consider him the best ever, but I enjoy listening to him the most. I don't look at the usual suspects (Van Halen, Clapton, Vaughn) and nod in agreement. I enjoy the ones I know about. If I had to list my favorite guitarists, it would look like this:

1.Prince
2.Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead)
3.Dean Dileo (Stone Temple Pilots)
4.Kirk Hammett (Metallica)

I don't consider them the greatest, they're just who I enjoy listening to and learning from.