The best for me is Sly Stone without a doubt. Guitar, Keys, Bassguitar, drums.
2) Prince
3) Stevie Wonder
4) Bootsy Collins

elmariachi said:

If the song info states " All other instruments played by Stevie" and no other musicians are listed,I guess that means he played it.

The question is who's the best, right? People are questioning Stevie's abilities on multiple instruments-- undeservedly so-- but what about these other dudes? I'm not familiar enough with Bowie's live shows to know if he is proficient on the instruments he plays. As for Stevie I know he can play the hell out of a harmonica, the drums, the piano, and synthesizers. Sounds like multiple instruments to me. The voice is also a musical instrument and Stevie's one of the best there as well.

I bet that with Prince, the question isn't whether he could play the horns, but rather would he want to tear up his lips in doing so. (that's my guess anyway).

MrTation said:

tell me something i dont know
the thing is:did he play electric guitar/bass,not sythh bass or synth guitar?
becoz,if u hear theres sum bass lines or some guitar lines,and theres no other musicians listed,its stevie playing the sythesizerz!

elmariachi said:

Once again, I think it's almost been proven that Stevie plays at least as many instruments as prince. Though perhaps the instruments that they're distinguished in is another story. I'm inclined to think prince is a tad overrated and Stevie is a tad underrated.

Of course it’s impossible to say who’s the ”best” at anything, when it comes to music!

Is the ”best” multi-instrumentalist the one who can play the most instruments? Is it better to play 20 instruments poorly than to play 3 really good? And how can you even measure whether, for instance, Prince is a ”better” drummer than Stevie?

The fact that ”Prince can play 27 instruments” (or whatever they say) isn’t really true. It probably comes from his first album (For You), where they listed every instrument he used on each particular song. When you count all the different synths, keyboards, and guitars as separate instruments, it looks much more than it really is.

I would say that Prince can ”only” play four instruments that I know of: guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. I don’t count the percussion instruments he’s used, because more or less any musician can play that. However, he’s a skilled drum programmer, so if you count that as an instrument, you might say there’s five.

I’m pretty sure that Prince can’t play any horns (or strings, for that matter). If he could, we would have both seen and heard it by now. As much as he likes to expose his versatility, don’t you think he would have played saxophone on stage if he could?

And another thing - don’t trust the CD booklets too much...no matter whose record it is. There are many reasons why the credits might not always be accurate.

I'm a musician myself, and as much as I love Prince's music, I must say I have never been that impressed with his technical abilities on any instrument (except for his vocals, of course). I personally know several musicians who can do just about everything he does. So in that sense, maybe he's a little overrated... But that's really irrelevant, since his creativity, expression and personality is what really counts. I would say Prince is "good enough" on his instruments - that is, he can play what he needs to play to get his point across.

Of the "multi-instrumentalists" I've listened to, I think maybe Todd Rundgren has made the greatest impression. He's a great singer, he plays everything Prince can play, plus he also plays saxophone. He's a good all-round musician, that can play just as well in any different style. Also, he seems to be equally good on all his instruments, which is not often the case.

But still, I'd rather listen to Prince...so you see, it doesn't really matter much...

Let's put it this way, Prince isn't the first or best multi-talented musician, but he's one of the best of his generation. If you look back, there were plenty people who could do many musical things well or even great. Jimi Hendrix will always be remembered as perhaps the greatest guitar player of all time but he was also a great singer and songwriter. James Brown will be remembered as a great singer and dancer, but he was also a great songwriter, organ player and probably at least a few other things. Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Larry Graham, Bowie, Rundgren Bootsy could play at least as many instruments as Prince and they were also great singer/songwriters too. My favorite multi-talent, perhaps favorite artist altogether, was Duke Ellington. He only really did three things but he did them absolutely fantastically. He was a composer often compared to Bach and Mozart, he was a bandleader unsurpassed, and he was also among the most immitated piano players of all time.

jacktheimprovi
dent said:

I'm pretty sure I say guitar and bass credits on jungle fever and conversation peace and maybe some others. someone who has all the credits handy should help us outl. Once again though, I've seen pictures of Stevie playing a bass.

MrTation said:
A simple look at the CD booklets of any of Stevie's CDs should clear this up for you. Fanaticism has nothing to do with it.

=====

to prove a point for both JACK THE IMPROVEDMENT and MR.TATION...
I'VE CHECKED both JUNGLE FEVER and CONVERSATION PEACE CD BOOKLET to search for any info or credit of stevie playing ELECTRIC GUITAR OR ELECTRIC BASS (after browsing all the other stevie's albums with no results) AND THE RESULT IS:

NO ELECTRIC BASS OR ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYED BY STEVIE.as usual it only states KEYBOARD GUITAR by stevie or GUITAR (SYNTHS) and BASS (Synths) by STEVIE,whilst the electric bass played by for example...NATHAN WATTS.
so i guess i've proven my point that:THERE'S NO RECORDING EVIDENCE of STEVIE PLAYING ELECTRIC GUITAR NEITHER ELECTRIC BASS. or maybe jack wants to post pics of stevie with a bass?, but it doesnt prove that stevie can play it anyway.i've seen pictures of sting with a violin,but there's no record of sting playing violin on his albums,so?

Marcus Miller is phat multiinstrumentalists - bass, sax, piano, some bass woodwind

I would have to say the artist formally know as Terence Trent D'arby. He could play just as many instruments as Prince and was just as versatile(if not more so) with his sound.

Without going too deeply into jazz & classical artists, here's a SOMEWHAT recognizable list off the top of my head.

multi-instrumentalists:


Stanley Clarke
Marcus Miller
Greg Howe
David Ryan Harris
Tony MacAlpine
Stevie Wonder
Rick James, bitch!
Shuggie Otis
Prince
Jesse Johnson
Chuckii Booker
Sananda (TTD)
Eric Gales
Stokely (from Mint Condition)
Raphael Saddiq
D'Angelo
Charlie Singleton (from Cameo)
Jane Child
Joe
John Jon (from Silk)
Terrance Blanchard
Van Hunt
Trent Reznor
Dallas Austin
Big John Harris (works with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis)



There are plenty of multi-instrumentalists out there who are extremely talented. Prince is probably the most famous one, but I wouldn't say he's by any stretch the most proficient one.
[Edited 9/6/04 12:59pm]

BEN FOLDS

Nuff said.. he did every single instrument on his Rockn In The Suburbs... as well as most of the ep's.

elmariachi said:

Though I already replied to this over on the sister thread, I just wanna add: Who says Sting can't play violin

jacktheimprovident said:

well, I don't have access to any of the album notes from after the seventies, in fact I downloaded a great deal of the Stevie stuff I have from the seventies too. I could post the picture I found of Stevie playing bass but you more or less admitted that you wouldn't accept that as proof. If any one else has any other evidence one way or the other I'd like to hear it (first hand accounts, interviews with stevie etc..)




elmariachi:
yeah, there's always a difference between downloader and records collector.
ACCESS TO THE CD BOOKLETS,RECORDING INFORMATIONS,LINER NOTES,CREDITS etc

but at least now u got my point. THERE'S NO RECORD EVIDENCE OF STEVIE PLAYING ELECTRIC BASS OR ELECTRIC GUITAR. thanks. case closed.
[Edited 9/7/04 10:25am]

elmariachi said:

Stevie playing Electric Bass- Spinners - It's A Shame - 1970
Stevie playing Electric Guitar - Jermaine Jackson - Let's Get Serious- 1980

Also there was a clip of Stevie palying Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitar on MTV back in 1988 as part of his Characters special.

Stevie doesn't always list the instruments that he plays on his cds. For instance, how many people know that Stevie plays Violin!!.

EL Mariachi, keep going through life thinking Stevie doesn't play Electric Bass or Guitar. Your ignorance will be your undoing!!

elmariachi said:

I am a downloader and a record collector. I own hundreds of albums, I've just also downloaded a great deal of music rather than buying the albums when I don't have the money. So direct your patronizing remarks somewhere else.

elmariachi said:

Your attempts to discredit Stevie Wonder only make you look foolish, dude. That bullshit may fly on this fanaticsite, but get on the mic at the Essence awards or somewhere and try saying that sh*t. Between the booing & the laughter, you'd....nevermind.
Stevie has created some of the most brilliant music I've heard and overall he moves me more than Prince. Quite a few othr artists on my list do, too. You got a lot of great players to attempt to take down. Better get to work, playa.
[Edited 9/7/04 22:43pm]

BlaqueKnight said:

your attempts to make me look like i discredit stevie only make u look like a pussy dude!i probably love stevie's music and own all his albums more than u... but like i said,STEVIE'S NOT A EN ALECTRIC GUITARIST OR ELECTRIC BASSIST,end of story.stevie wonder's "all i do"(hotter than july)changed my life,but its a shame 2 find a stevie's fan who's an ignorant fool like you
stop talkin 2 me,cuz im bored of responding ppl like u

jacktheimprovident said:

the thing is...you're trying to defend a point from "great deal of stevie's stuff u downloaded"hence,no access to booklets,liner notes,etc.
next time,defend something u got the access to the actual records with booklets.i have no issue with downloader FYI,i aint down with RIAA

manray10 said:

all i hear is a synth going on.
for example,in jungle fever on FUNDAY(trck1),its credited BASS by Stevie.but u can tell that is
a synth!
we all know that d'angelo too can play a bit of drums,and bass (apperad on several trax in voodoo),but he's nowhere near prince in those instruments,so does stevie if he might play electric bass or electric guitar,which i dont see any proof backing it up so far...

elmariachi said:

You carry on dude!! One day you'll learn!! Maybe!!

Prince is one of tops in that field. As in putting it all together for himself and what he's done with it. I'll say No. 1

Bootsy is bad also. The stuff he laid down for Parliament, and the Rubberband etc.--drums, keys, guitar, bass etc.


Walter "Junie" Morrison aka JS Theracon---serious genius instrumentalist and funk hermit.

D'Angelo is good at it also.

Paul McCartney

TheDeacon said:

Didn't ol' TTD play saxophone too?

jacktheimprovident said:

I don't know. I never saw him play and i don't recall seeing it on the linear notes of his albums. One thing P has over TTD though is showmanship. P is a much better performer that TTD.

Marcus Miller comes to mind. Plays a wide array of instruments at a VERY high level. I particularly enjoy his work on Miles' albums from the 80s.

This is a ridiculous thread.

Most professional musicans are multi-instrumentalists. If you are formally-trained, more than likely you have a discipline on piano or guitar in addition to your main instrument. Fully harmonic composing is done on piano or guitar. Many vocalists and horn players have this in their background.

Most electric guitarists can play bass and the reverse is often true. Rhythm vs lead is a matter of technique; not axe. Drums is a minor matter. I've sat around enough sessions and warmups to see a bass or guitarist pick up sticks

I don't how you're going to rate anyone when you have no idea what other musicians are capable of , but then, this is merely an opinion. Not like it matters.

PFunkjazz said:

AHHHHH, SHUT UP!!!!!