I know, I know....this is the Non Music Forum, BUT, I GOT to represent my cousin P for throwing down on SNL during his cut "Fury". I'm over here dropping this post cuz I know this is where many other musicians hang. Anx, PLEASE don't move this. Follow me now....I was glad to see P rip on his axe during this song. Sure, I've seen P throw down on axe live many times, and this was no different. P could play this in his sleep, as I posted over in the fandom forum. I'm just hear giving it up to him cuz he was showing his usual love for Hendrix while he was playing. What he was playing, how he was playing, it was the tip of the hat to Jimi. Sure, some of his runs were "Princeified", but as a whole, it ooozed "This is cuz of Jimi" which was great. One of the MAIN reasons I have always dug P is that, for the most part, he never tried to downplay his love and respect for Hendrix, the performer. I know many of ya'll over here saw the show on SNL. I wanna know what ya'll think of his performance on Fury?

I'm here to testify on the Holy Grail of the P-guitar spastics.... Brutha B, Prince KILLED it!!! I must have watched the playback 5 times in a row yesterday morning and was just in awe. I dug the accepella guitar solo at the end of the song with that wild "flange/toggle" switch effect. It was like hearing the end of "Let's Go Crazy" for the 1st time again. From the hat to his "talk/sing" vocal, it was definetly his homage to Jimi. I've watched him on "The Undertaker" power trio vid, the "RAVE 2000" vid, and the R&RHOF jam...but his SNL peformance blew them all away. Just when I think he's down for the count, he comes back swinging hard. (And for the record, I liked the other song he peformed with Tamar too.)

SPYZFAN1 said:

I KNEW u would have my back, SPYZ. Folks on here posting on a Prince site, BUT the didn't see P on SNL?! Whatever, man. Cats are waaay too cool for me. Anyway, I dug the second as well. Especially at the end when P was promoting his new album. That section right there was super SLY type funk.

SPYZFAN1 said:

His whole arrangement of the cut, and definately his sing/talk vocals during the song....man, Spyz, all he needed was to bust out with a wide brim black hat with a blue band around it and a feather!

Anytime Brutha B! Give it some time, I'm sure the others will post shortly. Yeah that last cut (Beautiful, Loved, & Blessed??) was pretty nice. Yeah the breakdown was definetly funky and SLY like. Definetly had my head bobbin'. Man, with Prince on SNL and Sly (possibly on the Grammy's??)..This may be a good month so far!! (lol)

i live in uk so obviously missed snl, but i've noticed that prince's guitar skillz have been lacking on recent albums? Not since choas and disorder have i heard a good solo, and on choas that guitar was raw, but unfocused anyway. It was like he was going through his "lets just rip shit up" faze in the mid-90's, then by rave, he barely picked up the guitar?


Prince is great on guitar, and goes through fazes of how he plays, but i havn't heard a decent solo since "gold". Maybe i have missed a few songs out (dont hear much of p anymore), but hey, for me, it's been a while.

...


Man, I'm Surprised they didn't have to use fire extinguishers on that guitar!! P burnt it up!!!





...

glad to see i'm not the only one who noticed how hendryx he sounded on snl.

His singing reminded me of Hendrix
His playing style reminded me Hendrix
His guitar tone (not his technique, just his tone) reminded me of Eddie Van Halen.

To me, the distortion was pure early 80's Van Halen. Processed, rather than the earthy-er analog distortion of Jimi.

A great performance, however you slice it.
[Edited 2/6/06 22:41pm]

blackguitaristz said:

The funk was on SNL!!!


Yeah...

That is a nice groove...

Had that 'Along The Watch Tower' feeling going on...


Check out housequake.com for both performances....

YouTube has it also, but it runs a little slow...

OK, i'll play the contrarian to a small degree.

First off, I dig Prince as a performer. He one of the few visible artists that understands SHOWTIME.
I really dig his rhythm guitar playing. However i've never been a big fan of his lead guitar playing.
And it's mostly because I don't dig his lead tone. It's much too processed for my taste.
The other thing is his vibrato is much too manic for me. But that's just my personal preference.

Maybe I can describe this a bit better. Stax really touched on it earlier.
When I listen to B.B., early Buddy Guy, Albert King, Jeff Beck and even early Clapton I can feel the relationship between their fingers and the strings of the guitar.
The sound Hendrix gets during Voodoo Chile is a classic example of what i'm talking about. A clean, clear, BIG tone.
And he maintains it even when he kicks it up a notch for his solo. Echoplex and all.
Allan Holdsworth has killer lead tone. It sings, it's big but retains clarity and precision.
All the cats i've mentioned (maybe excluding studio Hendrix) also tend to use effects sparingly if at all.
With Prince I tend to hear the effects more than the fingers/instrument relationship I alluded to.

The tune (Fury?) and the performance was very cool.

One other thing i'll mention that was a bit strange was the absence of any band presence.
These guys were pretty much in the dark during that particular tune.
If Morris Hayes hadn't told me he was doing the gig I never would have known who was playing keys.
The girls were cool but the band is one of the visual elements I expect with a Prince performance.


Y'all probably think i've gone the wackonaut route so to this post I shall put an end...


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

The rumoured reason that for the lack of band presence MIGHT be that this is a quickly thrown together unit (for Prince, as this seems to be Tamar's band), and that it's not sure whom he's going on the road with. Purely speculation, though.

Alright, I will rty to sound like a wanna-be expert now, but I really like this last solo he does before the breakdown. As far as I can tell, he does hammer-ons/pull-offs (or whatever it's called exactly), together with some whammy bar action at one point. HOT!

theAudience said:

LA would agree with you on this one, we talk about this a lot...'course, we can't get him to post ) ...he says it hasn't always been the case, just the sound P's been favoring since the late 80's/early '90s....


...

theAudience said:

EXCELLENT post, Aud. Don't get me wrong, tone-wise, yeah, P's sound isn't the classic "authenic" and pure sound. I DEFINATELY agree withcha. His late 70's, early 80's sound was the closest he ever got to that sound. I was coming strictly from the aspect of a brother, especially of P's stature, to STILL show any type of "passion" for this hybrid of the black rocker, which is who I am and why I so highly identify with this.

So, he sounds like hendrix again? As as said, if thats true, then its been awhile.

Don't you think his guitar sound Saturday is quite reminiscent of his guitar solo break in Lady Cab Driver?
[Edited 2/7/06 8:11am]

blackguitaristz said:

There was a definite nod to The Wind Cries Mary toward the end of the first verse.

FunkMistress said:

Listen to u, with your bad ass! Breaking it down and shit. Go head on, babygurl! "Toward the end of the first verse" and shit!

Stax said:

Yep.

blackguitaristz said:

Oh, fuck off.

Let me try to explain this in print; Prince, I think, as a lead player, is good. My main influences as a lead guitarist are Hendrix, Carlos, Hazel, Isley, Brin May, Neal Schon, Ace Frehley, Uli Roth, Glen Buxton, Mathias Jabs, David Gilmour. That's the first wave. All though some of them on the appearnce, are very different, to me, there is a DIRECT link to Hendrix. Meaning Jimi's playing was SO vast in styles that so many guitarists, all across the board, were influenced by Jimi. My second wave of influences are Prince, Jesse, Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads. I feel it's similar with P, as in I hear different guitarists in P's playing at different times. P, being the type of performer that he is, and when he came up in the biz, he wants to showcase certain elements in his LIVE sound. Which will dictate the sound he CHOOSES to use on his axe LIVE. With Prince, it's always been about getting across a certain vibe, be it with what he wears, what he plays, etc. Aud mentioned a good point about the lack of exposure the band had. P clearly wanted for THIS SNL show, the focus to be on HIM, his playing and those super fine twins he had up there. Like Stax posted, many elements in his Fury performance was Hendrixfied. No different from his Purple Rain joints. Studio and live. THAT'S what I was talking about. P has never played like Jimi. That goes without saying. But he does echo Jimi at times. And when he does, I dig it. That's what I was getting across in my thread.

FunkMistress said:

You are sooo HOT!

blackguitaristz said:

A great thread!

theAudience said:

I totally agree with you. His tone is a bit thin for my liking. His fast runs are a bit unclear. I've never thought of Prince as a particularly innovative lead guitarist. He can't just hit one note like Stevie Ray, Clapton, Jimi, and you know it's him in an instant. He lacks the technique of Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen. He plays decent melodic solos, though.

Love his rhythm playing, though--like the acoustic part of the Musicology tour.

Of course he's very good at lead, too. Therein lies the genius of Prince. He's very good at EVERYTHING! And he makes it all look easy.

theAudience said:

Pretty much.

blackguitaristz said:

Thanks man.
I agree that he wears the Rock vibe well.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

calldapplwondery83 said:

Aah, that makes sense.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

paligap said:

LA? Who is LA?



That guy would add so much to this board. Please work on the brother.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Some amazing ass guitar playing
I love that song!