He was doing a bluesy song and his licks and chops were very good

I believe he's quite good.

For me the sobering thing is that even those artists who are not primarily known as guitarists - perhaps known for another instrument or vocals but occassionally has been known to pick up a guitar, like Freddie Mercury, Don Henley, Roger Taylor etc. - all of them can actually do a lot more on guitar than I can and sound so much better.... :-[

I think that Prince is a very good guitarist.

Prince is highly underrated. Another little known fact is he plays all the instruments on his albums - he plays at least 27 instruments across all the different instrument families: brass woodwind, strings, guitar, keys and percussion.

Used to be a Prince fan, saw him live twice - in fact I'm in the crowd of the Sign O' The Times live concert DVD. To me, more than him being a great guitarist, more than his playing all of those instruments and definitely more than the vocal thing - he is a good band leader. If one is to believe artists that played with him live, he keeps on changing the music (every aspect of it) until right when it's played. The band goes from rock to funk to jazz instantly upon a gesture, mindblowing. Like he's got every one of them on a string.

I decided to give his music a miss after the Black Album though - too little roots too much fancy production kak.

@Squonk - was it a recent show?

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Prince is highly underrated. Another little known fact is he plays all the instruments on his albums - he plays at least 27 instruments across all the different instrument families: brass woodwind, strings, guitar, keys and percussion.

very interesting! ?

Gearhead wrote:
@Squonk - was it a recent show?

Not a recent one, looked like around the time of Rasberry Beret, he still had tha Hendrix outfit, must have been 80's

I think Prince is an awesome artist, better than MJ. And an awesome guitarist to boot!!!! My all time favourite Prince track....."PURPLE RAIN" , especially his "live" versions....

Yeah, hes a good guitarist. Dont like his music i'm afraid .... hehe

He reminds me of Micheal Jackson in his meticulous approach to music. Perhaps I don't naturlay feel drawn to his persona, but I admire his music. It also goes to show that talents you learn through the guitar can help you on other instruments and vice versa.

Tom Fox of Bright Blue once listed The Artist Fomerly Known As... as one of his fave guitarists. He made an interesting observation: Prince does enough to suggest that he might be a genius player, but not enough to confirm it.

Prince is fantastic!
One of the best funk guitarists.

Just a bump, came across a Prince solo I hadn't seen before over "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

He´s going to play three consecutive nights three different sets at the Northsea Jazz Festival this year. I am sooooooo sorry we´re not in the neighborhood when the thing goes down.

hey guys

yeah man, have to add in that prince is definitely one cat that can play really well. he's been on the cover of both guitar world & guitar player but still, i'm surprised how many people dont know what an accomplished player he really is.

something i'll never forget from my time in the uk, he did a 21 night or something residency at the 02!! and on some nights he'd play the 2 hour or whatever set and then afterwards pitch up at the bar with the band... and play some more ? . i definitely respect him as a top muso.

funny that this topic comes along the day that I read an article on total guitar about him................always knew that the cat had some style, didn't know how much until I googled him and what he's done...........

Anyone who plays such wild guitars has to be good............



one interesting fact on the total guitar article was this............

according Rolling Stone Prince was not even among the 100 greatest guitar players of all time (2003): but made #1 on Rolling Stone's most underrated guitarists (2007)

Quite? What do you mean quite? ??? Prince is a phenomenal guitarist. I reckon he could have been the "next Hendrix" if he'd been that way inclined.

singemonkey wrote: Quite? What do you mean quite? ??? Prince is a phenomenal guitarist. I reckon he could have been the "next Hendrix" if he'd been that way inclined.

+1. He is also a multi-instrumentalist .......

i think very highly of prince!!
seriously awesome musician he is!

plus, he really takes being a multi instrumentalist seriously!
27 instruments!!! WOW! thats talent!!!