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Is Prince Considered a Guitar God
Posted on 5/4/16 at 6:38 pm
Posted on 5/4/16 at 6:38 pm
If not he should be, I tjink he just didn't put out enough rocky heavy music.
Posted on 5/4/16 at 6:51 pm to Jack Ruby
Billy Gibbons said he was one of the best so the answer is yes.
Posted on 5/4/16 at 6:58 pm to Lakeboy7
I got him top 15 all-time in terms of rock guitarists but he's so good at the other instruments as well that it's probably not even necessary that he be referred to as a "guitar god."
Posted on 5/4/16 at 7:12 pm to ThePTExperience1969
Guess so, he's more like a musical god
Posted on 5/4/16 at 7:13 pm to Jack Ruby
quote:
Is Prince Considered a Guitar God
That depends...how many individuals are capable of receiving the distinction of "Guitar God"?
Is he top 100 all-time? For sure.
Is he top 25? Nope.
This post was edited on 5/4/16 at 7:19 pm
Posted on 5/4/16 at 7:39 pm to Jack Ruby
Eric Clapton seems to think so. I think he was highly regarded as a guitar player - that wasn't his first instrument and arguably not his best (both piano/keys), but I regard him as an elite guitar player - perhaps not the "high note count" virtuoso of a Malmsteen, Satriani or Vai, for example, but certainly as influential a guitar player and gifted - from a musicality standpoint - on the instrument as any in the almost 70 years of the solid body electric guitar.
Posted on 5/4/16 at 7:42 pm to saint amant steve
Link to Gibbons' quotes about Prince.
LINK
LINK
quote:
Otherworldly. Gibbons spoke to The Post Friday about the guitar player who could stump even him.
So much has been said about Prince but I do think it’s important to remember that his guitar playing was, I don’t know, just sensational.
Tell me how you’d describe it.
Well, to borrow your word, sensational is about as close a description of Prince’s guitar playing as words might allow. I believe that the feeling one was left with, if afforded the luxury of actually seeing Prince perform … we’d be looking for other superlatives. Because it’s almost got to the point of defying description.
You had an interesting encounter with Prince.
It was following the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary celebration [in 2009]. They had a two night grand hurrah at Madison Square Garden and I was invited to perform with Jeff Beck. And following that appearance, I found myself back at the hotel and I wandered off in search of some late-night grub and my favorite 24-hour joint was shut down for unknown reasons. I tiptoed across the street to the Tiger Bar. I was just standing at the front and I was approached by a rather large gentleman and he said, ‘You’re wanted at the corner table.’ And there was Prince sitting all by his lonesome. And I gave him a brief tip of the hat and sat down and said, ‘Hey man, it’s so good to see you.’ He said, ‘It’s so good to see you. Let’s talk about guitar playing.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ And in the next two hours we really dove into the depth of his intent, interest and focus toward technique and tone. I left that evening even more mesmerized than I’d previously been, just knowing the sincerity that Prince kept toward his playing, his performing and his all-around showmanship.
You’re a little bit older, you come from Texas and I’d imagine you first learned about Prince in the early ’80s, when you were both MTV stars.
As you may remember, he began bubbling up without a lot of advance fanfare. There was just this vague knowledge of this new guy on the scene called Prince. And then, of course, we all got our world rocked when “Purple Rain” showed up at the theaters. Even today, I’m struggling to try and emulate that guitar introduction to “When Doves Cry.” It’s just a testament to his extraordinary technique.
Wait. When you say emulate — you mean you try to play it and you can’t?
I continually come back to attempting to piece together each and every one of those segments. And it’s very short. It’s not an extended solo by any means. But the way it is delivered. There’s certainly no way to write it. You’ve just got to dive in and feel it to see if you could come close. This might be a little off the subject, but just this morning, Andy Langer sent me a link to Prince on YouTube performing “Honky Tonk Woman.” I had never seen it. I don’t know if there’s a fixed date that could be attached to it. I would encourage you to check it out. Here, within the four minute time span, you really get a sense of urgency that was behind his dedication to playing.
Technique. You’ve said that a few times.
Three times.
Yes, three. That’s a very particular word. Prince is somebody we always thought of as flash, beautiful, almost touched by something otherworldly. But when I hear the word technique, I think of practice, intellect, study.
Yes, and we can only surmise that there were a great number of hours in private where he was developing ways to approach the guitar that ultimately led to his prowess over the instrument. I bring this up over the years. My friendship with Prince was made known. There was hardly a day that went by if Prince’s name came up in the conversation, little did they give credit to his guitar playing. It was more about the flash. The showiness. There are a few repeatable examples that were fortunately caught on film or record that will settle the score once and for all. When I sat down with Prince that fateful evening in Manhattan, he was really touched by the fact that I knew quite a bit of his guitar playing … It was so funny because there was a legion of Brazilian carnival dancers that had invaded the club and they had taken over the bar. They were dancing on the bar … this was all going on in the background. Prince was unfettered. He just wanted to talk about playing.
Prince, the legendary musician from Minneapolis, dies at 57.
I wonder if because he had so much style, whether he ever felt that his playing was overshadowed.
Oh yeah. In fact, that entered the conversation. He asked me, ‘Does your beard get in the way like some of my costumes?’ And I was stunned momentarily and I thought about it and said, ‘You know, perhaps so.’ But then he grabbed my arm and said, ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with it.’
Last thing. That night, two hours of guitar talk. Is there anything specifically you remember telling him or him telling you about basically how to play?
I don’t know about anything that specific. I was quite flattered that he knew specific song titles that had a specific guitar sound. He said, I’ve really enjoyed some of the work that showed up on that monster hit of yours, “Eliminator,” the sound of “Gimme All Your Lovin’” He went on to cite a number of titles. I said, ‘Okay, I could give you some amplifier settings, I could give you some guitar strings.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you tell me about ‘When Doves Cry’? He just smiled. ‘That one gets me too.’
I didn’t know how to take that. Was he was suggesting he stumbled upon it by accident or he didn’t have words to describe it? I’m just happy to know that he took it as a compliment.
Posted on 5/4/16 at 7:43 pm to Ace Midnight
I'm inclined to agree that he was a very gifted ax and keyboard player. I can't imagine how much this must have shocked the mainstream audiences when he broke out with the 1999 tour, who had only known him as the New Wave synthpop guy in a general sense.
Posted on 5/4/16 at 8:04 pm to Jack Ruby
He's up there with Hendrix and Eddie Hazel.
Posted on 5/4/16 at 8:15 pm to Jack Ruby
Yes, he is a guitar legend. I am hoping there is a rock album with tons of solos out there in his massive vault of unreleased material.
Posted on 5/4/16 at 8:18 pm to Hetfield
I think what we all need to ask ourselves in that we're debating Prince's "guitar god" merits is "Is Frank Zappa a guitar god on the same level of Hendrix as well?" There are LOTS of similarities between the two in how they conducted business and the variety of styles in which they composed music.
Posted on 5/4/16 at 8:31 pm to Jack Ruby
Don't need the word guitar
Posted on 5/4/16 at 9:26 pm to Melvin
Prince projects the image of a guitar god, look at the faces he makes when he goes for a lead and compare that to Neil Young and the faces he makes in that regard. Definite guitar god if that's what we're limiting the argument to.
Posted on 5/5/16 at 11:59 am to ThePTExperience1969
Only by someone who doesn't play guitar.
Posted on 5/5/16 at 1:17 pm to randybobandy
quote:
Only by someone who doesn't play guitar
So Clapton and Gibbons don't qualify?
Posted on 5/5/16 at 1:28 pm to Sigma
What about the members of Pearl Jam? "the greatest guitar player we've ever seen"
Posted on 5/5/16 at 1:28 pm to randybobandy
Nah I play guitar, he's a guitar god
Posted on 5/5/16 at 3:24 pm to randybobandy
quote:
Only by someone who doesn't play guitar.
What would Billy Gibbons and Eric Clapton know right?
I think what throws off and puts off a lot of people is the fact he didnt really play rock, hard rock or heavy metal which is where you normally expect to find that kind of talent, but the guy could get it.
This post was edited on 5/5/16 at 3:28 pm
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