10 Examples of Prince’s Guitar Heroism

(AP Photo/F. Carter Smith, File)

Prince was such a masterful showman, songwriter, singer, and performer, it’s sometimes easy to forget that he was also one of the greatest guitarists working in any music field. When news of this death broke Thursday, he received as much adoration from hard rock and heavy metal websites as he did from pop and R&B outlets. Over the years he graced the covers of British metal weekly Kerrang! and America’s Guitar World, and after listening to any of the tracks below, it’s easy to understand why.

Prince was a self-taught guitarist, and he claimed not to read music or know music theory, but he sure knew his way around a guitar fretboard, ripping out a panoply of styles in the vein of great funk, blues, rock, and metal players. He switched between minor pentatonic scales and the more intricate mixolydian mode (dominant scale) without effort – and perhaps without knowledge of what he was doing. He played by feel, relying on intuition to make the notes he played match the music he wrote.

Here are 10 songs, most with live video clips, that demonstrate Prince’s guitar prowess and prove that his death is as great a loss to the guitar community as it is to the pop and funk worlds.

“Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” (live)

In 1982, Prince set Passaic, New Jersey’s Capitol Theatre on fire with this single from his 1980 self-titled album. At 3:10, he engages in string bends, vibrato and rapid-fire scales, then repeats the process for the next full minute.

“Crazy” with Cee Lo Green (live)

Prince took the stage with Cee Lo in September 2012 for a performance of “Crazy.” The appearance featured two guitar highlights seen here. At 1:44, Prince coaxes a bluesy solo filled with sustained notes and melodic patterns, then jumps in again at the 3:03 mark for a slightly more uptempo but equally tuneful showcase of virtuosic guitar.

“I’m Yours” (studio)

Prince Rogers Nelson caught the guitar community’s attention with this song from his 1978 debut For You. At 2:21 of this poppy funk cut, he demonstrates his guitar mastery first with flailing solo that morphs into a hook-laden lead that compiements the song. Before the end, however, he rockets to the moon with several more blasts of adrenalized axe wizardry.

“Superstition” with Stevie Wonder (live)

Playing with one of the heroes of R&B in Paris, Prince lays down some fat, funk rhythms in the tradition of James Brown’s guitarist Jimmy Nolen while inserting steamy blues licks, like the ones at 6:37.

“She’s Always in my Hair” (Arsenio Hall Show)

In March 2014, Prince guested for almost a full hour on the The Arsenio Hall Show, in what turned out to be his final talk show appearance. In addition to doing a rare interview, he performed three songs, including “She’s Always in My Hair,” a B-side of the 1985 “Paisley Park” single. He played the song with his band 3RDEYEGIRL, and after backing up one of the girls during her solo, he stepped up at 2:15 and played a series of fast and furious lines pumping with Hendrix-style wah-wah. At 2:56 in the video below, he kicks back in with a combination of melodic and hyperkinetic axemanship, much of which is almost otherworldly.

“Let’s Go Crazy” (live)

During a concert in 2007, Prince launched into “Let’s Go Crazy,” one of the main highlights from the classic Prince and the Revolution album Purple Rain. At the 1:02 mark he plays a melodic motif that spins into a frenetic salvo of notes. Then at 1:45 he picks up again with a Frank Zappa-esque solo that matches the frantic energy of the song. And if that’s not enough, he exits at 2:22 with an equally explosive flurry of notes.

“Bambi” (live)

One of the Purple One’s most high-energy guitar songs, “Bambi” is a showcase of frantic string bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, vibrato, neck slides, effect-laden sizzle, and lots of other geeky guitar player jargon. Anything from 1:26 to 3:09 should leave the uninitiated’s jaw on the floor. This version of the 1979 tune comes from a 1995 video that was never released.

“When Doves Cry” (studio)

In the opening bars of the ultra-poppy lead single from Purple Rain, Prince teases listeners with guitar pyrotechnics, then picks it up again 3:34 and continues wailing away on his instrument until the end of the song, summoning the voicings of Jimi Hendrix, Nile Rodgers, and Eddie Van Halen.

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (live, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2004)

One of the greatest public displays of Prince-Love came during the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, when the artist formerly known as a symbol performed the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne, and an all-star cast of performers. At 3:26, Prince shows up the other players by ripping through a tasteful, lengthy melodic solo loaded with tricky scales and flashy hammer-ons and pull-offs, and he keeps going through the 6:00 mark while the other players are singing back-up vocals.

“Purple Rain” (live)

The title track of Prince’s iconic 1984 movie Prince and monster soundtrack, “Purple Rain” became a universal rock anthem that impacted equally with urban and suburban audiences. And punctuating it all was Prince’s stellar guitar work. One of the highlights of his career was when he played the song in the pouring rain at the Super Bowl halftime show. But this professional live recording with Prince and the Revolution is also astonishing, especially from a guitar perspective. For the first two minutes of the number, Prince is off in his own world of intricate scales and emotional jams, then at 3:30 for more than three and a half additional minutes he’s shredding like the kind of player that gets a yearly cover spot on Guitar World.