Prince’s Best Guitar Parts

JOSHUA ROTHKOPF RANKS THE TEN MOST RIGHTEOUS GUITAR MOMENTS FROM THE PURPLE ONE’S OUTRAGEOUSLY FUNKY BODY OF WORK.

The response to Prince’s death in April 2016 was a global rainstorm of emotion. He was many things to many people: a whirling funketeer who woke up sexual urges, an iconoclast who inspired individual expression, a symbol of everything pop could be.

Belatedly, though, a consensus is forming behind his primary status as a fearsome guitarist. Prince was so gifted, he overshadowed this trait himself, with tastefully plucked hits like Kiss, Cream and Raspberry Beret. You already know those tunes.

Here, however, is a list of the truly mind-blowing numbers – some of them deep cuts, others from Prince’s essential 1984 masterpiece Purple Rain – that should convince even skeptics.

Note: Only the six-string sizzle of Prince is included (sorry, Revolution sideman Dez Dickerson and your mighty solo for “Little Red Corvette”).

10. “U GOT THE LOOK”

The Jessica Rabbit of 12-bar-blues tunes, “U Got The Look” is the hip-swivelling high point of Prince’s majestic double album Sign o’ the Times. Never before had he saturated his sound in so much distortion; the treatment becomes a wink to the listener that’s just as explicit as the lyrics.

Unholy squeals and atonal moans emanate from a disturbed, almost Frippian place. When Prince finally cuts loose with some pentatonic licks, his sexual hunger is a palpable thing.

9. “ALEXA DE PARIS”

Prince’s black-and-white movie musical Under The Cherry Moon repulsed a majority of critics and audiences, but the music – collected in the Parade LP – signalled a high degree of creative growth.

Heard onscreen (but only purchasable as the flip side of a single) is this incredible instrumental, which even a skilled pair of ears could easily confuse for primo Jeff Beck. Lushly supported by the orchestrations of longtime collaborator Clare Fischer, Prince takes a song-long excursion into mysterious modes, abrupt key changes and, ultimately, his most adventurously exposed solo flight. It’s one hell of a trip.

8. “SHE’S ALWAYS IN MY HAIR”

As confusing as Prince’s psychedelic Around The World In A Day album was for the mainstream rock audience he had just won over with Purple Rain, the artist was apparently doing exactly what he wanted.

Take this fierce castaway track that he relegated to the scrap heap (it probably got more spins in guitar-centric households than the A-side). The central riff is hard as nails, and when he explodes into a yowling mid-song solo, the speedy precision of his runs is daunting.

7. “PURPLE RAIN”

Closing out its titular record on an emotional high, Prince’s soulful anthem of atonement is stuffed to the brim with technique.

First, a note about then-19-year-old Wendy Melvoin’s delicately strummed rhythm part, enriched by a chorus pedal working overtime. It’s often misplayed – make sure to stretch your fret hand out to accommodate those extended Fadd9 and Ebadd9 chords. (These shapes might have been inspired by Andy Summers’ decade-defining “Every Breath You Take”, which was a massive hit at the time.)

By the time you make it to Prince’s fiery exit statement, which combines speedy runs with hummable repeated themes, you’re completely in his pocket. He would play this classic for the rest of his life. It was the final song at his last concert.

6. “WHEN DOVES CRY”

Don’t rush us. This album is a bonafide guitar classic, so let’s take our time with it. Until you can fire up your octaver and execute the insane piece of squonk that introduces Prince’s immortal single, you should pay attention.

Drenched in barely controlled feedback and propelled by blurred-pick-hand frenzy, it’s a disturbing way into a strange song: skeletal, bass-free, impossibly arresting.

Later, Prince’s lengthy outro solo calls back to his earliest records, yet bolstered with newfound maturity, it italicises the ache at the heart of the lyric.(He also plays the smarty-pants synth solo. If only all pop songs were this sophisticated.

5. “COMPUTER BLUE”

Even after woodshedding for what must have been years to conquer lead-guitar playing and strutting funk shuffles, Prince clearly believed in a kind of pop futurism that took inspiration from Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Blade Runner and even fusion. This dazzling piece of music originally extended to a 14-minute suite complete with multiple monologues (you can find bootlegs of it), but the cutdown on Purple Rain is astounding.

After some Adrian Belew-like bird squeals, the main riff is foxy and brainy; then comes a furious transitional interlude of 16th-note flurries leading into the soaring solo of “Father’s Song”, a motif credited to Prince’s own dad, acclaimed jazz composer John L. Nelson.

4. “LET’S GO CRAZY”

Prince reinvented himself as a prophet, preacher and party animal on the first track of the most exhilarating album of the ‘80s. The slashed-out riff sweeps you on your feet, leading you directly to his swirling solo – a perfect expression of joy – laden with Boss stompbox flange and attitude.

Then, the only thing that could possibly improve “Let’s Go Crazy” actually happens: a second solo (on a Billboard No. 1, no less), tearing the universe apart with its roaring private cadenza that extends over an avalanche of pounding electro-drums.

It is, undoubtedly, the craziest piece of guitar work the Purple One ever committed to tape, but as you’ll see, the story hardly ends there.

3. “LADY CAB DRIVER”

Lean in for this one. To understand Prince is to understand funk, and this intricately calibrated eight-minute jam is a masterclass in subtlety. Throughout the track are his twin clean guitars, interlaced in a tightly strummed pattern that could make Chic’s Nile Rodgers green with envy. The explosively distorted soloing of the first two albums is on its way, mainly at the sixminute mark, but if you mastered every syncopated chicka of this song, your swagger would be huge.

2. “BAMBI”

A crunchy, almost metallic standout on Prince’s eponymous second LP conjures a troubling realisation: “Bambi” is both sleazier and harder than any KISS song ever recorded.

The riff, adorned with full-neck skids and double-stop screeches, gets more powerful with each repetition. Prince’s soloing, meanwhile – a drooling construction of escalating bends and lusty vibrato come-ons – would make him the MVP in any rock outfit.

1. “I’M YOURS”

Released during a springtime of seismic guitar eruptions ( Van Halen had just hit stores), Prince’s debut album featured a 19-year-old Minnesotan who played every instrument, sang in a glorious falsetto and produced as well.

We don’t have to pretend that Prince’s songwriting is as developed as it will be, but the last track is an absolute screamer: five minutes of overdriven shredding, Billy Sheehan-worthy bass riffage, pinched artificial harmonics and cascades of guitar heroics.

Stoked in Funkadelic-style fires, it’s a disturbing display of chops. He doesn’t need to be this good, this soon, yet he is. The outro stretch is shocking.