I kept hearing and reading about this video and folks raving about how great it is, "the best solo of all time"

Well granted we are not all inspired by the same things, and perhaps I am missing something, but I don't see anything particularly extraordinary about Prince's solo. In fact it was a pretty good rendition of the song until he started playing, which is quite, I think, overblown. Personally the fellow with the sunburst strat plays a much more honest passage.

Having said that Prince is no doubt a musical genius in his own right, and a technically gifted guitarist. this is one I just don't get.

Anyone else out there feel this way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWvzTYlHpqU

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I remember when we were free!

As good as Prince's solo is in While My Guitar... I think that Jeff Healey's version is much better,George Harrison must have loved Jeff's version also because he appeared on the album.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

thanx oneal, i enjoyed that one alot. i see this in a differnt' way and i'll explain. there's a ton of talent on that stage. maybe they told prince to "go for it". in my opinion he did and it sounded pretty good to me. the smile on georges sons (danni?) face says it all. you know when prince leans on the dude while playing the solo. thats kinda cool.
i don't own one prince cd but the dudes got chops. yes, i enjoyed the first solo more. i think george would have enjoyed both.

?????

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Liandra "guitargurl"Smith

All I can think of when I hear the name Prince is Dave Chappelle serving pancakes.

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

The fellow with the sunburst strat is Joe Bonamassa.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrs6xsdG6c

Thanks,

I was wondering who it was. I enjoyed his part.

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I remember when we were free!

Capo,

I watched that yesterday also. Chapelle is/was so funny. It is a true thing, in life, some people just seem talented at everything. The rest of us have to work at it.

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I remember when we were free!

Sorry but Prince there showed the difference between a guitarist and a musician.
Absolute utter mastery of that stage, instrument and song. From the second he started playing he led the song, conducted the band. Any prat could blast some notes, listen to the rhythm and interaction with the band, particularly the drummer, on Princes solo. He builds the band right up, then when you expect a big crashing end, elongates it some more. Everyone on that stage was feeding off him.
Thats the difference, notes are just notes. Any joker can do em. Musicality to that degree can't be taught. Anybody could have played the Bonemassa solo well and you'd have never known the difference, only Prince could have played that Prince solo. The difference between good and great, what makes people like Clapton inimitable. Neither could have copied him and pulled it off. Prince didn't have to, he princed it.

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I'm still trying to figure out where the Tele went..at the end. He appears to throw it at the audience...????????

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This Ain't No Dress Rehearsal..We Are Professionals & This is the Bigtime - Waylon

I do not see it as musically or technically all that brilliant. It could have been played by hundreds. Thats why I don't understand all the hubub.

What I would give him credit for is his showmanship, if I cared for strutting etc. I guess while on stage with all those other egos he felt the need to seperate himself.

I tend to turn off these types of "tribute events", they always end up a little to overdone and just short of worship.

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I remember when we were free!

See Oneal, I think your confusing musicality and technicality. Lets face it, guitar is largely a neanderthal instrument. Nearly every player stuck on some mangled version of a major or minor pentatonic. So technicality is out of the question, really. All that stuff is easy.

What you're missing is that Prince completely conducts that band, every part of that band. Just by how he played, not what he played. You can't learn that, you cant teach it. The Bonemassa solo was just the same as every other boring blues inspired solo since 1977, it didn't do anything. Just a selection of notes with nothing to say and a over emphasis on bad out of tune bending. Nothing to it, you, I or anyone else could learn that. A part with no meaning that contributed nothing and did nothing for the band. Just a passage dumped inbetween where the vocals dropped out. That is technicality. Where Prince made the band go exactly where he wanted em to, what he played didn't matter. Theres no chance of it not fitting, because he was conducting the band to what he played. That is musicality.

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Nik I could not agree with you more!!!! That is feeling, not coping the same old. Of course I am a big fan of Prince's playing. If I had a choice of who I would want to be on stage with me it would be Prince over Bonemassa any day of the week.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

CV I like Smokin Joe, I really do. I can listen to him and even bought Blues Deluxe. But he's a guitarist. Eats, sleeps, thinks guitar. Prince is a musician, does the same thing, but its all about the music. Not just the guitar. Two similar mindsets that give very different results.

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I have to agree- I never liked prince personally, I allways thought he was wierdo. But he did lead that band. Much like a conductor, or a solo violinist in an orchestra.

That Strat that Joe was playing was a Strat Plus Deluxe right?

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