# Prince's Guitar Work on "Let's Go Crazy" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943 "2013-07-19T15:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/21 "2013-07-20T14:44:21Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I wish I could say I was surprised, **gaffa** , but I’m not. Prince is the stereotypical complete asshole genius, from everything I’ve heard. Really? I know a bunch of people who know him - from high school or filming Purple Rain. He is excruciatingly shy apparently and more than a little weird, but as a person, he is supposed to be a nice guy who still keeps in touch with his friends from 30 years ago. When we went to a concert in Minneapolis a few years ago, the entire auditorium was invited to Paisley Park for a post show party - just show your ticket stub. Early on he got screwed by record deals, which is why for a bit he was “The Artist.” So on the IP front he is relentless. But that doesn’t make him an asshole. (Now, ask me about Dylan, who doesn’t stay in touch with his friends from 50 years ago and still owes my mother in law money.) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/22 "2013-07-20T15:07:52Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Hey **GAFFA** , how did the kids KNOW Prince’s unreleased song, since it was unreleased? The setlist is assembled by each schools music director and the director of each particular show. Apparently this song [was released somewhere](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreleased_Prince_projects#The_Undertaker), though not in any official form. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/23 "2013-07-20T17:42:08Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I’d agree, It is in my top five albums of all time. It may suffer from being made slap-bang in the middle of the eighties cheesy-rock period but heck, it is so much more than that. Not a weak track on there. > > Have to give shout out to my favourite Prince guitar work on " I could never take the place of your man" How does he get so much out of a simple two or three note riff? You know the bit I mean. Not only that but the solo he did in that song is _hard_ - he’s tracking with himself, using an obvious delay effect to double the lead. That is really, really hard to do; and in this case, the approach he took sounds fresh, not like a Gilmour or Edge knock-off. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/24 "2013-07-20T18:08:11Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Really? I know a bunch of people who know him - from high school or filming Purple Rain. He is excruciatingly shy apparently and more than a little weird, but as a person, he is supposed to be a nice guy who still keeps in touch with his friends from 30 years ago. When we went to a concert in Minneapolis a few years ago, the entire auditorium was invited to Paisley Park for a post show party - just show your ticket stub. > > Early on he got screwed by record deals, which is why for a bit he was “The Artist.” So on the IP front he is relentless. But that doesn’t make him an asshole. > > (Now, ask me about Dylan, who doesn’t stay in touch with his friends from 50 years ago and still owes my mother in law money.) That doesn’t surprise me, either - it could just be that he’s extremely protective of anything music related. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/25 "2013-07-20T18:29:02Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > That doesn’t surprise me, either - it could just be that he’s extremely protective of anything music related. Right, but to use Frank Zappa’s memorable phrase from the PMRC hearings, this is the equivalent of treating dandruff with decapitation. Copyright is about protecting the market. Please explain how the little shit’s market was impacted in any way by a bunch of kids covering a song that is not available for sale? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/26 "2013-07-20T18:31:37Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Copyright is about protecting the market. Please explain how the little shit’s market was impacted in any way by a bunch of kids covering a song that is not available for sale? Better yet, let’s talk about his guitar playing. If you want to start a discussion of music, intellectual property and Prince, start a new thread. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/27 "2013-07-20T18:41:54Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Better yet, let’s talk about his guitar playing. If you want to start a discussion of music, intellectual property and Prince, start a new thread. [Done.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=697096) ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/28 "2013-07-20T19:04:41Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Prince plays guitar like you or I would put on and take off a hat. In fact, Prince plays guitar probably more effortlessly and more smoothly than you and I would put on and take off a hat. Prince plays guitar like most people breathe. > > Proficiency on an instrument isn’t to be measured simply by the complexity of the pieces chosen for performance. You don’t need to know if it’s a “hard” guitar part to judge Prince’s playing, he plays in a way that the music flows from within his body and sounds out through the instrument with a fluidity and ease such that he can express himself through the instrument as if the instrument were an extension of himself rather than a tool that exists in a place between the artist’s intent and the artist’s product. > > [Here’s a 2013 live performance.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81WswKidRN4) I love Prince and saw him in 88 and 90 in the UK and he was amazing, but Bienville - this blew me away! He is still so inventive and artistically restless - and what a band! Thanks for posting that, it really made my day - and I’ve had a really good day! MiM ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/29 "2013-07-20T21:10:09Z")
Here’s the Harrison tribute: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6SFNW5F8K9Y/hqdefault.jpg "Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and others -- "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y) It’s all bit plodding and reverential until Prince does his thing. The best bit is about 4:30 or so in - the young lad just bursts out laughing ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/30 "2013-07-20T23:02:43Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > The setlist is assembled by each schools music director and the director of each particular show. Apparently this song [was released somewhere](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreleased_Prince_projects#The_Undertaker), though not in any official form. THAT might have pissed him off a little more than average. I guess he really didn’t want that released. Odd guy. I’ve read where people say he’s got hundreds of unreleased songs recorded. I wonder if the directors might start taking into consideration how performers react to their material being covered, and omit those to react like Prince does. I would think being able to put the vids on YouTube would be advantageous enough that they would want to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/31 "2013-07-21T00:18:00Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Here’s the Harrison tribute: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y) > > It’s all bit plodding and reverential until Prince does his thing. The best bit is about 4:30 or so in - the young lad just bursts out laughing I’ve seen it before, but damn! That’s a helluva solo! He really does make it look effortless as he swoops and soars. ---
**Author:** ![alphamatix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@alphamatix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphamatix)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/32 "2013-07-21T04:18:43Z")
I’m pretty lukewarm to that While My Guitar Gently Weeps thing. I feel like he just fills that solo with generic self-indulgent guitar flash where the original Clapton solo felt liked it belonged in the song and fully embodied it. I’ve only heard a tiny percentage of his huge catalog but every bit of guitar soloing I hear from him is like that - it fulfills this generic flashy solo mandate without really doing anything special for me. Having said all that I still think the guy is an absolute genius. He just doesn’t speak to me as a guitar soloist. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943/33 "2013-07-21T06:56:46Z")
Here’s a different genre. Prince with Stevie Wonder on[Superstition](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUKA7usm4C0) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princes-guitar-work-on-lets-go-crazy/663943.md?page=1)