“I haven’t had a lot of time to develop a favourite artist. I try not to listen to too many people. It’s distracting.” — Prince.
As the above may suggest, during his all-too-short lifetime, Prince, aka The purple One and His Royal Badness, wasn’t particularly forthcoming with his answers to some of the music world’s most tediously asked but so desperately wanted questions. One of the leading paint-by-numbers journalistic practices was asking Prince about the topic of his favourite guitarists. But, such was his prowess on the instrument; it was a question we all need the answers to.
The famed singer, guitarist, performer and all-around musical impresario is far more than just a dedicated axeman. Nevertheless, he is still regarded as one of the instrument’s finest players the world has ever seen. It means his opinion on who he deemed to be the best is of serious value, no matter how hard it is to track down.
Pulling together nine guitar players whom Prince would have called his favourites is a lot harder than you think to compile. Prince remained largely tight-lipped about his influences throughout his career, only really noting one artist is a true hero. Despite offering very little in the way of an indication to his favourite musicians, the singer did, on the odd occasion, break from the pattern and share a bit of his tastes.
For years Prince ignored the questions asking for his influences until he finally cracked when speaking with Mojo: “When I’m working, I’m working. I don’t have time to… You know what? It’s such a drag to have musicians claim they never listen to the competition,” he said. “They’re liars, man. I mean, I know bands who in the press badmouth artists they revere in rehearsal. I don’t wanna be like that.”
Prince continued: “I crave great musicianship, and I don’t care who provides it. I’ve got no problems saying I dig D’Angelo. Or some of the things that Bjork does…the Cocteau Twins…Musicians, we’re family. I hope young musicians learn from me — my mistakes too — the way I learned.” While this didn’t necessarily lead to an outpouring of his admiration for other artists, Prince famously asked his band to refrain from listening to music when they were recording; it did signal that Prince Rogers Nelson, despite his previous proclamations, was a music fan after all. The variation of his likes and dislikes hints at the mercurial talent he indeed was.
So often compared to Jimi Hendrix during his time on the stage, it’s hard not to see how Prince could be inspired by the enigmatic guitarist. Though he admitted that he missed the Hendrix explosion because “they were too old by then”, it’s hard to see a world in which Hendrix wasn’t revered by the Purple One as one of his favourite guitarists of all time. “Hendrix is very good. Fact,” Prince told MTV, “There will never be another one like him, and it would be a pity to try. I strive for originality in my work, and hopefully, it’ll be perceived that way.”
However, the comparisons between himself and Hendrix were, in his mind, irrelevant and only connected to his race. Instead, Prince always believed: “He plays different guitar than I do. If they really listened to my stuff, they’d hear more of a Santana influence than Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix played more blues; Santana played prettier. You can’t compare people, you really can’t, unless someone is blatantly trying to rip somebody off. And you can’t really tell that unless you play the songs.”
There is, of course, room on the list of Prince’s favourite guitarists for perhaps his most well-known idol, Joni Mitchell. A far more skilled guitar player than her superb songwriting allowed her to gain credit for, Prince has always heralded Mitchell’s creative daring. Whether it was wreckless open tunings on her songs or her jazz adoption, Mitchell remained a pertinent influence on Prince. The Purple One even went to see Mitchell before he was famous.
Wonderfully, Mitchell is a fan of the singer too, often saying he is her favourite artist to ever call her an influence, telling New York Magazine: “Prince attended one of my concerts in Minnesota. I remember seeing him sitting in the front row when he was very young. He must have been about 15. He was in an aisle seat and he had unusually big eyes,” she said.
Adding: “He watched the whole show with his collar up, looking side to side. You couldn’t miss him—he was a little Prince-ling. Prince used to write me fan mail with all of the U’s and hearts that way that he writes. And the office took it as mail from the lunatic fringe and just tossed it!”
There are similar inclusions in our list based on Prince’s prior interviews including Mark Farner from the classic Grand Funk Railroad, Amos Garrett the Canadian blues-rock guitarist and, of course, Tom Scholz from Boston whose influence can be heard on all manner of Prince songs. It’s a collection of seventies rock that one would imagine was a mainstay of Minnesotan radio during Prince’s formative years.
While those comparisons will offer some intrigue and encouragement to rock guitarists around the globe, Prince’s real love came from pop and funk with a deep affection for the work of Tony Maiden from Rufus, a band made famous by their lead singer Chaka Khan, as well as appreciation fro the acclaimed Freddie Stone from Sly and the Family Stone. There’s also a nod to Chicago’s Terry Kath, a man whose solo on ’25 or Six to Four’ was the acid test for all guitarists at Prince’s high school.
Considering Jimi Hendrix once labelled Chicago’s axeman as one of the best, he deserves his spot. Around the late ’60s, Chicago played a few shows with the legendary guitarist. Like pretty much everyone who came to see the band perform, Hendrix was mesmerised by Kath’s guitar playing, going so far as to claim that he thought the Chicago guitarist played six strings better than he did, naming Kath the “best guitarist in the universe”. High praise indeed.
However, without a doubt, the greatest influence on Prince as a guitarist and, therefore, likely his favourite of all time, was Sonny Thompson, Prince’s longtime friend. When asked the question of his favourite guitarist in 1994, Prince picked his bandmate and bassist, Sonny T by saying: “I listened to everybody. My favourite of all time is Sonny T.” While bassists aren’t strictly included in this list, Sonny’s influence and ability on guitar is still the overriding factor.
“I thought Sonny was God,” says Prince in the 1994 conversation. “Sonny was my hero. A lot of what I do on guitar, I learned from him. I’d go over to his house and we’d play records and he’d show me things on guitar.” We’re glad he did as, almost completely under the radar, Prince is rightly revered as one of the greatest guitarists of his generation, if not all time.
Below, enjoy a selection of Prince’s favourite guitar players of all time and an introductory playlist to help you get to know them.
Prince’s favourite guitarists:
- Jimi Hendrix
- Joni Mitchell
- Carlos Santana
- Sonny T
- Tony Maiden
- Mark Farner
- Amos Garrett
- Terry Kath
- Freddie Stone
- Tom Scholz