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This is the thing we're quickest to pounce on the pop acts of today about, right? All these superficial teen stars just showing up to the studio to sing words they didn't write while real musicians do all the stuff that requires actual musical ability. If you're prone to making complaints of this nature, then by rights you should agree with me right here out of the gate that Prince is the greatest musician ever. From his earliest days, he played damn near every instrument on his albums. The example that gets cited the most, for good reason, is his debut record, For You, where he's credited with playing 27 different instruments.

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Even after adding extra musicians to the mix, he was still doing pretty much everything you hear on his most famous songs. On the 1999 album, which is theoretically a joint effort between himself and The Revolution, he's still the sole driving force behind most of the music.

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In case you're wondering, the additions from outsiders come mostly in the form of hand claps and extra vocals, save for the guitar solo on Little Red Corvette, which was played by guitarist Dez Dickerson.

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Had that album been recorded today, he just as easily could've outsourced that smattering of extra responsibilities to people he found on Craigslist. He didn't just play a bunch of instruments, though -- he played them extremely well. That's especially true when it comes to lead guitar. For years now, I've been telling people who were bored enough to ask that Prince, hands down, is my favorite guitar player of all time. If you only know his work from the singles you've heard on the radio, it may not have come through all that clearly, but he was a fucking machine when it came to his guitar work. One of the best examples, and one that's been getting a lot of additional and well-deserved attention in the days since he died, is his solo during the all-star performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.