Hey guys welcome back again to Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy where the proof is
in the singing. I'm doing a series called What Makes
This Singer Great and next up is Prince. Before we get started if you wouldn't
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Don't forget to ring that Bell so that we can have more videos coming your way and I have a
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it right here at Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy.com
for you interested in learning how to sing or wanting to get better at your
vocals. Now what comes to my mind when I think of the greatness of Prince. Lots of
things. Obviously he's a great singer, very unique sound. He used a lot of head
voice falsetto stuff kind like the Bee Gees did that too and we're gonna do a
Bee Gees one, Barry Gibb and the boys here soon but anyway he's a lot of falsetto
and regular chest voice stuff. Great musician, all-around phenomenal
instrumentalist, played a lot of instruments we are, you know we saw a
recent thing of him playing guitar with Tom Petty and the gang. "My Guitar Gently
Weeps" I believe it was and did a great solo on that so we see how phenomenal
some of his playing was just, that's just the solo part not the creative part,
just you know the impromptu soloing part and then I think of he worked with a lot
of girls you know it's kind of interesting. I think of just his
showmanship, what an incredible entertainer. Think of him being really
mysterious, you know he was kind of mysterious guy and he was
always kind of reinvent himself you know changed his name a lot you know
it was kind of funny. This is gonna sound kind of quirky but he was kind of
both a little effeminate and macho all at the same time you know. A little bit
of a Napoleon complex, short man complex right, just a little bit you could see
that coming out of him, little egotistical of some arrogant to some
degree. Great dresser you know, he's very fashionable. I, like I said I
get back to the musician part because I want to re-emphasize something not just
in his songwriting and being very inventive and creative in his
songwriting but also in the way he choose his instruments and he didn't
necessarily care so much about high fidelity in his recordings as much as
the vibe so he was definitely a vibe guy. In fact he put out a really interesting
thing for gosh I wanna say it was East West which was a loops
company called funky, Funky A S S Loops, Funky Ass Loops and so he had some
really interesting things were just, where you saw where kind of his funk and
his groove came from, we did a bunch of loops for that that was really cool.
I think of in combination with him being a dancer, he was very choreographed too
so some of it was was very impromptu and very loose and very free and some of it
was very rehearsed so there was that side of him. I think of him as just within
his songs, great songs. Of course we think of the song "Kiss",
we think of the song you know" Purple Rain", I'm gonna fire this up, we're gonna talk
more about that in a minute. This was a big halftime show I think back in
2007, that he did in the rain I think if I'm not mistaken. I think of "Little Red
Corvette". I think of "Raspberry Beret" you know and
and so forth so let's dive into music here and we'll take a listen and
talk more along the way. Here we go.
Okay now right out of the gate, you're gonna see this video and you're gonna
see switching guitars so he must have done something with a different guitar
before but he's not all spazzed out he's not like you know it's half time and
everybody's freaking out like the last halftime show that we just saw and
everything's so intense and just oh my gosh
over-the-top. He's just cool right. He just, he's cool, cool headed, cool hand Luke
but he's also just really calm and cool he's not like freaking out which is
really interesting, sign of a great performer.
His strut.
It's obviously live. Super Bowl, that's another big deal
Very memorable, timeless, legendary classic songwriting.
Incredible melodies. I think of "1999" right.
How ironic if I'm not mistaken I think it was raining right and he's doing "Purple Rain".
Is that coincidental. I don't know, it's kind of creepy.
A lot of distortion on that guitar. I've never heard this.
I've watched part of it a long time ago.
That looks like a phallic symbol while he was standing there, maybe that was intentional.
Yeah I think it's intentional.
Not his great, not his best guitar playing, that's for sure.
Ok now. I want to emphasize his charisma one more time. That guitar
playing was terrible by the way it's not a good example of his playing and you
know I know he also took some drugs to to calm him down and there could be some
of that going on too. I haven't seen this but what I will say is that how many
performers do you know that can get out there and just kind of strut and talk
and have so much charisma that everyone's kind of cool with that they're
like it's Prince and we're just enjoying the artistry of Prince right. Maybe also
too because the song was so successful and it's etched in the memory of
everyone's minds and they're just enjoying you know this, this moment. It's not so
spazzed out that it's you know you don't even know what hit you after it hit you
and then you know you're on to the next thing but, but again I just have to
emphasize the charisma of this guy and just how amazing and mesmerizing that
charisma was so.
Getting the whole Super Bowl to sing your song, rather than just
trying to wow them in the three minutes you get.
That is, that's a true
entertainer right there.
Talk about audience participation.
He doesn't even have to do that much it's just,
like a magician (sounds) it appears right.
Thank you for indulging me watching this I haven't seen this so I thought it was kind of cool if we do
it together right and we could just talk about it along the way. This is actually
like a vocal coach reaction cause I've only seen a part of this so this is
interesting.
Bad note.
Ok somehow this got repeated so anyway. I mean you get the point. Yeah so
tell me guys what do you think of when you think of Prince. Of course I think of
"Kiss" I think of other people you know, Tom Jones trying to cover his songs and
you know anyway but I just think of him, he's just an amazing all-around, he's the
whole package, singing, playing, producing, dancing, production, fashion I mean it's
all there in Prince. What do you think of when you think of Prince, what makes him
great. I'm doing most of this by request guys so if you have something that you
want me to react to and talk about what other singer you think is great and what
makes them great, please put it in the comments section and definitely check
out my next video.