PUNK FUNK

These are two of my favorite guitarists of all time, and I’m always find myself asking, who’s better, Jesse or Prince?  Before anyone gets all up in arms just know that this is my opinion only, but I’m a guitarist myself so I’m comparing them with knowledge of the instrument, and simply what sounds good to me.

Obviously, Prince is the better all around musician, though not by a landslide.  He’s created some of the most memorable music in the latter half of the twentieth century and released (arguably) one of the top five albums of all time with Purple Rain.  Not to mention the fact that he is one of the most prolific artists of all time, with well over 1000 tracks recorded.  His versatility and sheer mastery of instruments is at the very least, amazing.  But here we are talking about  guitar, and guitar only.

Without doubt, Prince has more material to go off of, but Jesse’s material is very strong as well.  Prince is obviously a bigger name and much more popular, but in my humble and honest opinion JJ doesn’t fall far behind in any category, especially guitar.  With that said, I’ll let my analysis begin.

There’s an urban myth circulating that Jesse Johnson is the only guitarist that Prince truly feared.  Not fear as in being scared, but more like Prince knew it was scary how good Jesse was on the axe.  If we’re comparing simply off technical ability, Jesse wins hands down.  He is simply a master at his instrument.  Prince has arguably written more memorable melodies and riffs with the guitar, but part of that is because he was more popular.

It’s easy to say these two axe masters are neck and neck, that is until you are able to give your ears an orgasm and pick up Jesse’s Bare My Naked Soul.  This album is a brilliant guitar album.  The riffs are ridiculously good and the solos are mind blowing.  The record’s sound falls somewhere between SRV, Lenny Kravitz, Hendrix and Zeppelin.  Do yourself a favor and pick this up.  Every solo the guy plays will make your jaw drop.  All things considered, I think it’s fair to say Jesse is a better axe man.  Prince has had his moments where his guitar just sounds weak and thin because of his tone choices, but at other times his guitar just screams.  One of my favorite Prince guitar songs is Calhoun Square.  The guitar tone is nice, warm and thick.  As far as solos go, Let’s go Crazy was a standout moment and also the jaw dropping performance at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2004.  However, I still think Jesse Johnson takes the cake as far as guitar playing goes.  Here are two videos to dig.  I’m sure Jesse has had even finer moments in performance, but he simply doesn’t have as much media available as His Royal Badness.  Enjoy.

Jesse Johnson Band “I’m Gonna Getcha (Live at The Cabooze, Minneapolis, MN 1994)

Prince “Creep” (Live at Coachella 2008)