Billy Gibbons was already a fan of Prince, but only when he saw him perform at the 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony for George Harrison did it dawn upon him just how good a guitarist he was.
The ZZ Top frontman was probably not alone. There would have been others tuning in with a similar opinion.
They might have loved Prince as this great pop-cultural force of nature, but watching him with an electric guitar in his hands opened their eyes to a generational six-string talent.
Latest Videos FromGuitar World
Speaking to AXS TV, Gibbons recalled the moment when Prince, flanked by Tom Petty, Dhani Harrison, Steve Winwood and Jeff Lynne, stole the show during While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
“I had become a fan of Prince, and by and large, I admired his showmanship. I considered him a world-class entertainer,” said Gibbons. “You thought of him as a great performer, but not necessarily a great guitarist, until that moment.”
Gibbons loved Prince on record. He thought of Prince as a “great dancer, a great singer, a great composer” but he wasn’t someone whose guitar was central to his identity. That night at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC blew Gibbons’ mind.
“It was only until he appeared Rock & Roll Hall of Fame closing jam session, when he picked up a guitar and tore it up, lit the stage on fire with his technical dexterity,” said Gibbons. “I didn’t really know Prince to be that accomplished as a guitarist.”
Game recognizes game. Watching Prince, Gibbons would surely have drawn the connection between this pop dynamo’s style and his old friend Jimi Hendrix. Both seemed to be in communion with a higher power, as though something cosmic was directing traffic on the fretboard.
“The most I had seen him previously, I knew he held a guitar, but I didn’t really see him play it much,” admitted Gibbons. “That one appearance at the close of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Awards, really, it caught me off guard, and I started listening intently.”
It was not long after that show that Gibbons would get the chance to meet Prince. Again, he was in NYC, looking for a bite to eat in Manhattan after a show. Gibbons knew where he was going. Veteran touring musicians always know the spots to go to after hours – and this was after hours all right.
“I had a favourite little all night spot down in the meat market,” recalled Gibbons. “And on arrival, the go-to 24-hour place had briefly closed for renovation. I was kind of standing around, and I looked across the street, and there was another place that had recently opened. I had never seen it before, but there was great fanfare going on.”
Gibbons tells these stories with a casual understatement. When he says there’s a “great fanfare” going on you can be sure this scene is like New Year’s Eve at Studio 54.
“I saw Brazilian looking dancers up on top of the bar,”said Gibbons. “The music was so loud.”
This doesn’t sound like the kind of place where you’d get a cheeseburger and a shake. But Gibbons was compelled to investigate.
“I said, ‘Well, I gotta go.’ And no sooner had I crossed the threshold, I walked in, and a large guy came up and tapped me on the shoulder,” he said. This large guy wanted to convene a meeting. There was someone who was eager to speak to Gibbons.
“He said, ‘Somebody wants to speak to you.’ And I said, ‘Okay,’” said Gibbons. “And he pointed, and sitting in this little horseshoe banquette all alone, there sat Prince. I took a seat, and he said, ‘Yeah, sit down.’ He said, ‘I just would like to talk guitar.’ And I said, ‘Well, you’ve come to the right place.’”
Gibbons took the opportunity to get Prince’s story on guitar. What kind of player he was, all that kind of thing. There was a lot to unpack.
“We sat for a good two hours, talking about how to do this and how to do that,” said Gibbons.
It was now past 4.30am. Time to call it a night. But something was bothering Gibbons. He wanted Prince to tell him how he played that crazy, shambling solo that opens When Doves Cry. Could Prince teach him? Sadly not.
“He said, ‘Well, I fell into it by accident. I haven’t been able to play it like that ever since,’” recalled Gibbons. “He said, ‘Let’s go learn it!’ [Laughs] But yeah, Prince was a prince.”
