Few guitar performances have stunned audiences quite like Prince’s appearance at George Harrison’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on March 15, 2004.
Joining Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood and Harrison’s son, Dhani, for a tribute performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” Prince stepped forward at the song’s climax and unleashed a breathtaking solo on his custom Hohner Mad Cat electric guitar. Blending fluid technique, fearless phrasing and effortless showmanship, he left viewers — and even his fellow performers — in awe.
Billy Gibbons was one of them.
Although the ZZ Top guitarist had long admired Prince as a songwriter and showman, he admits he had no idea just how formidable he was as a guitarist until that performance.
A large guy came up and tapped me on the shoulder. He said, ‘Somebody wants to speak to you.’”
— Billy Gibbons
“I didn’t really know Prince to be that accomplished as a guitarist,” Gibbons told Dan Rather for AXS TV. “I knew he held a guitar, but I didn’t really see him play it much. But that one appearance at the close of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction awards really caught me off guard, and I started listening intently.”
The revelation came at just the right time. Not long afterward, while ZZ Top were on tour, Gibbons found himself crossing paths with Prince in New York City.
“I was in Manhattan, and we had made an appearance,” Gibbons recalled. “It was late at night, and I was looking for a place to get something to eat.”
His favorite late-night spot in the Meatpacking District was closed for renovations, but the venue across the street was buzzing.
“There was another place that had recently opened. I had never seen it before, but there was great fanfare going on. I saw Brazilian-looking dancers up on top of the bar. The music was so loud, I said, ‘Well, I gotta go.’”
After taking a look around, Gibbons says, “A large guy came up and tapped me on the shoulder. He said, ‘Somebody wants to speak to you.’”
The man pointed toward a lone figure sitting in a banquette. It was Prince.
He said, ‘Well, I fell into it by accident. I haven’t been able to play it like that ever since. Let’s go learn it!’”
— Billy Gibbons
“He said, ‘I just would like to talk guitar.’ And I said, ‘Well, you’ve come to the right place.’”
The two spent the next two hours, as Gibbons puts it, “peeling the onion,” swapping ideas and techniques until nearly dawn.
“We sat for a good two hours talking about how to do this and how to do that. This was now going on till 4:30, five in the morning. And I said, ‘By the way, can you teach me how to play that guitar figure that opens up your great song “When Doves Cry”?’
“And he said, ‘Well, I fell into it by accident. I haven’t been able to play it like that ever since. Let’s go learn it!’
“But yeah,” Gibbons says with a laugh, “Prince was a prince.”
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