I read an interview with Wendy that someone had stolen her purple Rain guitar and her other Rickenbacker and that she searches places like E-bay all over the world looking for them. I just hope that she can find them. Because, since Prince’s passing that guitar would even have more sentimental value to her.
Every single time I hear that first chord played.. I MUST stop whatever I'm doing and focus on the beauty of that sublime intro. Very interesting video.
I went on my first an only cruise back in 2016. It was a smaller ship out of Charleston SC and I just got bored after a few days. Anyway we started just spending all of our time at these shows they had which were ok but well...whatever. Anyway we're basically closing down the place, there were maybe 30 people left in the room and they decided to do some karaoke. There were only three takers and the last of them was this thick white guy with a shaved head that looked like pretty much every IT guy ever. Anyway it's his turn and they say he's going to do Purple Rain and i just sink into my chair expecting to have to plug my ears. That first chord marked the end of my days of doubting people based on how they look forever. *HE* *FUCKING* *KILLED* *IT* It was completely unbelievable, and I'll prove it because nobody reading this is going to believe that I closed my eyes and I was listening to Prince lol. All of that swagger and drippy drip vocal flourishes and range and growl was all there. His wife just sat there and watched him with this big grin on her face while I was three rows back looking around freaking out. Best part of the trip by far.
I know I am a year late, going through a Prince moment today and just can't believe he is gone. You did a great job on this tutorial of sound and chords. great Job Chris.
Love this, really well done. And kudos for giving Wendy the recognition she deserves. Amazing to think she was 19, playing her first live show, and this one bit goes down in history as one of the most instantly recognizable intros in pop rock.
The F chord is actually an Fadd9 on the recording: 1-3-5-2-x-x. You can actually see her doing that fingering in the clip you showed. It’s a hard stretch, but that’s definitely what it is and it gives the chord that little extra thing that makes it sound 100%.
@@williamshears9953 I think Message in a bottle is the first famous song using the add9 chord. The difference on what Wendy played in the record is that you can distinctly ear the A on the 3d string. I think I read in some interview that she explained she used a capo in the studio version to have it sound so neat, but I'm not that sure. What I saw is that when she plays it live or in demos she definitely omits that note and plays a "power add9 chord" a la "Message in a bottle"
Chris there is a video out there where Wendy talks about Purple Rain. She actually wrote the intro. Prince made her play it for a hour during rehearsals. She said the song almost sounded country when Prince played it on the piano. You are spot on with the guitar and the mods made. As for the signal chain, she was running her Rick through a Boss CE-1 mono into a Mesa Head with JBL speakers.
Awesome - the cool thing about these Buck tone breakdown YT vids is that a seriously world class guitarist/ musician is doing it bringing accuracy and nuance etc unlike numerous average hackers like me 😊
There’s an interview with Wendy & vertex where she says she used a ce1 in mono for it. However they overdubbed/multitracked the live recording for the album multiple layers of chorus is what the dimension choruses do. So while it’s not the specific box she used it is the same effect you’re hearing.
Love this series. You do such a great job getting the essence of the sounds, and I love hearing your explanations for what you think was used, what you used, and how you tweaked it to get what you heard. Great insight.
That's your best yet my friend. Spot bloody on. That song just always gives me the goosebumps. The solo in that full 10'min version is up there for me. Maybe a future vid. 😉👍
Wendy herself says the pedal was the same analog Boss CE-1 chorus John Frusciante is known for using; the big grey one with the two buttons, and the Rickenbacker had G&L pickups as well as the stoptail. I have an original CE-1 and I gotta say a Rickenbacker is a better mate for it than most; it's downright 'soupy' with humbuckers, and even a tele bridge PU doesn't quite nail Wendy's tone on the original.
I have a Rickenbacker 350v63 (A hollow rickenbacker with no F holes) and a Waza DC2. I never realised similar kit conspired to make this tone but the minute I tried it.... wow. Thanks :)
I love the decorating in your house. This is not a troll. It has a warm, mature cozy vibe. It reminds me of my time living in Surrey with my former wife.
I completely agree; it's warm and welcoming. It makes me want to settle down with coffee and relax. Homes should be relaxing, not like a minimalist operating theatre! And the music he plays obviously makes it extra special!
Agreed with some of the comments below, brilliant work, only the F chord is an important "sus2" though (1-3-5-2-1-1, or even 1-3-5-x-x-x if you're standing up like they were on stage), it adds that "G" i.e. the 9th flavor inside the F major chord, which ties that chord even deeper into the progression by keeping it deeply connected to the previous G minor, and even B major chords (which is the major equivalent of G minor...), interesting thing is they go full diatonic and use at least inside the solo fills the flat 7th note (i.e. the Eb...?) as the band lands on the F chord (i.e. as the 5th dominant chord of the full B major scale of chords). Anyway, very well done there, nice work and great video, what an iconic song and progression and solo and era...
if the "A" is being played (2nd fret G string) it is not a "sus 2" but an "added 9" chord as the 3rd is still sounded. Regardless of what she appears to be playing in the video clip from the movie, I cannot hear the "G" note. I believe it is just a straight forward F Maj chord.
@@derekallan6166 Not too sure any longer as the chorus & flanger (and then god knows what) on Wendy's guitar is just so present and makes her entire sound feel so wobbly (in a perfectly brilliant and rainy's kind of way)... if you look at this video here for example th-cam.com/video/frbVVDAyJ1w/w-d-xo.html at around 1:00 you can see her stretch all the way to go capture that G note with her pinky, so is she playing 1-3-5-x-x-x (sus 2), or 1-3-5-2-x-x (add 9), hard to tell, but yeah, that G note (added ninth or suspended second), sure sounds in onto that F chord, which helps give a cute musical color to it...
I watched the video as well and she's got some finger contortionist stuff going on that I can't do "yet" if ever. I'm not sure that playing the part that accurately is that important to me. That crap hurts my wrist up into my forearm.
Wendy was born in 1964 and Purple Rain was recorded in 1984, so she was 19 (tops 20) when she was playing it live... ahh, the magical power of youth... having said that, by the age of 19 I yet had to master the art of picking my nose... magical set of musical skills they all had in that band...
@@MarcAbela I was thinking about that last night. I can't imagine being, basically, just out of high school, and being thrust into super-stardom, into what was one of the biggest bands of that time. I mean, her audition was Purple Rain! It's like saying "Here, Kid, This is going to be the greatest album of all time. This generation will remember it for their whole life. You will leave your mark on them forever. It will be the pinnacle of your success. Don't blink". Seriously, where do you go from there?
Navy Night Ranger That is false... Prince wrote “Purple Rain”, found it was similar to “Faithfully”, then asked the guys in Journey for their approval as a preventative measure to copyright litigation...
I saw an interview where Wendy says she used the Roland CE-1 Pedal for that song. Nonetheless, you have nailed the sound with the Boss Dimension C. Great job!
*You are not hearing a DI guitar, you are hearing what is called a "MULT"! Which is a standard method used across nearly all groups LIVE in those days, basically where the signal is split and sent to another channel and eq or effect differently and layered.*
Prince is well known to be a huge fan of Boss pedals and used them almost exclusively except for his wah since day one-ish. According to Miss Wendy Melvoin they did all analog during that time. It was all old school.
Closest I've heard. The guitar definitely makes a huge difference than others attempts. I would have loved to have heard that F2 chord though. Ha. Great job!
Dimension D was the rack mount, it wasn’t as lush as the C pedal but it had some nice sparkly high end. The Dimension C is what’s being displayed here and it nails those Prince/Cure sounds perfectly… because that’s what was being used in 1984
Yes you did it very well, as usual ;-) I have read or heard somewhere that is wasn't in fact à chorus pedal but a boss BF2 flanger setted with it's "chorusy" settings... I guess the one who knew that took it with him far from our Earthy condition...
Thank you Sir. For the thumbs up 👍, Great job, Sir. Just wanted to let you know that that back in those days 80's , when Purple Rain 1st. Came out. It was standing room only, Red Bird Mall, I had quit playing guitar 🎸, completely Sir. But the part in that movie like, that brought me back was the Shopping center Scene when they showed that White Guitar 🎸 I think they call it the Cloud. Now it's another one out called the Supreme Fender Stratocastor, and I believe that the 1st. One that really got us looking at the Rickenbacker Guitar 🎸 was John lennon from the Beatles R.I.P. thank you 👍 you are great!!!! Keep it up Keep'em Coming Sir🤗👍👍
Like a few others have said, the third chord is played 135xxx, an Fsus2. She may doctor it up later but that's how it starts. Also, your "Bb9" is actually a Bb add9. Regular 9s are dominant, funky sounding chords. And "Gm7sus4" would probably be better labeled Gm11. Suspended chords don't contain a 3rd interval.
Well, hope having the chance to see you performing it live in Belgium someday. You definitely should come down to the "Spirit of 66" venue in Verviers, Belgium. Me and my friends we'll all be there!!!
I could be wrong, but I think the F chord is played differently. I think it’s a low F 1st fret on E., C 3rd fret on the A string, and a G 5th fret on the d string. Give it a listen.
I used to play that tune back in the nineties with a Les Paul Studio via a Fender Princeton Chorus (A stereo amplifier). The sound came pretty close, too.
I like your format; let the chord diagrams do the talking instead of droning on about each finger placement. I also like the quick start that doesn't include endless housekeeping items. Well done.
But the Roland JC-120 was widely available when this was recorded and featured that wide, lush chorus effect. I also remember that Boss had a stomp box chorus effect before 1983, (ce-2?) so it could have been either of those items used to get the chorus sound in the recording.
@WorldRenownedCFE Tabbed, it's Fadd9: 135211. It's very difficult to play, but people speculate that Wendy was able to play it because her Rickenbacker guitar has a shorter distance between the frets. It looks like she's playing it in the video but Chris hasn't tabbed it like that. Mind you, the regular F chord seems to work, without requiring urgent medical attention to your tendons afterwards.
@@odgeUK It's interesting that Chris doesn't mention it. And it's also curious as to what Wendy is actually playing - it seems more like 135x11. Index finger is on 1, ring finger is on 3, and pinky is on 5, and middle finger is not doing much of anything, just floating there. Maybe she is barring the first fret for the high B and E strings, but I'm not sure if I'm hearing them either... Edit: nevermind, Chris is right as the video he edits in with his side comparison is NOT the live recording footage, which you can Google and find on Dailymotion and Vimeo. There she just plays a regular F.
@@MichelLamblin Ahh, I missed that. So Chris is doing the live version, that we think was used as the basic track for what ended up on the record. I wonder then if there was an overdub on the record, because (and I'll have to go back and listen) I swore that you can hear the Add9.
probably as close to the original as humanly possible. amazing detective work. any differences can be explained by the recording console used, analog tape was used, etc. i had no idea a rickenbacker was used on the track, and i thought prince played the guitar part!
I have one of the first Hohner "the prinz". When I connect this guitar to an amplifier and put it clean, I have the sound of purple rain. I don't have to do anything else. Maybe something of an echo. The amp doesn't matter too much.
Berry good. Would been good of you to go into the delay settings. I always thought the chorus effect was coming from an SPX 90. Thx for clearing that up. This is pretty damn close.
Not to sound petty, but do you have any evidence? I've done a load of research into this and couldn't find any reference to there being a JC120 on Purple Rain :/
@@KelsterVonShredster yes indeed Mesa wanted to clean amp back in the day not just a bunch of crunchy stuff and they wanted something that would rival the Jazz chorus and that's how that came about✌️
If you look at the pickups closely, you will see that they have 3 screws... They're Telecaster bridge pickups; look amazingly similar to Duncan Hot Tele stacks... Which would explain the "jangliness" of the tone.
I did not take a purposeful look at Purple Rain the film when it was new, not until thirteen years later when I was 17 years old. By that time, I already had developed a hankering for a Rickenbacker guitar (which I still have not tried to satisfy) watching Wendy Melvin Naomi the rhythm part for this song only increased my (still-unrequited) wish to have one of those guitars. My wish to have one in that midnight blue finish eclipsed my wish to have one like the Beatles and the Byrds had played. I occasionally fantasize about having a 330 in both 6-string and 12-string configurations.
You did and doing a great job 👏, you sound great and thanks for sharing 👍, also here's another thing I discovered that I'll share , Wes Montgomery was playing the E7#9 way before Jimmy Hendrix, but he never got the credit, thanks to Jim Crow Laws, and don't forget Charlie Christian 🎸, No disrespect ✌️ thanks each to his/hers own. Keep it 💯 peace.
Grasshopper plays guitar Wes Montgomery never got credit for 7#9 chords because of Jim Crow laws? What kind of mental gymnastics did you have to do to come up with that? You are aware that there was such a thing as a 7#9 chord before the United States, the American south, the corruption and laws were even formed, right? Lol
This video sounded great to me, I always guessed wrongly that a Roland stereo jazz chorus amp was a big part of the purple rain sound but I dunno what year those amps came out.
I read an interview with Wendy that someone had stolen her purple Rain guitar and her other Rickenbacker and that she searches places like E-bay all over the world looking for them. I just hope that she can find them. Because, since Prince’s passing that guitar would even have more sentimental value to her.
@@AFullNelson true
Intro spot on... th-cam.com/video/H2SqnKh4mOg/w-d-xo.html
I know the feeling... It sucks
She just did a video with VRTX Effects showing how she is getting the sound on purple rain.
@@vhmdl5150 I think she used a tele clone for that, the same type of guitar that Prince used.
Every single time I hear that first chord played.. I MUST stop whatever I'm doing and focus on the beauty of that sublime intro. Very interesting video.
I went on my first an only cruise back in 2016. It was a smaller ship out of Charleston SC and I just got bored after a few days. Anyway we started just spending all of our time at these shows they had which were ok but well...whatever. Anyway we're basically closing down the place, there were maybe 30 people left in the room and they decided to do some karaoke. There were only three takers and the last of them was this thick white guy with a shaved head that looked like pretty much every IT guy ever. Anyway it's his turn and they say he's going to do Purple Rain and i just sink into my chair expecting to have to plug my ears.
That first chord marked the end of my days of doubting people based on how they look forever. *HE* *FUCKING* *KILLED* *IT* It was completely unbelievable, and I'll prove it because nobody reading this is going to believe that I closed my eyes and I was listening to Prince lol. All of that swagger and drippy drip vocal flourishes and range and growl was all there. His wife just sat there and watched him with this big grin on her face while I was three rows back looking around freaking out. Best part of the trip by far.
I know I am a year late, going through a Prince moment today and just can't believe he is gone. You did a great job on this tutorial of sound and chords. great Job Chris.
Love this, really well done. And kudos for giving Wendy the recognition she deserves. Amazing to think she was 19, playing her first live show, and this one bit goes down in history as one of the most instantly recognizable intros in pop rock.
Boss ME-80 settings:
Mod, Chorus: 45, 72, 84
Reverb, Room: 40
Throw harmonizer on there too
Brandon you beauty thanks 👌
The F chord is actually an Fadd9 on the recording: 1-3-5-2-x-x. You can actually see her doing that fingering in the clip you showed. It’s a hard stretch, but that’s definitely what it is and it gives the chord that little extra thing that makes it sound 100%.
Call the POLICE
@@sweetpain67 cry some more about that F chord sounding obviously off.
@@poison7512 Is that a Journey ref, I don’t get it,
It's a reference to every breath you take by the police that uses a similar chord
@@williamshears9953 I think Message in a bottle is the first famous song using the add9 chord. The difference on what Wendy played in the record is that you can distinctly ear the A on the 3d string. I think I read in some interview that she explained she used a capo in the studio version to have it sound so neat, but I'm not that sure. What I saw is that when she plays it live or in demos she definitely omits that note and plays a "power add9 chord" a la "Message in a bottle"
Wendy is a heck of a guitarist. She's still going, and she still uses a Ric 330, among other guitars. It's still "heavily modified"!
Does anyone know her last name so I can look her music up?
D.r. Paul It’s Melvoin.
Chris there is a video out there where Wendy talks about Purple Rain. She actually wrote the intro. Prince made her play it for a hour during rehearsals. She said the song almost sounded country when Prince played it on the piano. You are spot on with the guitar and the mods made. As for the signal chain, she was running her Rick through a Boss CE-1 mono into a Mesa Head with JBL speakers.
Yeah, Vertex Pedals interview.
Having lived in Minneapolis for almost 10 years and been around the man and many who worked with Prince this was spot on and had the right soul.
Best demo of the Purple sound/tone so far, Good job
Awesome - the cool thing about these Buck tone breakdown YT vids is that a seriously world class guitarist/ musician is doing it bringing accuracy and nuance etc unlike numerous average hackers like me 😊
There’s an interview with Wendy & vertex where she says she used a ce1 in mono for it. However they overdubbed/multitracked the live recording for the album multiple layers of chorus is what the dimension choruses do. So while it’s not the specific box she used it is the same effect you’re hearing.
Certainly couldn’t get any closer than this .. brilliant stuff!!
Another great quality video in the series Chris buddy, great sound !
Love this series. You do such a great job getting the essence of the sounds, and I love hearing your explanations for what you think was used, what you used, and how you tweaked it to get what you heard. Great insight.
That's your best yet my friend. Spot bloody on. That song just always gives me the goosebumps. The solo in that full 10'min version is up there for me. Maybe a future vid. 😉👍
It's amazing how far a CE2 & the wrong chords have got me! Great video Chris.
Wendy herself says the pedal was the same analog Boss CE-1 chorus John Frusciante is known for using; the big grey one with the two buttons, and the Rickenbacker had G&L pickups as well as the stoptail. I have an original CE-1 and I gotta say a Rickenbacker is a better mate for it than most; it's downright 'soupy' with humbuckers, and even a tele bridge PU doesn't quite nail Wendy's tone on the original.
I have a Rickenbacker 350v63 (A hollow rickenbacker with no F holes) and a Waza DC2. I never realised similar kit conspired to make this tone but the minute I tried it.... wow. Thanks :)
Damn you've got a great set of ears! This is spot on.
Prince used only Boss pedals from the late 80's on. Spot on.
What about the early 80s like 1999 and Purple rain as of what he used for the mad cat honers guitar?
And what has that got to do with the content of the video? Absolutely nothing!
@@joeguitar75 okay Joe dirt
Actually, that's false. The drums to When Doves Cry were put through s phaser/flanged Boss pedal.
Best explanation I've seen on this sequence
Boss Chorus pedal had been around since 1976, I was around at this time and by that time everybody was using the CE2, which came out in 1979.
Great job! Prince was absolute genius
I've always known how to play this, but I always like just playing my own version of it. Great video!
I love the decorating in your house. This is not a troll. It has a warm, mature cozy vibe. It reminds me of my time living in Surrey with my former wife.
I completely agree; it's warm and welcoming. It makes me want to settle down with coffee and relax. Homes should be relaxing, not like a minimalist operating theatre! And the music he plays obviously makes it extra special!
Agreed with some of the comments below, brilliant work, only the F chord is an important "sus2" though (1-3-5-2-1-1, or even 1-3-5-x-x-x if you're standing up like they were on stage), it adds that "G" i.e. the 9th flavor inside the F major chord, which ties that chord even deeper into the progression by keeping it deeply connected to the previous G minor, and even B major chords (which is the major equivalent of G minor...), interesting thing is they go full diatonic and use at least inside the solo fills the flat 7th note (i.e. the Eb...?) as the band lands on the F chord (i.e. as the 5th dominant chord of the full B major scale of chords). Anyway, very well done there, nice work and great video, what an iconic song and progression and solo and era...
if the "A" is being played (2nd fret G string) it is not a "sus 2" but an "added 9" chord as the 3rd is still sounded. Regardless of what she appears to be playing in the video clip from the movie, I cannot hear the "G" note. I believe it is just a straight forward F Maj chord.
@@derekallan6166 Not too sure any longer as the chorus & flanger (and then god knows what) on Wendy's guitar is just so present and makes her entire sound feel so wobbly (in a perfectly brilliant and rainy's kind of way)... if you look at this video here for example th-cam.com/video/frbVVDAyJ1w/w-d-xo.html at around 1:00 you can see her stretch all the way to go capture that G note with her pinky, so is she playing 1-3-5-x-x-x (sus 2), or 1-3-5-2-x-x (add 9), hard to tell, but yeah, that G note (added ninth or suspended second), sure sounds in onto that F chord, which helps give a cute musical color to it...
I watched the video as well and she's got some finger contortionist stuff going on that I can't do "yet" if ever. I'm not sure that playing the part that accurately is that important to me. That crap hurts my wrist up into my forearm.
Wendy was born in 1964 and Purple Rain was recorded in 1984, so she was 19 (tops 20) when she was playing it live... ahh, the magical power of youth... having said that, by the age of 19 I yet had to master the art of picking my nose... magical set of musical skills they all had in that band...
@@MarcAbela I was thinking about that last night. I can't imagine being, basically, just out of high school, and being thrust into super-stardom, into what was one of the biggest bands of that time. I mean, her audition was Purple Rain!
It's like saying "Here, Kid, This is going to be the greatest album of all time. This generation will remember it for their whole life. You will leave your mark on them forever. It will be the pinnacle of your success. Don't blink".
Seriously, where do you go from there?
He also admired JOURNEYS song "FAITHFULLY "so much he asked the band if he could lay down a similar riff on his song PURPLE RAIN
Navy Night Ranger That is false... Prince wrote “Purple Rain”, found it was similar to “Faithfully”, then asked the guys in Journey for their approval as a preventative measure to copyright litigation...
Apparently, he used the same chord progression.
@@NYN2U 😁 you basically said the same thing but different angle. False your face
@@smartiboo so does about 43% of all other music.
Yes it is true
What a gorgeous tone recreation!!!!
I saw an interview where Wendy says she used the Roland CE-1 Pedal for that song. Nonetheless, you have nailed the sound with the Boss Dimension C. Great job!
*You are not hearing a DI guitar, you are hearing what is called a "MULT"! Which is a standard method used across nearly all groups LIVE in those days, basically where the signal is split and sent to another channel and eq or effect differently and layered.*
Prince is well known to be a huge fan of Boss pedals and used them almost exclusively except for his wah since day one-ish. According to Miss Wendy Melvoin they did all analog during that time. It was all old school.
Superb - very, very close. Would be nice to cover Prince's guitar tone from the song/solo, as well.
Hope so!
thanks for taking the time to demo this Chris
Yer a wizard, Chris! Just wonderful.
A Welsh Wizard!
Just saw your comment on Facebook about the Arsenal vs Manchester United game , what a legend
Nice move with the DI...I see what you mean and, honestly, to my ear it really makes very similar to the original recording. Well done!
Brilliant. Just brilliant - I love what you do in this series; can you do Bowie's 'Prettiest Star' with Mick Ronson doing his Marc Bolan impression?
Is she not clearly playing an F9 with her little finger there which is often how it's transcribed (at 7:06)?
@Trevor Tabin - Yep! Well, I play the whole thing a step lower, so it would be an E add 9 for me, but I agree with ya!
I Found your Prince Video!!! I saw him and the Revolution do this live at the Purple Rain Tour
Again, very nice and interesting!
Cheers, Chris.
Great explanation and video. Thank you for taking the time to do it.
great video Chris, and super close sounding tone! nice one!
Actually have my cup of Tea ready this time... away you go, Chris! :)
Closest I've heard. The guitar definitely makes a huge difference than others attempts. I would have loved to have heard that F2 chord though. Ha. Great job!
I really enjoy your videos. Very well done!
Nicely done, I don’t recall the Dimension D having that particular sound but it clearly matches here so good on you!
Dimension D was the rack mount, it wasn’t as lush as the C pedal but it had some nice sparkly high end. The Dimension C is what’s being displayed here and it nails those Prince/Cure sounds perfectly… because that’s what was being used in 1984
Wendy said she used the CE1 for that. I just watched the Rig Doctor's video with her. 😊
Yes you did it very well, as usual ;-) I have read or heard somewhere that is wasn't in fact à chorus pedal but a boss BF2 flanger setted with it's "chorusy" settings... I guess the one who knew that took it with him far from our Earthy condition...
This is what I was thinking
Thank you Sir. For the thumbs up 👍, Great job, Sir. Just wanted to let you know that that back in those days 80's , when Purple Rain 1st. Came out. It was standing room only, Red Bird Mall, I had quit playing guitar 🎸, completely Sir. But the part in that movie like, that brought me back was the Shopping center Scene when they showed that White Guitar 🎸 I think they call it the Cloud. Now it's another one out called the Supreme Fender Stratocastor, and I believe that the 1st. One that really got us looking at the Rickenbacker Guitar 🎸 was John lennon from the Beatles R.I.P. thank you 👍 you are great!!!! Keep it up Keep'em Coming Sir🤗👍👍
That's pretty close. If you ever get a chance to see Prince play this song for the AMAs, do it. Fantastic performance.
Good job Chris, appreciate you and all you do.
Like a few others have said, the third chord is played 135xxx, an Fsus2. She may doctor it up later but that's how it starts.
Also, your "Bb9" is actually a Bb add9. Regular 9s are dominant, funky sounding chords.
And "Gm7sus4" would probably be better labeled Gm11. Suspended chords don't contain a 3rd interval.
Well, hope having the chance to see you performing it live in Belgium someday. You definitely should come down to the "Spirit of 66" venue in Verviers, Belgium.
Me and my friends we'll all be there!!!
this is the first time i ever hear purple rain, might have to listen to the original
Sounds amazing!! Going to try and get that on my helix now......
I could be wrong, but I think the F chord is played differently. I think it’s a low F 1st fret on E., C 3rd fret on the A string, and a G 5th fret on the d string. Give it a listen.
Yes I agree. You can see that this is exactly what she is playing in the videos. Maybe she copied Andy Summers!
@@darcycuttlefish3981yeah, it's an Fsus2
Great video. I always enjoy your work.
Awesome intro, great video Chris, you got very very close if not spot on!
Great job. Thanks a lot. So many versions, but this one sounds spot on
I used to play that tune back in the nineties with a Les Paul Studio via a Fender Princeton Chorus (A stereo amplifier). The sound came pretty close, too.
I like your format; let the chord diagrams do the talking instead of droning on about each finger placement. I also like the quick start that doesn't include endless housekeeping items. Well done.
Bravo from a french autodidact songwriter drummer at the base mais qui aime la guitare. excuse for my english. Cordialement DLD from Paris
Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.
But the Roland JC-120 was widely available when this was recorded and featured that wide, lush chorus effect. I also remember that Boss had a stomp box chorus effect before 1983, (ce-2?) so it could have been either of those items used to get the chorus sound in the recording.
Ce1 through Mark 1 Mesa Boogie
Amazing as always🙏
Just brilliant. Thank you and well done. 👍
Wow nailed that Chris !
Sweet Christmas that was spot on!!!!
I love this!!! You did great on this !!!!
You pretty much nailed it.
I always heard it was a roland jazz chorus jc120 or even a jc160 (with 4x10" speakers)
Ahhh. Those have such a lush sparkling clean. Nice.
@@jessemontano6399 not just the clean, but the dimensional chorus built in
7:08 - What's that pinky doing? FADD9?
@WorldRenownedCFE Tabbed, it's Fadd9: 135211. It's very difficult to play, but people speculate that Wendy was able to play it because her Rickenbacker guitar has a shorter distance between the frets. It looks like she's playing it in the video but Chris hasn't tabbed it like that. Mind you, the regular F chord seems to work, without requiring urgent medical attention to your tendons afterwards.
@@odgeUK It's interesting that Chris doesn't mention it. And it's also curious as to what Wendy is actually playing - it seems more like 135x11. Index finger is on 1, ring finger is on 3, and pinky is on 5, and middle finger is not doing much of anything, just floating there. Maybe she is barring the first fret for the high B and E strings, but I'm not sure if I'm hearing them either...
Edit: nevermind, Chris is right as the video he edits in with his side comparison is NOT the live recording footage, which you can Google and find on Dailymotion and Vimeo. There she just plays a regular F.
@@MichelLamblin Ahh, I missed that. So Chris is doing the live version, that we think was used as the basic track for what ended up on the record. I wonder then if there was an overdub on the record, because (and I'll have to go back and listen) I swore that you can hear the Add9.
So close as to be exact man well done
Who on earth down voted this?!? This video is ace, as per usual Chris!
probably as close to the original as humanly possible. amazing detective work. any differences can be explained by the recording console used, analog tape was used, etc. i had no idea a rickenbacker was used on the track, and i thought prince played the guitar part!
Wow, nice work!
Nailed it even down to the attack. Good ear!
Thanks Chris
The knut koupee music store I used to go to had one of her rickenbackers on the wall... a Lucite one with purple parts. I miss that place.
I have one of the first Hohner "the prinz". When I connect this guitar to an amplifier and put it clean, I have the sound of purple rain. I don't have to do anything else. Maybe something of an echo. The amp doesn't matter too much.
Berry good. Would been good of you to go into the delay settings. I always thought the chorus effect was coming from an SPX 90. Thx for clearing that up. This is pretty damn close.
And the Boss Dimension C pedal is appropriately coloured Purple 💜
Ed Parker So is the Boss Flanger pedal from back in the day. I still have mine and can get that tone.
it was roland chorus JC amp she used for Purple rain
Not to sound petty, but do you have any evidence? I've done a load of research into this and couldn't find any reference to there being a JC120 on Purple Rain :/
I really have no idea what was actually used on the recording of Purple Rain, but I think a Roland Jazz Chorus would be possible.
I heard a Mesa Boogie Mark series.....they are known to have amazing clean tones
@@KelsterVonShredster yes indeed Mesa wanted to clean amp back in the day not just a bunch of crunchy stuff and they wanted something that would rival the Jazz chorus and that's how that came about✌️
Mesa Mark IIC
Yeah, the JCs have the Dimensional Chorus build in, thought the same
Nice one mate
If you look at the pickups closely, you will see that they have 3 screws... They're Telecaster bridge pickups; look amazingly similar to Duncan Hot Tele stacks... Which would explain the "jangliness" of the tone.
I did not take a purposeful look at Purple Rain the film when it was new, not until thirteen years later when I was 17 years old. By that time, I already had developed a hankering for a Rickenbacker guitar (which I still have not tried to satisfy) watching Wendy Melvin Naomi the rhythm part for this song only increased my (still-unrequited) wish to have one of those guitars. My wish to have one in that midnight blue finish eclipsed my wish to have one like the Beatles and the Byrds had played.
I occasionally fantasize about having a 330 in both 6-string and 12-string configurations.
How make that sound???
You did and doing a great job 👏, you sound great and thanks for sharing 👍, also here's another thing I discovered that I'll share , Wes Montgomery was playing the E7#9 way before Jimmy Hendrix, but he never got the credit, thanks to Jim Crow Laws, and don't forget Charlie Christian 🎸, No disrespect ✌️ thanks each to his/hers own. Keep it 💯 peace.
Grasshopper plays guitar Wes Montgomery never got credit for 7#9 chords because of Jim Crow laws? What kind of mental gymnastics did you have to do to come up with that? You are aware that there was such a thing as a 7#9 chord before the United States, the American south, the corruption and laws were even formed, right?
Lol
Effing nailed it!
How come blocking the F holes wouldn't change anything on an electric instrument? Sound is picked up by electromagnetic no?
Great video. What about the solo ? ;)
great tone for the rhythm but i thought you'd also cover prince's solo tone
@1:49 chords @5:11
This video sounded great to me,
I always guessed wrongly that a Roland stereo jazz chorus amp was a big part of the purple rain sound but I dunno what year those amps came out.
"Wow" that sounds amazing !! Chorus and Reverb ??
Well done! Thanks.
The guitar is a beauty.
Rickenbacker 330?
any chance yu can make a helix patch? Brilliant video