Song · 1984
ClassicPurple Rain
- Artist
- Prince and the Revolution
- Released
- 1984
- Guitar
- Prince
- Rhythm part
- Solo
What makes the part famous
The techniques to work on to play it, each in one sentence.
Rhythm part
The accompaniment: the chords and strumming that carry the whole song.
Solo
The passage where the guitar steps forward and sings on its own, phrase after phrase.
The scale of the Purple Rain solo
Here the guitar plays mostly solos and riffs. On the recording's isolated guitar, the studio picked out the notes that come back most: they sit in this scale, the box where you look for the phrases by ear and improvise.
- Tonic
- B♭
- Scale
- B♭ major pentatonic
- Position
- Fret 5
The phrases add the fourth (E♭) and the major seventh (A). With them, it is the full B♭ major scale.
Positions in standard tuning, to play along with the record.
Automatic analysis, checked by hand against the song's known key. No tab here: the scale tells you where to look, your ear finds the phrases.
Analyze your own recording
Record yourself playing it, or upload a version you have the right to use: the studio isolates the guitar and finds the chords, tempo, strumming and fingerings, with a fretboard video and a PDF.
Same guitarist
Same techniques
More famous parts that take the same work.
No lyrics or recordings here: just the titles, to help you pick what to learn. Titles and names belong to their respective owners.