Even as a kid, I was made aware by my musical mentors that Prince was a bad dude.
When I took guitar lessons in the early 90’s — the guitar shop was filled to the brim with holdover, big-hair rockers — and people obsessed with the new-wave of “grunge” music from Seattle.
One thing everyone had in common: the acknowledgement that Prince was some type of musical god. You could disrespect pop music, but NEVER, EVER disrespect Prince.
Either way, as a Prince agnostic (at the time) I always thought that was peculiar — that so many musicians/guitar players universally loved Prince. I guess I viewed Prince as an “entertainer” like Michael Jackson.
Only later in life did I come to “get it” regarding Prince. All it took was learning a few of his songs on guitar, and generally becoming a more experienced musician.
I learned to identify genius in music by figuring out the entire Beatles catalogue. Things musically coalesced for me, and eventually I understood why musicians love Prince. If you think about it, Beck is actually the closest thing we have to another Prince.
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How to play Little Red Corvette for classical guitar
This is my Prince tribute: Little Red Corvette for classical guitar. It’s a slow start, but the chorus will get you. When distilled to a single guitar, you can luxuriate in the chord progressions and note choices that made Prince “the musician’s musician”. This is best listened to while relaxed, with headphones. Let it wash over you.
The guitar tab is only two pages long. In accordance with the guitar tab, my order of play looks like this: Intro, Verse 3x, To Chorus, Chorus — Verse #2 (3x), To Chorus, Chorus 2x, Intro.
Enjoy this, the guitar tab is available below:
Little Red Corvette is tuned 1/2 step down. Your tuning will look like this, from low to high: Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb. Or, depending on your tuner, like this: D# G# C# F# A# D#.