Prince was a master guitarist with a singular musical vision, but he didn’t always go it alone on the instrument. These are the oft-overlooked players who joined him onstage, and in the studio

The most important guitarist in Prince’s career is, undoubtedly, Prince himself.

There are a whopping 22 studio albums (more than half his total output) where Prince is the only credited guitarist. On the others, Prince plays the overwhelming majority of guitar. For his tours in 1994–1996 and 2000–2010, Prince performed all the guitar parts himself, which is longer than any other guitarist has served in Prince’s bands.

Although Prince was a formidable guitarist, that doesn’t mean the backing guitarists he employed were insignificant. With Prince more than capable of handling six strings himself, he only hired musicians who could really add something to the band.

Just 10 people have had the honor of playing guitar on tour with Prince. Two more played guitar on one recorded track each, meaning just 12 humans can officially claim to have played guitar for Prince. Here’s our definitive guide.

Dez Dickerson – (1979–1983)

(Image credit: Richard E. Aaron/Redferns/Getty Images)Dickerson was the guitarist in Prince’s band before it became, and as it evolved into, the Revolution.

His high point came with 1999 (1982), where he sang co-lead vocals on the title track and dropped the classic guitar solo for Little Red Corvette. That performance made him the first guitarist besides Prince himself to record on a Prince album, and later ranked at #64 in a Guitar World list of the greatest guitar solos of all time.

Dickerson performed alongside Prince during the artist’s controversial rise to superstardom, including a pair of infamous sets in 1981 as the opener for the Rolling Stones, during which the band faced hostile audiences.

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Increasingly at odds with his boss’s musical direction, Dickerson left Prince’s band shortly before his landmark Purple Rain album.

“Prince wanted us to become slick and polished, more choreographed. I said to him, ‘This isn’t what we are, and I’m just not as comfortable anymore,’” Dickerson told Guitar World earlier this year. “I wasn’t happy, and I was becoming kind of surly on the road.”

The guitarist would go on to become a born-again Christian, and later became director of A&R at the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) label StarSong.

Wendy Melvoin – (1983–1986)

(Image credit: Getty Images)Melvoin is perhaps the most recognizable of Prince’s backing guitarists, thanks to her appearance in the movie Purple Rain. She can fret fiendish major add 9 shapes with astonishing ease, making her the ideal player for those legendary chords.

She was an enduring Prince collaborator: after leaving the Revolution, she still contributed to Sign o’ the Times (1987) and Graffiti Bridge (1990). She returned in 2007 to record guitars for Planet Earth, having joined Prince for a handful of performances from 2004 onwards, including the 2006 Brit Awards.

Melvoin was just 19 when she joined the Revolution along with her girlfriend, keyboardist Lisa Coleman. As a result, she’s had a fruitful post-Prince career, first performing with Coleman in the duo Wendy and Lisa, and later as a TV composer.

Melvoin and Coleman collaborated on the score for the first season of Heroes (2008) and won an Emmy for their theme tune to Nurse Jackie. Melvoin also found time to record with Madonna, Neil Finn, and Glen Campbell.

Miko Weaver – (1987–1990)

Do Me, Baby (live, Beautiful Guitar Solo by Miko Weaver, Tokyo 1990) – Prince – YouTube

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Weaver was Sheila E’s guitarist when he came to Prince’s attention. He and other Sheila E band members recorded an extended jam of I Would Die 4 U with Prince that was released as a 12” single.

When the Revolution disbanded, Weaver and several other Sheila E. musicians joined Prince’s touring band. He would go on to receive guitar credits on Prince’s Around the World in a Day, Sign o’ the Times, and Lovesexy albums.

After departing Prince’s band, Weaver gave guitar lessons to actor Eddie Murphy. Somewhat improbably, the two formed a band, Eddie Murphy and the Psychedelic Psoul, and performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival.

Levi Seacer Jr – (1990–1993)

(Image credit: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images)In 1990 Prince formed the New Power Generation, which under various lineups would be his band for the next decade.

Levi Seacer Jr, who had been Prince’s bassist from 1987–1989, moved to guitar, and received his first guitar recording credit on 1991’s Diamonds and Pearls. He added another with 1992’s Love Symbol, but was pushed aside from Prince’s touring band in 1994, when Prince took over all guitar duties himself.

Seacer also produced a 1990 album by The Pointer Sisters, and has also been a session musician for Gospel outfit Sounds of Blackness.

In 1998, he and rapper Tony M sued Prince for what they claimed were unpaid songwriting royalties. They ended up settling for less than their legal expenses. Unsurprisingly, Prince and Seacer did not work together again.

Mike Scott – (1996–1999, 2012)

Prince & Mike Scott 💜💜 – YouTube

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Washington D.C. guitarist Mike Scott relocated to Minneapolis in 1984, where he became a session guitarist for producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, members of Prince’s side project The Time. Scott recorded on projects by Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, and Janet Jackson.

When Jam and Lewis moved to LA in 1996, Scott was invited to audition for Prince’s band, and became an NPG member, contributing to Emancipation (1996), Crystal Ball/The Truth (1998), and Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999).

In 2007, he joined Justin Timberlake’s band, and in 2010 he toured with Timbaland. He also lists session credits with Rihanna, Maroon 5, and Alicia Keys. Scott returned to Prince’s band for 2012’s Welcome 2 Chicago residency.

Kat Dyson – (1996-1998)

After meeting Sheila E at NAMM in the early ’90s, Dyson and bassist Rhonda Smith discussed the possibility of joining Sheila’s band. When that didn’t work out, she gave them perhaps the greatest consolation prize of all time: she sent their demos to Prince.

Dyson, who had been playing with Cyndi Lauper, arrived at Paisley Park expecting only to work as tour support, but ended up playing on multiple tracks for 1996’s Emancipation. She also played slide on the New Power Generation (sans Prince) album New Power Soul.

Dyson played with Prince one last time at the 2005 NAACP Image Awards. While her tenure with Prince was brief, she has racked up an impressive session career, including credits with guitar greats B.B King, Buddy Guy, and Carlos Santana.

Ida Nielsen – (2010–2015)

Denmark’s Ida Nielsen is better known as a bassist, which is where she started in Prince’s band. On select dates of Prince’s 2010–2012 tour, the “godfather of gospel bass,” Andrew Gouché, joined the band. For these shows, Nielsen played guitar.

From 2013 onwards, Nielsen moved to guitar in the NPG alongside Donna Grantis. She was also bassist for Prince protégés and sometimes backing band 3rdEyeGirl.

Nielsen played bass on the 3rdEyeGirl & Prince album Plectrumelectrum (2014) but never played guitar on a Prince release. She has released three solo albums but otherwise kept a relatively low profile.

Recounting the steep learning curve of being in Prince’s band, Nielsen said in an interview with Bass Player, “There was a lot of stuff to remember, because he liked to change things up and not always stick to what’s on the set list, so I had a lot of different songs to learn in a short time, that was the hardest part of it.

“It wasn’t like a normal bass gig where you have 30 songs: I had to learn 300! That took a lot of time.”

“No concert was the same, because he always switched up the set list,” she continued. “Playing with him gave me an amazing feeling that I’ve never felt with any other musician. With Prince, you were always in the moment.”

Donna Grantis – (2013–2015)

(Image credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for NPG Records)Grantis had played with fellow Canadians like Amanda Marshall and Kardinal Offishall before being invited to audition for the all-female funk-rock trio Prince was putting together, 3rdEyeGirl.

Grantis wrote the title track to their only album, Plectrumelectrum (2014), and also joined New Power Generation. 3rdEyeGirl also appeared on Ain’t About 2 Stop, a duet with Rita Ora, on 2015’s HitnRun Phase I. Grantis supplied the song’s harmonized guitar solo.

She released A Drop in the Bucket, the first song from her Culture vs Policy project, at the 2023 Canadian Music Climate Summit.

Asked what she learned from her boss in a 2019 interview with Guitar World, Grantis said, “He taught me about the funk vocabulary. He taught me about sounds. He taught me about articulation and attitude and power and tones.

“Prince was an incredible inspiration. Whether we were jamming at Paisley Park or playing onstage at the Superdome, I would just be blown away all the time.”

The othersAdditional guitars on The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, from 1995’s The Gold Experience, came from Jimi Behringer, earning him his first major session credit. His website says he has also played with Bonnie Raitt, Bobby Caldwell, and Laura Branigan, among others.

Prince – The Most Beautiful Girl In the World – YouTube

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Ani DiFranco was a featured artist on Eye Love U, But Eye Don’t Trust U Anymore from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999), contributing vocals and acoustic guitar.

Cameroonian singer/songwriter Andy Allo was primarily a backing vocalist for Prince, but played additional guitar on tour in 2011. She has since performed live with various NPG members in her backing band.