Session ace Ella Feingold has recalled the time she auditioned to join Prince's band – and the Purple Rain legend joked her playing was “too funky”.
The Prince guitar gig was widely known to be a grueling experience. Ida Nielsen, for example, once recalled how “it wasn’t like a normal bass gig where you have 30 songs: I had to learn 300!”.
Several ex-guitarists have also spoken to Guitar Player about their stints in Prince's band. Each player was unanimous in talking about how demanding – but educational – their time alongside him was.
Few players, though, can say their playing was simply too funky for the seven-time Grammy winner. In an upcoming interview with Guitar World, Feingold – who won a Grammy herself for her role on Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s 2021 album, An Evening with Silk Sonic – has recalled having that exact experience.
“He asked me to audition for his band around 2005,” she remembers. “I went over to his house in the Hollywood Hills and auditioned for a few days.
“I was just playing something, and he gave me the stank face, saying, ‘Oh, that's too funky,’ but not in a good way. He was like, ‘No, no, no, that's too funky.’ I was thinking, ‘What does that mean? Too funky?’”
Prince, of course, is a funk-pop master, and Feingold’s deft rhythms had earned her the audition. Understandably, such an exclamation had caught her off guard.
She continues: “He was like, ‘Think more Elton John.’ I was like, ‘Is he clowning? Is he trolling me?’” Feingold continues. “He’s asking me to play his music more like Elton John? I realized what he meant was to have more of a heavy left hand, like on a piano, which translated to more power chord stuff.”
While she may not have ended up joining Prince – who ultimately decided to play the guitar himself for his upcoming project – it still proved to be an experience to savor for Feingold.
“I got to play his Mad Cat Tele and all of his guitars,” Feingold extends. “It was a life highlight and something I'll never forget.”
Prince’s Hohner Mad Cat Tele – recognized by its flamed maple top and leopard skin pickguard – is a fabled instrument. It deviates from the traditional Telecaster mold via Strat-style single-coils, a Strat-style hardtail bridge, and a maple body. That gave the guitar an aggressive bite, from which Prince’s lust-worthy tones originated.
“I remember the guitar strap being incredibly worn down,” Feingold details. “It had to have been an original strap. The action was very low, and the neck felt very comfortable and road-worn after a lifetime of playing it.
“It felt amazing. I picked a few others up, but with that one, I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this is special.’”
The missed opportunity didn’t harm Feingold's career. After the audition, she would go on to play on Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come LP, and worked with The Roots, Justin Bieber, and Kelly Rowland, before landing the Grammy-winning Bruno Mars gig.
Keep your eyes on Guitar World for the release of Feingold’s full interview, coming soon.
