Computer Blue
Prince and the Revolution, 1984, from Purple Rain. Solo by Prince.
The Purple Rain album cut that builds into a long, distorted guitar section.
Computer Blue is one of Purple Rain's strangest tracks, a song that mutates rather than repeats, and its guitar section is the long climax. Prince builds it gradually, stacking distorted lines over a heavy, mechanical groove, moving from melodic statements to frantic runs and grinding bends. The song feels more like a suite than a single, and the guitar carries the emotional arc from cold precision to something closer to anguish. It shows how easily he moved between funk, rock and experimental textures within a few minutes. Listen for how the guitar lines trade with the keyboards and drum machine, so the solo feels built into the arrangement rather than laid over it.
Computer Blue by Prince and the Revolution is featured in our Funk & Soul (#12) list. The solo is played by Prince and the song was released in 1984.
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Who played the guitar solo on Computer Blue?
Prince played the solo on Prince and the Revolution's Computer Blue (1984).