The Prince of Warwick basses

Prince, "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince", or simply "The Artist" is evidently an enigma of sorts. The man is also a master musician whose impressive technical proficiency has lead him to be one of the most critically and commercially successful solo musicians of the 20th Century.

He has produced 10 platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career as well as winning seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. Prince can play every instrument sickeningly well, bass certainly being no exception. A listen to any of his early-’80s LPs, on which he played nearly all the parts, bears this out.

Prince playing his famous Warwick "Eye Bass"

Throughout his awesome career, Warwick basses have played a major part in Prince’s onstage and in-studio performances. In fact, according to his tech Takumi, anytime The Artist picked up a bass onstage he always favoured his white Warwick Thumb "Eye Bass" (so named because of the eye painted on the front).

Prince reportedly owned three other Warwicks – a Thumb NT 4 string, everything on it was standard, except for the finish, which was a High Polish white including the front of the fretboard (this bass is displayed in the Hard Rock Café in Athens, Greece), a Thumb NT White 5-string, and a white Thumb NT fretless in high polish.

When it comes to his bass playing, he cites another Warwick fanatic as a grand influence. “Larry Graham is my teacher," the Artist says. He freely admits modelling his bass style after Graham’s.

Prince first briefly met the slap pioneer at a Warner Bros. company picnic in 1978, by which time Larry had moved on from Sly & the Family Stone and was a star in his own right fronting Graham Central Station. The two met again a few years later, this time at a Nashville jam but Graham and The Artist who he calls "Little Brother" didn’t develop a real relationship until the ’90s when they began performing together in the band New Power Generation.

Prince's Warwick Thumb in the Hard Rock Cafe, Athens

It should also be noted that since 2009 both Rhonda Smith and Sonny T, two honourary bass players in their own right, have been captured on video alongside Prince playing a Warwick Thumb and Warwick Dolphin in the New Power Generation band.

Prince immortalized his famous Warwick Thumb “Eye Bass” in the song Funky Design with his lyrical line of “If I didn't say I wanna take U higher, And hip U 2 the one-eyed bass.”

Check Prince and his Warwick in the vid below:

Prince performing with his Warwick "Eye Bass"