Hi everybody,

I would like 2 know the list of all instruments that P. play really...

Does anybody has an idea about it?

I know about the guitar, piano, drums, bass, purplehax but what is the others ?

I've heard that he could play 30 instruments wow

Hope 2 heard from U soon !

Zannalie said:

at last count was 27

I know there is much sceptisism (spelling?) about whether or not Prince does play the 26 instruments that albums such as 'For You' inform the listener, but I do believe there is a possibility that he can due to the fact that I can play 6 instruments but Im not so good on some. Hence the fact that you have not yet heard the sax on my recordings for example. So just because we've only heard Guitar, bass, drums & synths from Price suggests to me that these are his best instruments. He cant honestly be amazing on all 26 so maybe he dont want us to hear him on his worst instruments.

Lewis

Zannalie said:

He plays One at a time.

At the start of Prince's music career, I do think a lot of the talk about being able to play 30 instruments was record company hype. That being said, that doesn't mean Prince can't play all of those instruments, but I think it was mostly a way to show how talented he really is. I mean, finger cymbals can be counted as a seperate instrument if you want to get technical, but come on...

I think what you have to keep in mind is that there's a big difference between being able to play an instrument well enough to record in a studio, and being able to play an instrument well enough to play it live in concert - huge difference. I suspect that once you get beyond the standard guitar, bass and keyboards, most of the other instruments Prince is probably proficient enough that in the studio he can get the kind of sound that he wants and plays it until he gets it right. But the difference between Prince and others is that Prince can actually play those other instruments well enough to get the sound that he wants, whereas other artists simply aren't talented enough to do it all themselves.

The genius and amazing thing about Prince is that he can actually hear all of the sounds in his head (to include vocals) and knows how to bring all of the sounds together so that it sounds like a complete band. The fact that he can do it all by himself is really what sets him a part from anyone else. So for me, it's not so much about how many instruments Prince can play - it's more about how deep and complete his sound is as a one-man-band.

Zannalie said:

I would imagine that they counted various guitar instruments as separate instruments... 12-string guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, synthesizers, drums, percussion, wind chimes, timbales, congas, bass, 5-string bass, fretless bass, etc...

It is not that amazing a number if it is calculated based on families of instruments... anyone who can play a guitar can play a 12-string guitar and a nylon string guitar... they can also play a bass, a 5-string bass, a 6-string bass, etc. If you can play a piano, you can play synthesizers, harpsicord, rhodes, etc. You might not be that great at them, but you can play them. If you can play one reed instrument, you can probably play many others because the hardest part is the tongue technique...

My point is that it is not that difficult to run up a huge list of instruments that you can play.

EDIT: The important thing to note is that Prince is damned good at a lot of them.

...
[This message was edited Sun Jun 30 10:30:56 PDT 2002 by IceNine]

Good to see you again here IceNine! Where ya been? Self-imposed exile?

AnotherLoverHoleinYoHead said:

Hi!

I have been on vacation... I took my son to Sea World, some various water parks, Carlsbad Caverns, etc... a couple of thousand miles later and we are back home!

He plays four (4) and is also an ace rhythm programmer and a good sound technician. The whole bullshit about playing 26 instruments is getting a bit old...Playing a Moog and an Oberheim don't count as two different instruments, for chrissakes and Í'd like to know what kind of an instrument is "handclapsandfingasnaps" really?

The 24+ instrument playing bit was mostly a farce used 2 pitch Prince 2 the public in his early days.

Keyboard and piano are related instruments, as are bass guitar, and ur regular lead guitar. All sorts of percussion were also counted separately 2 give the illusion that Prince played over a dozen instruments.

But surely his most valued instrument is ur heart. He's a virtuoso at pulling those strings...