How many different musical instruments did Prince play on his debut album?

It is known that Prince could play at least 27 musical instruments. On his debut album "For You", released when he was 20 years old, Prince is said to have played every single instrument: 27 in all.

In the album's notes, Prince is listed first as the musician behind "all vocals". Second, he is noted for playing (deep breath) "electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, bass synth, singing bass, Fuzz bass, electric piano, acoustic piano, mini-Moog, polymoog, Arp string ensemble, Arp Pro Soloist, Oberheim four-voice, clavinet, drums, syndrums, water drums, slapsticks, bongos, congas, finger cymbals, wind chimes, orchestral bells, woodblocks, brush trap, tree bell, hand claps, and finger snaps".

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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11 Comments

Carol Foreman

John W Shreve, I have it on my blue tooth and I could listen to it all day long.

Joseph A. Robitaille

27 musical instruments is a hard answer to believe.

Tony Heiser

How are hand claps and finger snaps considered musical instruments? Some of the other “instruments @ mentioned are not instrumental they are sound effects.

skullfire

Question is intentionally misleading, and wrong, this question should be corrected or removed.

John W Shreve

His solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame is legendary.

Chris Gambaro-Vega

In NO WAY...... on ANY plane of reality did Prince play 27 instruments. There aren't even 27 instruments in a symphony orchestra. Many of the keyboards that he played were listed by manufacturer. Such "Fender Rhodes" and "ARP Synthesizer." A keyboard is a keyboard. That's like saying that you drive 3 different types of cars because you own a Honda, a Chevy and a Ford. They all work EXACTLY the same way. A guitar is a guitar. Fuzz guitar, rhythm guitar and acoustic guitar are all the same instrument. If you can play one you can play them all. I'll grant you a difference between drums and percussion because playing them requires totally different techniques. What we know for sure is that he played guitar, bass, drums, keyboard/piano and percussion. That's 5 instruments. Let's stretch it and say he played mandolin and banjo because they're similar to guitar. And if you want to say that organ is it's own instrument, fine. So that's 8 instruments. There's no evidence of him playing any brass or wind instruments. PLEASE stop with the ridiculousness. I LOVE Prince. And if you do too, then I'm sure you'll know that he'd hate to be credited with something he didn't do. Even if he only played guitar, he'd STILL be the genius that he was.