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Prince · S1 E2
The Prodigy
Piano at seven, guitar at thirteen, drums whenever he can find a kit. Prince teaches himself every instrument in the house
Minneapolis, 1971. A thirteen-year-old sits cross-legged on his bedroom floor with a guitar across his lap and a Jimi Hendrix record on repeat, refusing to come out until he can play what he hears.
"I Would Die 4 U" (Prince, live, 1984). One person, every instrument, performing in Minneapolis. This is what a seven-year-old sneaking downstairs to play his father's piano eventually becomes.
TAP TO REVEAL: What childhood condition did Prince hide for decades?
The Piano
John Nelson's piano sits in the living room of their North Side home. Prince watches his father play every day, memorizing chord shapes before he can reach the pedals. By seven he is composing original pieces, and by nine he is writing songs with words.
“The first thing I ever played was the Batman theme on my dad's piano.”
— Prince, interview with Oprah Winfrey, 1996
I Would Die 4 U (Prince, 1984)
Built on a pulsing Oberheim OB-Xa synth line and a programmed LinnDrum beat, this is Prince at his most kinetic. The studio version features one person playing every instrument: keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, all vocals. The live version from the Purple Rain film was captured at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Listen for the keyboard stabs that drive the groove. That left hand learned its first shapes on an upright piano on the North Side.
The Guitar
At thirteen, Prince discovers the guitar. His father has a cheap acoustic lying around, and Prince picks it up and starts imitating what he hears on records. Jimi Hendrix is the first obsession, followed by Carlos Santana and then anyone else who can bend a note until it screams.
Bonus Listening
"Pop Life" (Prince, 1985). From Around the World in a Day. Prince alone in a studio doing what he always did: playing every instrument himself. The keyboard hook, the guitar licks, the bass line, the drum programming, every vocal layer. It sounds like a full band. It is one person.
How many instruments could Prince play by the time he was fifteen?
The instruments keep multiplying, but the house is falling apart. Next: a teenager without a stable home discovers that the only family willing to take him in is his best friend's mother on the North Side.
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