Nick Cave Taught to Play Guitar by His 10-Year-Old Son

When Grinderman -- the band formed by Bad Seeds members Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn P. Casey and Jim Sclavunos -- announced at their inception that there would be "No God, no love and no piano", the challenge for Nick Cave was how to learn to play guitar, an instrument that was totally alien to him.

Despite the task facing the singer -- a man more at home tinkling the ivories than strumming six strings -- help came from an unlikely source. He teacher was his 10-year-old son.

"I was taught the F chord by my 10-year-old son," Cave tells Spinner. "I was trying to play it and he said, 'What are you doing, dad?' I said, 'I'm trying to play an F chord' and he said, 'No, you're not' and he showed me how to hold it down. He's a good guitarist!"

Cave has discovered that the difference between his favoured musical weapon of choice and his new found instrument means that his fingers are encountering a myriad of new positions and configurations.

"That's the thing about the piano; you can hold your fingers in the same way and you can play all sort of chords but not with a guitar," he explains. "Except with barre chords but I don't like the way they sound. I just love those lovely, open chords."