Meryl Streep gets a guitar lesson from Neil Young

Ricki and the Flash director Jonathan Demme already told us that, yes, Meryl Streep actually learned to play the electric guitar when preparing for her role as rock n’ roll singer-guitarist Ricki Randazzo in the film, and that she had some “really cool people” coming in to help tutor her.

One of those really cool people? Music icon (and staunch Frappuccino opponent) Neil Young.

A new video, below, shows Streep getting an introduction to the electric guitar with some sage advice from Young: “Turn everything all the way up. That’s what you always do. Everything.”

In an interview with EW, Demme talked about why he and Streep decided not to rely on playback during the movie’s performances. “We were talking about the music and I was like, ‘It’s amazing how into electric guitar and rock and roll you are.’ “She said, ‘Why?! Because I’m a woman? I was obsessed with electric guitar from the time I was five years old!'” Demme recalled. “From our first conversation, we agreed it was going to have to be live performance which, as you know, is a departure. On most movies, [performance] is done through playback. So we agreed implicitly that Meryl, who did not play guitar, was going to have to learn to play electric guitar credibly.”

•Meryl Streep took guitar lesson from Neil Young to prep for Ricki and the Flash role

•How Meryl Streep turned into a rock star for Ricki and the Flash

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