Timothée Chalamet’s guitar teacher on how he taught him to play like Bob Dylan: “He showed up with a $200 Yamaha guitar”

nme.com:

Timothée Chalamet’s guitar instructor – has opened up about teaching the actor how to play like Bob Dylan.Chalamet starred as the iconic singer-songwriter in the 2024 film A Complete Unknown, which portrays Dylan through his early days as a folk musician until his renowned switch to electrical instruments at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.For the role, the Oscar-nominated actor – who earned his nod in the Best Actor category at this year’s ceremony – not only had to learn the folk legend’s voice and mannerisms, but also had to learn Dylan’s intricate, idiosyncratic guitar style.In an interview with MusicRadar, seasoned guitarist Larry Saltzman opened up about how he taught Chalamet how to play the guitar just like Dylan, breaking down his complex playing techniques.“It happened organically,” Saltzman told the outlet. “First, I had a script, which was essential.

I was able to read the script of the movie and I made a list of all the songs that were in the film, and then I started to think about the songs.

I was familiar – very familiar – with a lot of them but I have to say I wasn’t specifically familiar with the exact guitar parts and the capo positions, and so many other things.”He explained that he ranked Dylan’s songs from easiest to most difficult and taught Chalamet each song one by one.

The pair worked through around 30 or 40 tracks together.“I probably started with [‘Masters Of War’] because maybe it had two chords, E minor and D,” he shared. “He knew one or two chords, one guitar before we started, so you show him the shapes and you show him the strumming patterns.