John Legend is "jealous" of how quickly Ryan Gosling was able to master playing the piano because the R&B star has spent his whole life tinkling the ivories.
The Notebook actor had to undergo a crash course in piano-playing in preparation for his role as a jazz musician in new movie musical La La Land, in which John co-stars, and the singer was blown away by Ryan's new skill.
"He was magnificent," the All of Me hitmaker gushed on U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America. "He had to learn a lot more piano than I had to learn guitar because his character revolves around him playing the piano, and he's like a serious jazz pianist, so he had to be able to look the part, and he spent a lot of time working on it.
"I was kinda jealous about how fast he learned to be awesome at piano!" he laughed. "I've been playing since I was four - it's not fair! But he's so good at preparing for these roles and he's so focused."
In comparison, John reveals he was able to get away with just getting to grips with the basics of strumming a guitar for his part.
"I didn't really learn all the way, I just learned enough to where I could look like I was playing the guitar pretty well," he explained.
La La Land is John's first big movie role after previously landing small gigs in Kevin Bacon's 2005 film Loverboy and 2008 comedy Soul Men, and he is thankful to have been able to share the spotlight with Gosling and his leading lady Emma Stone.
He added, "Man, I just feel lucky to be in a cast with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling; they're just incredible."
The Hollywood-set musical, about two aspiring artists who fall in love, hits movie theatres this month (Dec16) and has already been tipped for Oscars glory at the 2017 Academy Awards.
