Grimes learns musical instruments through online tutorials.
The 28-year-old singer – whose real name is Claire Boucher – taught herself how to play violin, but admits she isn’t as accomplished as people might think.
She admitted: "You just Google s**t and, like, learn it. But all my violins are incredibly Auto-Tuned, and I just recorded a bunch of notes and arranged them after the fact."
Grimes also learned to play guitar for her new album ‘Art Angels’ to avoid being pigeonholed as "synth-pop" and turned again to the Internet for inspiration.
She told Rolling Stone magazine: "This was just my first attempt at playing the guitar. Which is apparent when you listen to the album. After [previous LP] ‘Visions’, I didn’t want to play the keys, ’cause I don’t want to be considered ‘synth-pop’.
"One of the first things I did was Google what chords were in Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’, and I used those on ‘Belly of the Beat’."
The ‘Genesis’ hitmaker also credits rockers Tool as a big influence and admires the fact they can be both "artsy" and "populist".
She said: "Instrumentally and vocally, they go to a ton of weird places. And I love the dynamic range, too. They’re so artsy, but also populist. I try to live by the sonic principles of Tool."
Grimes’ online music lessons
