Arctic Monkeys’ Matt Helders is learning to play the guitar.

The drummer is taking some time off from touring and recording over the festive period, and is planning to devote some time to learning a new instrument and master a few riffs.

He said: “I need to learn the guitar too, I may do that over Christmas. I can’t play any chords, but I can play a few riffs. Who needs Chords?”

As well as devoting some time to improving his skills as an axe man, Matt is also going to be training up on another instrument, the auto harp, on which playing chords is much easier.

He told NME magazine: “It’s like a piece of wood with strings on it, and you press this button down on the side that tells you what chord it is and you just strum it. So you don’t actually have to do anything!”

Arctic Monkeys latest album ‘Suck it and See’ is out now.