'Crank it up to 11': Meryl Streep reveals Neil Young's words of wisdom during crash course in guitar playing... before he showed her how to smash up the gear

Published: 02:25 EST, 4 August 2015 | Updated: 03:11 EST, 4 August 2015

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There are few musicians with the gravitas to pass on words of wisdom to a Hollywood superstar.

But Meryl Streep revealed she was given a crash course in guitar playing by legendary rocker Neil Young for her turn as an old musician in Ricki And The Flash.

When the 66-year-old actress asked for some musical words of wisdom at the end of her lesson the answer she got was more Nigel Tufnel than Nigel Kennedy.

Not too old to rock and roll: Meryl Streep revealed she got her first guitar lesson from Neil Young on The Tonight Show on Monday

She told Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon: 'He said crank it up to 11. You’ve got to turn it up, turn it up loud.'

But the A Man Needs A Maid favourite also made sure she knew how to carry out the task essential of any self-respecting rocker - smashing up the equipment.

Meryl said: 'He gave me some advice. He saw all the amplifiers and cords and said ‘What is this s***?'

She then had the audience hooting with laughter as she acted out the 69-year-old Canadian musician kicking away all the gear.

Chanelling Ritchie Blackmore: She pretended to kick her guitar as she revealed some of Neil's advice

Lady in black: The 66-year-old was looking great for her age for her appearance on the show

Watching too much Spinal Tap? Neil Young stole Nigel Tufnel's 'turn it up to 11 line' and passed it to Meryl

The bespectacled starlet said she lucked into the lesson with one of music's biggest names as her director Jonathan Demme, who has made a documentary about Neil, introduced the pair.

Meryl said: 'I did’t know how to play guitar, I have been singing for a long time, but not really rock n roll, nobody asked me to. I had my first guitar lesson when I said I would do the movie.

'So Jonathan says ‘Come by Neil would love to meet you and maybe I’ll get him to give you a guitar lesson.’

’So my first lesson was 45 minutes with Neil. He is amazing, it’s cool.'

Finger on the pulse: Jimmy managed to be at his fawning best throughout despite his injury

Crowd-pleaser: She even told the audience she used to think of herself as being far from attractive

She also said it came natural for her to argue with her 32-year-old daughter and co-star in Ricky And The Flash Mamie Gummer, .

The actress said: 'Well we have for 30 something years. She is just free, as an actor she is hot. She can really do it.'

The self-effacing Oscar-winner also told Jimmy that seeing herself in old movies has made her realise she is not bad looking after all.

She said: 'It is so weird, really weird, it is a version of me, very young usually. I look at myself and I used to think "I am so fat and my nose is so screwed up," and you know, this is the way girls think.

'Yeah I thought I looked really bad, and now I go to the TV and look back and go "Oh my God, what was my problem?" I looked great. Compared to now anyway.