Jonny Greenwood is Radiohead’s keyboardist. When he joined the band in his teens, he had no idea how to play the instrument. The previous player had been fired for playing too loudly.

“So when I got a chance to play with the group,”he said, “the first thing I did was to turn my keyboard off when I was playing, Luckily, the other band members always made such a noise on their guitars that they didn’t notice his silence – which bought him time to learn the instrument. The band leader would say, “I can’t quite hear what you’re doing. But I think you’re adding a really interesting texture”.

My comment: Living a bit dangerously, but it turns out it never mattered whether others could hear his contribution or not! Good story.