Guitar player and singer John Lennon 'was the ultimate chameleon'

Musicians who are starting out in their careers could learn much from John Lennon and his fearless approach to creating music, if one modern-day singer and guitarist's comments are anything to go by.

Lennon - known for his singing, guitar playing and piano-based tunes - understood how to use his influences to create something unique, Billy Corgan said.

Writing a blog for Music Radar, the Smashing Pumpkins leader argued that Lennon's main talent was for personalisation.

He also suggested that Lennon has a "mind-blowing" catalogue of work and claimed he was the "ultimate chameleon".

"He could write a Chuck Berry song better than Chuck Berry. Then he could write the ultimate song, one that defined a genre or a generation - and then he moved on," Corgan commented.

Lennon sang and played guitar in The Beatles before going solo when the band split in 1970 to release songs such as Imagine and Give Peace a Chance.

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