Never mind the saying “if these walls could talk,” imagine if guitars could after Sir Paul McCartney revealed that not only does he talk to his string instrument, he treats it like a “confidante”.

Recalling how he had felt sorry for one that hadn’t been played for a while, the Yesterday hit-maker, 79, told it: “You must be lonely.”

He then explained: “I felt quite guilty in a minor way, so I went over and started playing – and then the song that came out was me talking directly to the guitar and talking about all the times it had helped me.”

But it doesn’t end there, in new book The Lyrics by Paul McCartney, he said The Beatles used to tell their guitars their “secrets” and also thought it “looks like a woman”.

He elaborated: “There’s lots of stuff going on there. We always used to say that when you sit down with your guitar to write a song, you’re telling it your secrets, which then become a song for the world.

“But at that moment, when you’re alone, the guitar is your confidante. You cradle it.”

Such intimacy can not be found with a piano however it seems, with him adding: “When you go up to a piano, though, it’s almost as if you’re pushing the piano away; they’re different actions completely.”