Canadian sensation Shawn Mendes has opened up about the inspiration behind pushing himself to improve his guitar playing skills.

In a new interview for Jimmy Fallon's late night TV chat show, the heartthrob explained that he was in the studio and heard the producer playing a really cool riff that he wanted.

So, he made a deal with the producer that if he could learn the riff, he could have it to write a song with and once he was successful he turned the melody into 'Bring It Back':

"At the time I really wasn't good at guitar so I was like, 'if I learn that, this will be my riff'. So I went home and taught myself how to play it and a week later I sent him this video of me playing the riff. He was like, 'good job, you can have it'."

Speaking to Billboard this week, the 'Stitches' star reflected on the past 12 months and said: "I think the best part [of the last year] has just been the growing experience. I mean, I’ve been learning so much. I had the chance to go on the biggest tour in the entire world [Swift’s1989 tour] and see the biggest act in the entire world do her thing every night and learn from that, and learn from her style and the way she is with people."

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Watch the interview feature here: