“He walked into my bedroom, and he says, ‘Darling, I think this is a hit.’ And I went, ‘Cool man, let me hear it…’” How Nile Rodgers and David Bowie accidentally wrote Let’s Dance – with a 12-string that was missing 6 strings

Left-Nile Rodgers of Chic performs on stage at Tramps on 4 April 1998 in New York; Right-Musician David Bowie performs onstage in cica 1980.

David Bowie's Let's Dance is a masterclass in guitar production. Aside from featuring both Nile Rodgers and the then-little-known Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, the rhythm guitar parts in the verses are now immediately recognizable due to their trademark delays – a happy accident courtesy of engineer Bob Clearmountain.

Yet the genre-blending, post-disco hit started its life on an acoustic 12-string guitar with only six strings.