John Legend Reveals What Made Him Jealous of Ryan Gosling

— -- John Legend is a Grammy and Oscar-winning musician known for his piano skills nearly as much as for his singing voice.

Legend is now trying his hand at acting, with a role in “La La Land.” He said watching his co-star, Ryan Gosling, learn to play the piano for the movie made him jealous.

“He spent a lot of time working on it, and I was kind of jealous about how fast he learned to be awesome at piano,” Legend said today on “Good Morning America.” “I’ve been playing since I was four.”

“It’s not fair,” Legend said with a laugh, while also describing Gosling as “magnificent” at piano.

Legend himself had to learn to play a new instrument, the guitar, for his role in the buzzed-about film, which also stars Emma Stone.

Legend said he learned “just enough” to make it look like he could play the guitar “pretty well. He described Gosling as “so focused” on the movie and said it was "incredible" to be Gosling and Stone's co-star.

“I just feel lucky to be in a cast with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling,” Legend said.

Legend’s music skills are on display in his new album, “Darkness and Light.” The album is being called Legend’s best to date.

“The thing is, you can’t believe the artist when they tell you it’s their best work because every artist thinks their current album is their best album because they just spent all this time working on it,” he said. “But a lot of my friends and people around me really feel like we put something really special into this album.”

Legend described himself as “excited” for his fans to hear the music. He credited his wife, model and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen, and their infant daughter, Luna, for inspiring him to write “better music.”

“I think it just informs your perspective a bit and makes you look at the world a little bit differently,” Legend said of his family.

The family will be together this Christmas for a series of firsts, including Luna’s first Christmas and the first time the family has celebrated the holiday in their own home with their own Christmas tree.

“Christmas with Luna is going to be really exciting,” Legend said.