JOHNNY MARR - SONG-SMITH

Learn three classic riffs from the band that made Johnny Marr an indie guitar icon in the 80s

- Jamie Hunt

Johnny Marr is of course best known for his work with influential indie giants The Smiths, who released their entire four-album catalogue in an all-too-brief four years before the band split. They would enjoy great success, with 14 single releases topping the UK indie charts between 1983 and 1987.

Here, we’re looking at three of our favourite Smiths guitar riffs. Together, they exemplify Marr’s rhythm style, with an emphasis on partial chords and arpeggios – perhaps the most important part of his early sound. Make sure to take a look at our video lessons where we’ve broken the riffs down for you note by note. Note that we’ve advised you to use a capo for convenience. For some tracks however, Marr himself had guitars set up in a higher tuning, two semitones up, to give: F# B E A C# F#. Make sure to use lighter gauge strings if you take this approach.

1 THIS CHARMING MAN

Appears at: 0:00-0:13 Tempo: 208 bpm Key/scale: G major Capo: 2nd fret