What's your favourite Johnny Marr guitar moment?

xSkarloey · June 2015

Playing some Smiths the other day made me realise how much I love the whole approach and sound on "Shoplifters of the World..."

So that's probably my favourite Marr moment (along with the solo).

Close second and third would be Electronic's and "Getting Away with it" and his raw precision (if that's not a paradox)on "Handsome Devil"

Your faves?

vasselmeyer · June 2015

"How Soon is Now?" is an amazing track. Utterly brilliant layered parts and it's incredible for its period.

axisus · June 2015

When he unplugged it.

Deadman · June 2015

Suffer little children. I love the melodic vibe. Surprisingly difficult to play yet looks simple on paper.
Headmaster ritual and the open E tuning would be my favourite. It's a great, great song and I never tire of listening to it, let alone playing it, it always feels good (baby).

benmurray85 · June 2015

i agree with headmaster ritual, its a power house. but my favourite marr-ism is just the sounds he got with the smiths. really unique and you know its him straight off. absolute legend

bigjon · June 2015

Intro to What difference does it make, closely followed by the rhythmic solo fills in Kirsty MacColl's Walking Down Madison Avenue

Plukky · June 2015

Probably:

William, It was really nothing

What difference does it make

How soon is now?

xSkarloey · June 2015

axisus;679922" said:
When he unplugged it.

I agree. His acoustic playing on tracks like "Bigmouth" is really belting isn't it?

Philly_Q · June 2015

I'm not really familiar with very much of the Smiths' material apart from the singles, so there may be loads of good stuff I've never heard, but guitar-wise I do think How Soon Is Now? is rather wonderful.

mudslide73 · June 2015

All of Heaven knows I'm miserable now. The intro and build up is sublime.

Cemetary Gates is lovely too. I'm a big fan of the layering.. subtle and perfect imo.

Zodiac51 · June 2015

Ahh Johnny Marr, perhaps the most marmitey of all TFB guitarists. Not had a Johnny Marr thread for weeks, most overdue..

Paul Read Smith said something in a video, can't remember exactly what or when, but it was along the lines of "all of the great guitarists can be identified within 3 notes"

Love him or hate him, Johnny Marr is instantly recognisable within 3 notes.

Iamnobody · June 2015

As HSiN has been suggested i will go for the intro of This Charming Man.

hobbio · June 2015

My 2 favourites have already been posted, but I'll mention them again. Headmaster Ritual is *awesome* and This Charming Man has the best intro I've ever heard. The whole guitar part is wonderful too, but dat intro do!

dogload · June 2015

Skarloey said:

axisus;679922" said:
When he unplugged it.
I agree. His acoustic playing on tracks like "Bigmouth" is really belting isn't it?

I have to say, when I read the thread title it was 'Bigmouth' that sprang to mind. Love that acoustic. It's like a sledgehammer.

stickyfiddle · June 2015

Charming Man, obviously.

But then Morrissey ruined it with his usual whinging.

freakboy1610 · June 2015

Where do you start when there are so many moments of brilliance? The first Smiths song that I really loved was What Difference Does it Make. It's just great how he layered all of the guitar tracks and the way it builds up to a climax at the end. Genius, and he was only 21 at the time! =D>

UnclePsychosis · June 2015

I think What Difference Does It Make is probably my favourite guitar track of his.

How Soon Is Now is fantastic but I see that more as genius production than guitaring - the trem effect was created by him and the producer manipulating the trems on multiple amps at the same time.

DesVegas · June 2015

The chords to That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore is up there with everything else mentioned here .. Sublime to say the least.

XWulfhere · June 2015

Well, I respect Johnny although I don't really have much of his music, just a smiths best of. However, by far my favourite moment was when I saw his interview about the Johnny Marr Jaguar. Unlike many other sig guitars which just have a different pickup or neck profile, Johnny really took the job of redesigning the Jag and I was so impressed I went and bought one. And its a truly excellent guitar! After I bought it I noticed Johnny was playing locally and I was gonna go but then some work came up and I couldn't make it. But what a geezer and what a great guitar he made!

randomhandclaps · June 2015

There are clearly so, so many. I will say although not a moment as such, that I always think his greatest moment (which is as much as a writer as a guitarist) is the entirety of How Soon Is Now. It is IMO one of the greatest recordings ever put to tape. So many great guitar ideas and if you listen to it now it genuinely could have been recorded yesterday.