J
ohnny Marr’s playing can be sparse yet
harmonically complex, and seemingly
simple but rhythmically inventive.
This is often achieved through note
choices, including the selection of open
strings to sound against held notes, and the
rhythmic choices when playing arpeggios,
for example, grouping notes in mixtures of
threes and twos to play across the rhythm
of the bar. Figure 1 demonstrates these
methods with two three-note G majorchords, both made slightly unstable by the
presence of the fifth, rather than the root,
in the bass.
Play the notes of the first chord, from
low to high, followed by the notes of the
second chord, and then repeat just the
lower two notes – let them all ring as much
as possible. This should give you a rhythm
like ‘123,123,12’. You should also hear a
melody emerging from the notes you are
playing on the second (B) string.
This is where the rhythmic complexity
comes in, as these notes are falling on the
second beat and the ‘and’ after the third
beat, contrasting with the underlying 3-3-2
rhythm. Repeat, and then try the same
approach with the two D chords, where you
should similarly hear a melody emergingbetween the second and first (B and E)
strings. Choose a bright, clean tone and if
you can, add a touch of delay and chorus.
Ideally, use a pick – but you could also use
thumb, index and middle fingers, starting
with the thumb on the bass note.
In figure 2, stay with the same eight-
count picking pattern but play all eight
notes on one chord, one chord per bar.
Notice how the tension between the F
sharp and G in the G major seventh chord
is resolved by changing to a different open
string in the B5 chord, and that the B bass
note goes from being the unstable third in
the bass to the stable root note.
Talking of harmonic complexity, we have
a major seventh, a V chord, an added 9
and a plain major chord all achieved with
carefully chosen three note voicings. Figure
2 follows on from figure 1; you can loop the
two sequences around to make an eight-bar
chord sequence.
Figure 3 uses the same ‘123,123,12’
picking rhythm, but it might be better toFollowing on from part one of
our Johnny Marr chord sequence
workout, we take a look at the
arpeggios that form such an
essential part of his guitar styleCHORD CLINIC
HOW TO PLAY
JOHNNY MARR-STYLE CHORDS PART TWO
WORDS ROD FOGGDSUS2
DA E
OXO15 2
1
G/D
DG B
XXOX51 3
FIGURE 1
G^5 /D
XXXDG D
3434
1
51 5
D^5
DAD
XXO X151
3
C
CE E
XXXO13 3
1
2
B^5
BF♯ B
XXOX15 1
1
3
GMAJ7/B
XOXXBF♯ G
1
371
FIGURE 2
CADD9CE D
XXX13 9
1
3
1
2
3
CHORD CLINICGUITAR MAGAZINE 141