Latest about The Smiths
Nirvana track named the best guitar riff of all time by surprising new study
Many of the big hitters feature, but not where you’d expect them to be – and there are some notable absences, too
The Smiths drummer Mike Joyce launches mural crowd funder for late bassist Andy Rourke
The campaign will finance a mural of the band's late bass player in Manchester, UK, with some of the proceeds also set to go to charity
“Many people think I was doing it all on the Rickenbacker in the ’80s, but a lot of the clean arpeggio stuff was done on a Les Paul”: Johnny Marr on the most prized guitars in his collection – and why they might not be what you expect
From his bonkers nine-pickup Strat to the Les Paul he gifted to Noel Gallagher, The Smiths great has traced his entire career through the prism of his amazing collection of guitars. Why don’t all our guitar heroes do this?
Andy Rourke: “If I wasn’t eating or in the bath, I had a bass in my hand. I played it constantly”
In this interview from 2016, the late low-end legend reflects on an influential career with The Smiths and beyond, why the Fender P-Bass won his heart, and how he developed his distinct playing style
Andy Rourke, bassist with The Smiths, dies aged 59
Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has led tributes to the man he says “reinvented what it is to be a bass guitar player”
Johnny Marr: “If there’s a room full of guitar players, I’m the last to leave, man. I’m just as hooked as everybody else, and I have been since I was 5 or 6”
The British guitar legend on his enduring love affair with the instrument, choosing projects and chasing tones, and why there is something noble about the idea of a guitar hero
Learn Johnny Marr’s rhythm guitar secrets
From the sophisticated slash chords sounds of The Smiths to funky two-note dyads and capo’d strums, Marr’s playing style is a feast of different techniques and approaches
Dave Keuning on Johnny Marr’s enduring influence: “We talked about countless Smiths songs in the early Killers days”
In his own words, Keuning explains how Johnny Marr blazed his own trail and found a new sound for guitar
