Watch: Johnny Marr teaches fans how to play The Smiths' 'The Headmaster Ritual'
He holds a virtual guitar lesson from home
Last updated 17th Apr 2020
Johnny Marr has hosted an eight-minute guitar lesson from his home studio teaching fans how to play one of his defining riffs, ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ by The Smiths.
Following in the footsteps of My Chemical Romance’s Frank Iero and Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett, music legend Johnny Marr was the latest artist to take part Fender’s Artist Check-Ins series last night (16th April).
The ongoing series is being held throughout the coronavirus crisis, and it sees famous musicians teach their most iconic riffs via a virtual guitar lesson.
Johnny Marr’s lesson was broadcast live on Fender’s Instagram page and it focusses on The Smiths’ 1985 classic ‘The Headmaster Ritual’. Watch it in its entirety – and play along if you can - below:
For each artist that takes place in Fender’s Artist Check-Ins, the guitarmakers will make a sizable donation to MusiCares’ COVID-19 Relief Fund, which helps people in music community affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The opening track on The Smiths’ timeless second studio album ‘Meat Is Murder’, ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ was inspired by Morrissey’s highly unhappy schooldays at St. Mary's Secondary School in Stretford, Manchester.
Speaking to Guitar magazine in 1997, Johnny Marr said the guitars on ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ evolved over several years: "The nuts and bolts of "The Headmaster Ritual" came together during the first album (1984’s ‘The Smiths’), and I just carried on playing around with it. It started off as a very sublime sort of Joni Mitchell-esque chord figure; I played it to Morrissey but we never took it further.
“Then, as my life got more and more intense, so did the song. The bridge and the chorus part were originally for another song, but I put them together with the first part. That was unusual for me; normally I just hammer away at an idea until I've got a song."