Johnny Marr Announces ‘Marr’s Guitars’ Photo Book
Johnny Marr has announced a photo book detailing his guitar collection and love of the instrument. Marr’s Guitars will celebrate over 100 of the former Smiths man’s favourite guitars and will include anecdotes covering his 40-year career. It can be ordered here.
“Guitars have been the obsession of my life – they’ve been a mission and sometimes a lifeline,” Marr said in a statement. “So I’m delighted to have made Marr’s Guitars. It’s very different to other guitar books and is more of an art book, with stories of songs and sounds. It’s been a long time coming and is a labour of love.”
A press release reads, “The guitarist’s guitarist, Johnny Marr redefined music for a generation. His ringing arpeggios and chordal innovations helped elevate The Smiths to one of the, if not the, most influential and important British bands of its era.
“Tracing Marr’s career from his teenage years to his recent work on the Bond soundtrack, Marr’s Guitars showcases the most significant of Marr’s superb collection of electric and acoustic guitars, revealing through them the evolution of his iconic sound and style of playing. Each guitar is identified with a crucial moment, a specific song or a particular sound, and each embodies a key aspect of Marr’s lifelong passion.
Renowned photographer Pat Graham presents each instrument as a full body portrait, supported by micro shots highlighting the specific details that make each one unique, while Johnny Marr himself reveals in his accompanying commentary on what tracks and at which gigs each guitar was played. Many of the guitars are closely associated with Marr, such as the Rickenbacker 330, the Gibson ES-355 and the Johnny Marr Signature Fender Jaguar. Some were passed down to him, including John Entwistle’s Epiphone Coronet, Bert Jansch’s Yamaha acoustic, Bryan Ferry’s Hagstrom and Nile Rodgers’ Stratocaster. Others are guitars once owned by Marr that have since been passed on to the next generation of guitar heroes, including the Stratocaster used by Noel Gallagher on Wonderwall.