Johnny Marr

• Clean amp — always. No overdrive or distortion in The Smiths. The complexity comes from arpeggiation and chord choice, not gain
• Capo at fret 2, 4, or 5 is used extensively — arpeggiated open chord shapes with capo produce the bright, ringing character of "This Charming Man"
• Arpeggiate rather than strum — right-hand technique picks individual strings in sequence rather than sweeping across them
• The Rickenbacker's jangle requires light picks (0.50mm) — heavier picks dull the high-end sparkle essential to the sound
• Two-guitar layering in studio recordings — many Smiths tracks have a rhythm guitar and a lead fill guitar running simultaneously. Live, Marr played both parts simultaneously
• Delay adds shimmer, not echo — the Korg SDD-3000 is set to very short delay times (80-150ms) at low feedback. It widens the sound without creating obvious echoes
• Open chord shapes with the capo provide the ringing open-string quality — bar chords are almost never used
• The Roland JC-120's built-in chorus is often used at subtle settings — the dual speaker stereo spread adds width
• Study "This Charming Man" right-hand pattern — it appears to be a simple riff but actually involves simultaneous melody, bass movement and chord tones picked individually

Johnny Marr of The Smiths is the architect of the British indie guitar sound — arpeggiated chord voicings, capo use, shimmering clean tones and an intricate right-hand technique that sounds like multiple guitarists at once.