Ask

"Me and Johnny were sat in the library playing acoustic guitars and they must have been miked up as we were probably putting down the acoustic tracks for 'Panic'. I just started playing the chord sequence which would later become 'Ask' in exactly the way it appears on the record. Johnny then joined in playing the same... I then forgot about the idea and left it at that... Johnny must have played Morrissey this idea or given him the recording I already mentioned. I was completely surprised as we were now recording this for the next single. The only section of the chord structure that I didn't come up with for 'Ask' was the middle eight section with the chords E-minor, D and C. That was actually what Johnny came up with. All the way through the song there is an overdub with me and Johnny sat around a mike with acoustics, playing a riff that he came up with towards the end of the recording of the song. That is a great riff and a real hook but it was still just an overdub and I felt the song was nearly complete without it. Up until the release of 'Ask' I still thought I'd be given a writing credit. When I found that I wasn't given a writing credit, it didn't really bother me, but I thought it was pretty bad that no one even acknowledged that it was my idea in the first place."


- Craig Gannon



"That really hurt me. That's one of the things in The Smiths that you don't do. We were always very careful from the very first day all the way through the sessions to bring in our own songs. It was ridiculous. no one ever had any inclination to write any songs, and that was fine."

"On 'Ask', Craig Gannon and I are playing Martin acoustics. I play the G-Am-C-D progression on a Rickenbacker 330. The highlify part is played on a '63 Strat. I'm also vamping on a G harmonica through a Urei Boom Box, an early '70s piece of outboard gear that we also used a lot on guitars, as well. It's like one of those vulgar 'loudness' buttons on a hi-fi. It pushes things slightly out of phase, but gives them a bottomy, dense sound. It's a big chrome box with one knob: 'intensity.'"


- Johnny Marr

I have uploaded a Guitar Pro tab for this song here. Right click to save as.


Here's the complete band score from the "Louder Than Bombs:Off The Record" book:























Here is another tab, from the Singles book:














Here are the scans from the Smiths Best Complete Score:

















Here's a great version by nicknoh69 on a Les Paul:




Jahnli does a nice version here, with vocals.




fdealencar has a nice attempt at all the riffs here:




Here Daniel Earwicker does an amazing 3-track breakdown:





Here's johnnymare on a Tele and Rickenbacker 330:

This Charming Man

"Of all our singles I think I like 'This Charming Man' best, just because the rhythms are so infectious. Smiths music really moves me."

- Andy Rourke


"A couple of days before I wrote 'This Charming Man' I'd heard 'Walk Out To Winter' (by Aztec Camera) on Radio 1, and I felt a little jealous. My competitive urges kicked in. I felt that we needed something up-beat and in a major key for Rough Trade to get behind. That's why I wrote it in the key of G, which to this day I rarely do. I knew that 'This Charming Man' would be our next single. I did the whole thing in one go into this TEAC 3-track tape recorder that I used to write on. I came up with the basic chords and immediately overdubbed the top line and intro riff."

"I wrote This Charming Man for a John Peel session. I just leapt out of bed and wrote it. It was the culmination of trying to find a way of playing that was non-rock but still expressed my personality. I felt we needed something more upbeat in a different key and was miffed that Aztec Camera's Roddy Frame was getting on the radio and we weren't. That's why it's got that sunny disposition; my usual default setting was Manchester in the rain. When we were recording it, Rough Trade's Geoff Travis came in and said: 'That's got to be the single.'"

"I remember writing it, it was in preparation for a John Peel single. I wrote it the same night as 'Pretty Girls Make Graves' and 'Still Ill'."

"'This Charming Man' was the first record where I used those highlife-sounding runs in 3rds. I'm tuned up to F# and I finger it in G, so it comes out in A. There are about 15 tracks of guitar. People thought the main guitar part was a Rickenbacker, but it's really a '54 Tele. There are three tracks of acoustic, a backwards guitar with a really long reverb, and the effect of dropping knives on the guitar -- that comes in at the end of the chorus."

"I don't want to be playing 'This Charming Man' when I'm... 22."

- Johnny Marr

Here is a great video of Johnny looping the rhythm part and overdubbing the lead:



Notice he starts the riff on the second and third strings, around the twelfth fret(14th if you have his usual 2nd fret capo on).

I have uploaded several Guitar Pro tab files here. Each file has several different guitar tracks, some with bass tracks as well. I have uploaded a multitrack for the song here. This has the isolated guitar and bass parts, and it's a great tool for learning the song.


Here are the scans from the Singles tab book:








I have uploaded another tab and it's accompanying backing tracks. Those are here(right click to save as). Here's the tab:








UPDATE 10/12/08: I have also uploaded these scans from the debut album song book, for completists only.







lunachangue gives us a pretty spot on version:




The cover sonofdrcross does is equally good:



He also does a great version on bass:




325C58 tackles the hatful version, with bass and rythym guitar as well:




Daniel Earwicker plays just a few bars on his 12 string Ric:




martinyyz has another good version. Really clear recording of the fretboard, too:




Here's nicknoh69 on his les paul:




Here's WilliamFs11 on acoustic:




Here's isisluna23 on a Les Paul:




Here's chiasson65 with another great bass cover:




abyface does an awesome job:




adameater does the Hatful version on acoustic:




Another take by martinyyz:




Here's a cool version by johnnymare:




Here's Pandaprops on guitar:



and bass:




Here's davidguitarist91 on his Les Paul:




Here's a great multitrack version by captaincarwash: