Accept Yourself

"The fundamental request of Smithdom. Simply accept yourself, be yourself, relax, don't worry about anything as there's no point."

- Morrissey

I have posted a Guitar Pro tab file here.

Here's a great cover by stereovaritone on acoustic:




Daniel Earwicker does a cool multi-instrumental version here:




Here is Jonasmacca on a Tele:




Here is a multi-tracked version by Westerdd:




And here is raulfist on bass:





Here's davidguitarist91 on his Les Paul:

Money Changes Everything

"'The Right Stuff' [from Bryan Ferry's Bete Noire] was born accidentally out of a backwards riff at the end of a piece of tape on my 4-track. I learned the part, then recorded it forwards. That's one of the great things about being in the studio, those 'tricks,' for want of a better term. Maybe I'll have a part that's almost fantastic, and then I'll flip the tape over, learn it backwards, and then play it backwards. Originally, the song was called 'Money Changes Everything,' and it was the B-side of a Smiths single, an instrumental. Bryan heard it, and he wanted to put some words to it. All the volume swells were done on the volume pot of an American Standard Strat. The bass track and the Roland drum machine pattern had already been put down, so it was the first session where I did purely overdubs. It was a novelty, but when it comes to my songs, I like to put things down as a group, especially drums and rhythm guitar. Neil Hubbard also plays on Bryan's version."

- Johnny Marr

Here are the scans from the Complete Chord Dictionary:





Here's a really beautiful version by pljnr:




And here's another excellent cover by stereovaritone:

Guitarist, Volume 1, Number 9, Feburary 1985

Thanks to stereovaritone for these scans.

Chart Magazine, March 2003

Thanks to stereovaritone for these scans.

The Headmaster Ritual

The nuts and bolts of The Headmaster Ritual came together during the first album, 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. It's in open D turning, with a capo at the second fret. Again, it was heavily overdubbed. It was a very exciting period for me - realising I could hijack 16 tracks all for myself.

I wrote 'The Headmaster Ritual' on acoustic. It's in an open-D tuning with a capo at the 2nd fret. I fancied the idea of a strange Joni Mitchell tuning, and the actual progression is like what she would have done had she been an MC5 fan or a punk rocker. I knew pretty much what every guitar track would be before we started. There are two tracks of Martin D-28, and the main riff is two tracks of Rickenbacker. I wasn't thinking specifically of the Beatles' 'Day Tripper' -- even though it sounds like it -- but I did think of it as a George Harrison part. The Rickenbacker belonged to Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music; I'm told that it was originally owned by Roger McGuinn. All the guitars are in open tuning, except for one of the chorus guitars, which is done on an Epiphone in Nashville tuning, capoed at the 2nd fret.

I've got an Epiphone Coronet with one pickup, and I string it with the high strings from a 12-string set. It's a really zingy, trebly guitar. I used that on a lot of things that people think are 12-string, like the end of 'The Headmaster Ritual'.

For my part, 'The Headmaster Ritual' came together over the longest period of time I've ever spent on a song. I first played the riff to Morrissey when we were working on the demos for our first album with Troy Tate. I nailed the rest of it when we moved to Earls Court.

'The Headmaster Ritual is one of my favorite guitar tracks.I wrote it over a period of two years, always looking for the next section I needed. I saw the Radiohead version, yeah. I showed Ed O'Brien the chords, but maybe he was looking out the window!

- Johnny Marr

First of all, here is a fairly recent video of Johnny playing the song on his old '85 Les Paul Standard:


I've located a Guitar Pro file for this that is pretty accurate, and I have uploaded it here.



Here are the scans from the Smiths Best Complete Score:













Here are the scans from the Complete Chord Dictionary:





Here are the scans from the Meat Is Murder piano songbook with guitar chords, for completists. Thanks to Ted Maul for these scans:









Daniel Earwicker's first take on the song:




And his second:




djs1986, on guitar and bass:




Here's Radioheads version:




Here's eluedy with his version, my favorite of these.




Here is chiasson65, with an amazing bass cover:




Here's WilliamFs11 on acoustic, in open E. Stunning.




Here's an awesome version by markpaterson on a Epiphone Elite Riviera through a JC-120:




Here's adameater doing the chorus part on acoustic:




Here's PinkMoonchild08 on a tele, appropriately phased-out:




Here's nicknoh69 on a goldtop les paul. He really nails it:




dhowellbassist does another great cover here:




abyface does a great full-length version:




Here's daveyc25 on a Ric 330:




Here's barjabulon with a close-up view:




Here's ecb97tp on acoustic:




Here's stereovaritone on a red hollowbody:




Here's Jonasmacca on a tele: