Johnny Marr takes us through his favourite guitars over the last 40 years

Tim Scott spoke to Johnny Marr all about his favourite guitars, and how he's used them to tell the story of his career.

Johnny Marr has shared the stories of some of his favourite guitars across the last 40 years.

The Smiths guitarist, who is from Ardwick, Manchester, has chosen some of his favourite and most significant guitars from his collection to help him tell the story of his musical career.

He said: "I was reminded of who I was when i first owned it. One might have been from '85, one of them from '96 or '97. Then all these stories came out. They came to my mind.

"I wrote this Smith's song on that, I wrote that one on that, I played that with Pet Shop Boys or this one with Electronic."

He has compiled these stories in his new book, Marr's Guitar's, which also features full portrait photos of each instrument alongside pictures of Marr playing them throughout his career.

He said: "It was all about this idea of a coffee table book, and then in the making of that, every time I picked up a guitar, every time, I was reminded of who I was when I first owned it."

One of those, a green Fender Telecaster, was bought for him in 1984.

Johnny Marr said: "My then girlfriend, who's now my wife, she bought it for me when we were kids."

Johnny still plays that same Telecaster, along with many of the other guitars featured in the book.

He said: Having these guitars while i was making the book; they would put me back into exactly where I was and what I was doing at that time."

"To be honest it was a wow moment because I was genuinely not expecting that."

Another one of his longest-serving guitars is his cherry Gibson ES-355, which was bought for him by Seymour Stines to encourage The Smith's to sign with his record label.

Johnny said: "He bought it me on 2nd January 1984. He thought that if he didthat we'd sign with his record company which we did, so I think he made his money back."

Also featuring in the book are his first ever acoustic guitar, the Stratocaster he passed on to Noel Gallagher, and his Gibson Les Paul which he used for his last ever gig with The Smiths.

Often referred to as "The Guitarist's Guitarist", Johnny Marr is never far away from the instrument he calls "the obsession of my life."

He said: "I don’t even wait until we’re downstairs. There’s an acoustic in the bedroom that used to belong to Bert Jansch, but there’s also an electric at night time I like to mess around with.

"Then you go into the hallway and there’s a few downstairs. They’re everywhere."

While Johnny Marr may be looking back on his career in his new book, he's still moving forward with a new record out next month, a tour underway and an upcoming performance with a full orchestra in Manchester.

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