Which solo projects best showcase Johnny Marr's technical guitar talents?

1. Why solo work matters: Marr freed to foreground guitar craft

When Marr records under his own name he controls arrangements and production, which allows his layered, technical guitar parts to be presented front and centre rather than sitting behind another band’s aesthetic; GuitarPlayer uses Marr’s solo song “New Town Velocity” (from The Messenger) as a teaching example of his pedal‑point and layering approach, showing how his solo material is a direct window on his technique ^[1].

2. Which solo tracks are technical showpieces — and why

GuitarPlayer specifically cites “New Town Velocity” as a solo tune that demonstrates Marr’s compositional and technical approaches (open‑string pedal points and layered parts), and Guitar World / GuitarPlayer lessons draw from Marr’s solo catalogue and Smiths-era techniques to unpack hammer‑ons, double pull‑offs and complex interlocking lines that feature in his solo records ^{[1] [2]}. Available sources do not provide an exhaustive ranked list, but they single out those solo tracks as useful study pieces ^{[1] [2]}.

3. The techniques to listen for — practical listening guide

Instructional pieces highlight repeatable, identifiable techniques in Marr’s solo work: open‑string pedal points that create a droning anchor beneath moving lines, combination hammer‑ons with double pull‑offs that require clean slurring, and the use of rich slash chords and rhythmic picking that give his solo songs both texture and drive — GuitarPlayer and Guitar World break these down in lesson form ^{[1] [2]}.

4. Tone and gear: how sound choices reveal technical detail

Marr’s technical playing is made audible by deliberate tone choices. Recent coverage of his Fender signature Jaguar explains how his instrument and switching options expand from jangly cleans to P‑90/Strat tones, enabling the clarity and contrast his layered guitar parts need to register in solo recordings; writeups of that guitar and its features tie Marr’s sound decisions back to his solo and collaborative output ^{[3] [4]}.

5. Outside perspectives: teachers and journalists agree on study tracks

Guitar teachers and publications consistently point students toward Marr’s solo and late‑period work to study specific techniques: GuitarPlayer uses solo material for concrete examples, and Guitar World / MusicRadar lessons place solo tracks alongside Smiths-era songs when explaining his rhythmic and chordal approaches — indicating broad agreement that his solo catalogue is technically instructive ^{[1] [2] [5]}.

6. What the sources don’t say — limits and gaps

None of the provided sources offers a definitive, canonical ranking of “best” solo tracks that showcase Marr’s technique; they prefer to use a handful of representative songs (e.g., “New Town Velocity” and selections from The Messenger and Call the Comet) as teaching tools. Specific tablature, step‑by‑step transcriptions for every recommended solo song are not available in the cited pieces ^{[1] [2]}.

7. How to use this guidance as a player or listener

Start with the tracks and techniques highlighted in GuitarPlayer and Guitar World: focus on hearing open‑string pedal points and the interplay of parts, then consult lesson breakdowns for slow, measure‑by‑measure work on hammer‑ons and pull‑offs. Pair that study with an ear for tone — Marr’s Jaguar tonal palette discussed in Guitar World and Fender pieces shows why those parts cut through in solo mixes ^{[1] [3] [4]}.

8. Competing viewpoints and final takeaway

Journalistic and instructional sources consistently present Marr’s solo output as an ideal field for studying his technical gifts, but they stop short of claiming a single “best” track; GuitarPlayer and Guitar World provide concrete examples and lessons ^{[1] [2]}, while Fender/Guitar World gear coverage contextualises how tone choices make those techniques audible in recordings ^{[3] [4]}. For players wanting technical exemplars, the best immediate starting points from available reporting are the solo tracks used in those lessons — notably “New Town Velocity” and selections from The Messenger and Call the Comet — combined with the gear and tone discussion that explains why those techniques work in the mix ^{[1] [2] [3]}.