The Headmaster Ritual chords by The Smiths

Chords with lyrics

The Headmaster Ritual by the Smiths
(Marr/Morrissey)
from the album "Meat is Murder"

Transcribed by: Jeff Noel [email protected]

Chords:

Mainly 1st position or closest barre except:

Cadd9Cadd9
E MajorE -------------------------||
BB ---3---------------------||
G+G ---0---------------------||
D MajorD ---2---------------------||
A augmentedA ---3---------------------||
E MajorE -------------------------||

Riff 1:

Based on E13sus4, this looks deceptively simple, but get ready for a
stretch:

E MajorE ---------------------------------------||
BB ---------------------------------------||
G+G ---------2-1--------2-1----------------|| middle to index
D MajorD -------0----------0--------------------||
A augmentedA -----4------------4--------------------|| pinky
E MajorE -0-------------0-----------------------||

Intro: (also used in the chorus)

Cadd9Cadd9 A augmentedA E MajorE (x2)

Cadd9Cadd9 D MajorD G+G

Cadd9Cadd9 A augmentedA

Riff 1 (x4)

Cadd9Cadd9 A augmentedA Riff 1

Verse:

A augmentedA       BB   E MajorE     C minorCm
Belligerent ghouls..

A augmentedA     BB          Riff 1
Spineless swine...

BB         A augmentedA   E MajorE    C minorCm
Sir leads the troops...

BB         AbmAbm
He does the military...

Pre-Chorus:

C minorCm        BB   AbmAbm   A augmentedA
I want to go home..

AM7     DM7   AbmAbm    A augmentedA
Give up education...

C minorCm        BB   AbmAbm   A augmentedA
Midweek on the  playing...

AM7           DM7       AbmAbm
Knees you in the groin, Elbow in the...

A augmentedA      AbmAbm
I want to go home...

Chorus:

Same as intro....

The rest of the arrangement, you'll figure out. It's the same elements.

Notes: This is just the most prominent guitar track. As usual, Marr layers
numerous tracks, in this case at least one acoustic and at least three
electric. Over Riff1, the acoustic plays this, coming in at the third
repeat:

E MajorE             1 measure + 1 beat
E MajorE ---12-------------------||
BB ---12-------------------||
G+G ---13-------------------||
D MajorD ---14-------------------||
A augmentedA ------------------------||
E MajorE ------------------------||

D MajorD               3 beats
E MajorE ---10-------------------||
BB ---10-------------------||
G+G ---11-------------------||
D MajorD ---12-------------------||
A augmentedA ------------------------||
E MajorE ------------------------||

Also, in the pre-chorus, Marr embellishes the Cm, B, and A augmentedA chords with sus2
and sus4 hammers and pulloffs, which adds to the richness. Hit those A augmentedA and
D MajorD major 7s hard for maximum effect.

Sounds best drenched in reverb, with a touch of chorus.

Corrections and embellishments are welcome.