Where the New York Dolls brought the attitude of the Velvet Underground and the Stooges and packaged it together to form something close to what we see as punk today, the Ramones presented it in a much more recognizable form. They influenced many artists after them (particularly during their early tour of Britain) thanks to their simplistic, buzz-saw sound, which had a big impact on up-and-coming punk and metal bands. Johnny Ramone is another punk guitarist who doesn’t offer much in the way of flair, but the attitude behind his playing has spawned several classic punk tracks. He’s most notable for his down-stroke laden approach, meaning if you’re going to master his songs, your wrists will probably need a bit of a workout!

Bio

Johnny Ramone was born John Cummings in New York in 1948, and was raised by his disciplinarian father. As a teenager, he became immersed in rock music, listening to bands like the Rolling Stones and the Who before moving onto early punk bands like the Stooges, MC5 and the Velvet Underground. He bought his first instrument alongside Dee Dee Ramone in the early 70s, taught himself to play and formed a band. The Ramones finally took shape in 1974. He pushed the band to take on their greaser aesthetic, and after a short time on the gigging circuit (playing no-nonsense twenty minute sets made from two-minute songs), they landed their first record deal.

Notable Recordings

Throughout their long career, the Ramones released numerous albums, so there is an extensive collection of Johnny Ramone playing to choose from. However, the Ramones most well-known anthem is “Blitzkrieg Bop,” which features one of the most iconic Johnny Ramone riffs, despite its furious simplicity. Other tracks like “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” and “I Wanna Be Sedated” are amongst their most famous.

Techniques

The two-finger power chord style of Johnny Thunder was adopted by Johnny Ramone, and the songwriting style is similarly straightforward. You can write a cool, Ramones-style punk song with just three or four chords, with “Blitzkrieg Bop” being a perfect example of what you can do with the same power chord shape in four positions. With a simple, I, IV, V (A, D, E – in the song’s key) progression, it’s punk songwriting 101. Don’t worry about being complicated or overly musical, get the job done and make sure it’s loud.

Johnny Ramone’s strumming style is the thing most closely associated with his guitar playing. The basic rule is to pretend you don’t even know what an upstroke is. Most players will strum chords downwards (towards the floor) and throw in an upstroke (towards yourself) on the way back up. If you’re trying to play like Johnny Ramone, this is a cardinal sin. Stick to rigid downstrokes, but still play at the eighth note speed you’d expect from punk.

Count out “one and two and three and four and” in a rhythmic pattern and try to fit a downstroke (shown with a “\/”) in for each one. Play it including upstrokes (“/\”) first to get the hang of the rhythm:

1    &     2    &    3    &    4    &
\/   /\    \/   /\   \/    /\    \/   /\

Ramone-Style:

1    &     2    &    3    &    4    &
\/   \/    \/   \/    \/   \/    \/   \/

Overall

Another punk rocker who shows you don’t need to have the dexterity of Jimi Hendrix or an encyclopedic chord repertoire to write legendary songs. Keep the attitude in your playing, and avoid upstrokes like the plague!