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He mentioned May as being really uncomfortable improvising. Apparently he had to piece his take together in pieces, punctuated by cups of tea. He's clearly someone who likes to work out his parts (and he is a brilliant arranger of those parts).
He mentions that, by contrast, Angus Young did a string of effortless takes, beginning to end, each as good as the last.
zero doubt he's an excellent guitarist, and as mentioned above did some really ground breaking things.
My flip flopping love with him varies depending on if I am thinking of him as a guitarist or a musician.
My greatest respect is of him as a musician, which encompasses his guitar work, as mentioned above, there are some stunning examples of writing playing just mind blowing guitar parts in terms of complexity, arrangement and fitting the song perfectly, he's written some spectacular guitar parts simulating full orchestra's I remember an interview with one track that had over 60 guitar parts to simulate a full orchestra and the backing guitar parts you hear on the album but you don't know are there, are just top drawer, so zero doubt in his quality or ability when I think of him as a musician that encompasses his guitar - plus writing some really great songs is just the icing on the cake, I enjoyed his solo stuff too mostly, quite enjoyed back to the light and saw that album toured live, loved star fleet due to being in the same age bracket as his son and the story of his son nagging him to play the theme tune to the TV show, plus it's "fun" too, wasn't a huge fan of the later stuff.
my love affair sometimes fades when I'm listening to more traditional guitar styles and find myself tired of the 16 part solo which appears on a lot of Queen songs (not so much his solo stuff) especially the earlier queen stuff, say up to the works...maybe a little earlier than a kind of magic, I can't help but feel sometimes a guitar extravaganza is forced into the song, I fully acknowledge this is unfair critique as that sound is part of the Queen sound, so it's always going to be around, but if you consider how adaptable and changing Queens style has been over the years, I'd have liked to hear some more traditional style played guitar parts from May a little more, to say a one trick pony would be hugely unfair and inaccurate but I'm using the phrase to get the feeling I sometimes have when listening to a lot of Brians parts, and most likely that's down to my mood at the time when listening.
The detail he puts into writing these amazing guitar parts (not just the complex harmony parts) is often exposed live, where I imagine in the studio a lot of this will take a huge amount of takes for each part, live I'm never quite convinced Brian has the technical ability to pull off parts live, if you watch there is a huge amount of "rake the sixpence over all the strings into a huge bend" and parts are often over simplified, again I don't think that's poor, watch him play and the playing is great and really well executed, but there is often a (I'm ready for flame on this) a few standard runs/tricks put in place to cover some of the more complex guitar parts, much like say Kirk Hammett using the wah to hide some sloppy playing.
Always a huge fan, he's one of the reasons I picked up the guitar in the first place and an undoubted musician and guitarist who has well earned his place in history
I wish I'd seen this post before writing a 500 word ramble.
I wish I was that uncomfortable.
Brian May is a legend. Talk about knowing who a guitarist is by their sound/playing - BM is it.
The reason people don’t acknowledge his skills is because he was in a proper band, he was just one of 4, he fitted in, he did what the song required every time.
Any aspiring rock rock guitarist needs to study his riffs/solos and how to be part of a band. It’s as simple as that. Proper legendary guitarist of my time.
Must also say (because he’s been mentioned) Vai is also legendary - any guitarist who is critical of his stuff just doesn’t understand it (yet) - composition wise he is a master imo, some of his songs are so deep/have so many layers that I’m still finding new stuff within.
So, two completely different players....massive respect to both.
My my personal faves of BM are Seven Seas and Another One Bites. Vai, Boston Rain and Voodoo Acid
As it happens, I rarely (never, tbh), listen to Queen and/or May by choice, because it's not really my thing, undeniably great, though it is.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Came across this interesting piece of footage
http://www.rabswoodguitars.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/RabsWoodGuitars/
My Youtube page
Anyway, watching and hearing the guitarist tonight perfectly replicate it all from a couple of rows back , if I didn't know already, I do now realise the brilliance of the man. The easily identifiable sound, style, note choice, slow bends and the cleverly written, and tricky parts and that Red Special. Pure genius and one of our best musical sons