Why I Suck.. Series 5, Episode 2 - Brian May (Queen)!

And so we come at long last to the Greatest Perm in Rock History... the one and only Brian May! In terms of reach and enduring legacy, you could make a pretty convincing case for Queen being the biggest band the world has ever seen, and it speaks volumes that a band can create tracks as disparate as “Another One Bites The Dust”, “Tie Your Mother Down” and of course the gold standard of rock songwriting and musicianship, “Bohemian Rhapsody” - and still have it all sound uniquely Queen. Add to that the fact that “Don't Stop Me Now” will fill a dance floor no matter what generation your audience, the fact that everyone from 1-100 can and will sing along to “We Will Rock You” and you have a band whose contribution to the pantheon of popular music really is quite extraordinary!

So it really is long overdue that we recognise the superlative playing of Sir Brian May CBE, a chap that even Eric Clapton once professed to be in awe of - after all, it's not often you encounter a guitar player where the audience can sing along with each note of his solo! Or that gets invited to play a solo on the roof of Buckingham Palace..

First, as is customary, a little potted history... Born in Middlesex on July 19 1947, Brian was a natural musician as a child – always singing, began playing the piano around age 6 as well as dabbling with the ukulele.. but it was age 7 that he received his first guitar, a nylon strung classical which he adapted, adjusting the neck and even improvising a pickup to fit under the strings – pretty impressive stuff for someone of his then tender years! This saw him through to his early teenage years, but ultimately he coveted an electric guitar – sadly, this was financially out of reach for his family at that point (no Yamaha Pacificas back then), so rather than admit defeat, Brian and his dad Harold (a Ministry of Aviation engineer) in 1963 set to work creating the now-legendary Red Special out of an old fireplace – which is a story that deserves a post all of its own. This remarkable instrument served as Brians' weapon of choice throughout his year with Queen, albeit being supplemented by various copies made by Guild (among others) and of course the Tele that did the job for “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”.

Before Queen, however, Brian cut his teeth first in band called 1984, founded in 1967 with schoolfriends Tim Staffell & Dave Dilloway, who notably opened for none other than Jimi Hendrix in May of that year, which led into May & Staffell forming Smile – a short lived affair from 1968 to 1970 that did however lead to meeting future Queen drummer Roger Taylor, as well as an impressive slew of gigs around West London opening for other more famous bands of the time. Staffell left before long, however, and a young Ealing graduate named Farrokh Bulsara joined forces with May & Taylor.. of course, we wuld come to know Farokh by the name he later took, Freddie Mercury. By May of 1971 the group and settled on John Deacon as a bass player and Queen as we know them were formed!

Brian May's playing was a cornerstone of Queen's sound – his signature, mid-heavy tone typically through a Vox treble booster and a Vox AC30 (something he and Rory Gallagher had in common), but his sense of melody and harmony goes far beyond the conventional Page/ Clapton/ Hendrix pentatonics of the time, having more in common with classical musicians than blues. In fairness, May lists all of the above (plus Jeff Beck, of course) as influences, but also Shadow's lead guitarist Hank Marvin and The Beatles George Harrison.

This presents a problem for a blog like this, as Brian is not exactly a “lick guy” - to really get a handle on his style, we're going to need to look at his playing in a little more context. To this end, rather than tackle a handful of licks, we'll instead look at a couple of his standout guitar solos – and to address the elephant in the room, no Bohemian Rhapsody (that deserves its own video) and no Killer Queen as you can't really do that one justice with just one guitar!

First though, we'll take a crash course through May's signature technique – harmony.

We'll start with the scale of A major laid out along the G string – A B C# D E F# G#

Next, we'll add a harmony note. This is typically (but by no means always) a 3^rd higher: So C# will harmonise with A, D with B, E with C# etc. Note that this is not always a major 3^rd harmony – we're sticking to diatonic (ie notes in one key) to get the hang of this technique.

The second harmony will typically (although again, by no means exclusively) be a 3^rd up again: so root - 3^rd distance - 3^rd - 3^rd distance – 5^th, and again will occasionally be a diminished 5^th.

Brian would occasionally add 7ths or 6ths or sometimes go underneath the root (a 3^rd down from the root taking him to the 6^th) – so take the tools given here and experiment!

Now, on to the solos – we'll start with “Don't Stop Me Now”, an absolute tour de force of melodic string bending. Of particular note is how Brian really milks the repeated bend on the Bb (4^th) – this is interesting, as most players would have simply slapped F major pentatonic over the top (R 2 3 5 6) which doesn't include that interval, but Brian really makes it sing. Be accurate with your pitching – try playing the target pitch before the bend when practicing – and make the vibrato string and confident.

Next up, Brian May meets Chuck Berry, as we tackle perennial favourite “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, this time blending D major and minor pentatonics. Notice his use of doublestops as a way of building tension to be released by those held re-picked string bends, mixing his signature melodicism with rock & roll attitude, not to mention deftly navigating a key change with the end phrase!

Finally, we'll take a look at the impeccably phrased “It's A Kind Of Magic” in A. Brian starts of with the Keith Richards I-IV chord move, before a languid string bend leading into an effortless sounding legato blitz through the A major blues scale (R 2 b3 3 5 6)– it's over in moments but an absolute masterclass in tension and release phrasing, pulling back the spring and then letting fly!

It's been a privelige working through these classic solos and it's brought home to me just how firmly the Queen back catalogue is stitched into the soundtrack of our lives – and May's incredible sense of melody and dynamics is a huge part of that. As a casual listener/ appreciator rather than out and out fan, I was really struck by how much of this stuff would trigger memories and that speaks volumes for what this band managed to accomplish over the years. Definitely a month well spent!

Join me next month as we dive into the the Extreme Shreddery of the one and only Nuno Bettencourt!