BRIAN HAROLD MAY

As Guitarist

Some of Brian's guitars (and he says he doesn't have a big collection...): ten different Red Special replicas, a Les Paul, a Burns Bison, a Burns Double-Six, another twelve-string electric, two Danelectro six-string basses, a Vox guitar and a Stratocaster.

Not in vain Brian is recognized as a marvelous guitarist: his distinctive sound (which comes from him, not the Red Special, the treble-booster, the coin or the Vox Ac30), his precision and his versatility earned him respect and admiration from literally millions of people. Of course he's not even half as good as Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Howe, but he surely is an outright professional and a great performer.

Some fans tend to use so-called inventions in Brian's defense, which is totally ridiculous: guitar harmonies existed long before he recorded them, and he's not the first or the last person to have used coins. His actual achievement comes from the fact he developed his own way to play music (which could have been created by himself or by anybody else), and from his enviable control of dynamics.

Brian's style followed one clear conception from the start: he was too meticulous in being prepared for what he was going to do. No matter if the solo he was going to play had been written by him or by another person, he'd still rehearse it until it came naturally for him (kind of what Anthony Hopkins does in the acting department). Even his "improvisations" were carefully planned.

Other than that, May's got an odd sense of rhythm, which he learned to use in his benefit: trying to do his solos (or his rhythm parts for that matter) verbatim is really hard, because they're not always mathematically logical (as opposed to Nuno Bettencourt's or Yngwie Malmsteen's). That had the occasional unwanted consequence, as he sometimes "spoiled" one thing or two, which can be noted in some concerts (few, but still some) and even a couple of recordings.

Dr. May's technique has always been deeply influenced by the human singing voice (no wonder: that's the most natural way to do music, and he's great at it too), and his approach usually consists on making the guitar talk or sing. Thus, he uses lots of bending (without ever being exaggerated), favors precision as much as possible, and rarely gets robotic.

In the early days he hardly-ever used his left-hand pinky, which is something he slowly improved on in the 80's (although he never really mastered it). For the right hand, he played with sixpence coins instead of plectra in order to get the attack he was pleased with.

Listing highlights of Brian's guitar-playing in the studio would take ages, but in order to make an attempt to mention some May-estic moments (maybe your favorite solo isn't named here, but it's impossible to keep everybody happy):

- Modern Times Rock N' Roll: Great Page-esque solo, but with much better technique (Zeppelin fans: don't be offended, Jimmy's great, but in terms of cleanness, May clearly has the advantage, which of course doesn't necessarily mean he's "better").

- The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke: Playing those fast arpeggios without missing a note, without causing fret-noise, making them sound so natural and beautiful, and doing all of that on a fat-necked ax: hats off to Dr. May!

- Brighton Rock: Yes, there's of course the solo ... but for a moment forget about it and focus on the rhythm guitar - it's awesome from beginning to end.

- You're My Best Friend: Great pauses in the right moments. That's dynamics ... something many shredders (but not all) lack.

- Drowse: Brian was never a master of the slide, but he was still very good as you can prove here.

- Sleeping On the Sidewalk: Great Clapton-esque guitar, without sounding plagiarized. And it was a first take!

- Jealousy: The sitar-like sound of the acoustic guitar has several reasons, including production, engineering, the instrument itself, but of course the way it's played is very important.

- Crazy Little Thing Called Love: Who says Brian has to play hard-rock and use the Red Special with the Vox Ac30 to sound like himself? Well, lots of people actually - but they're obviously wrong as this recording shows.

- Flash's Theme: Great fills during the bridge, played with notable precision.

- Put Out the Fire: Marvelous solo.

- Is This the World We Created?: Brian's certainly not a classical guitarist, but his acoustic playing in this track is very soft and tender. Great for teaching purposes, indeed.

- Who Wants to Live Forever?: One of his best solos ever. Those silences always send shivers down my spine (which has a lot to do with the arrangement but also the way the guitar's being played).

- The Miracle: The extravagant solo during the fade-out is a clear proof on how he evolved after all those years. Nice technique indeed.

- These Are the Days of Our Lives: Another superb solo - doing those pauses with such precision is far from easy. It's almost a little Gilmour-esque in that sense.