Brian May on Electric Guitar Theory

F'ing superb. Brian May is an educated gentleman, one of those strange and uniquely British fusion geniuses who emerged during the 1970's and approached music with an electrical engineer's eye for detail. For starters, this is a man who built his first guitar at 14 and considers his PhD in Astrophysics to be an equal personal achievement to his career with Queen. So what he's presenting here is not exactly Shredding for Chicks Vol 7...this is a 40 minute heart to heart conversation covering an impressive amount of territory.

A lot of folks will be bored by the long technical introduction where he discusses his custom instruments and equipment, but approached with an open mind -- preferably in combination with an open notebook -- the opening 10 minutes are a lesson unto themselves. Think about why he's made all these adjustments. These decisions are driven by compositional strategies and real-world recording problems. Bonus question: How much of it would be necessary in the Pro Tools era?

Once Brian May gets into his lead lines, though...his chops are 100% facemelter status. What set him apart is a downright Broadway ear for expressive melody, though. Even in a field of technically flawless arpeggio wizardry, May's recorded work is a standout performance. As a youth, I spent a great deal of time analyzing both News of the World and Night at the Opera on vinyl, though headphones that were no doubt older than I am. I can still play back most of his solos note for note in my head -- they are like miniature arias, they transcend the showoff format of "solo"-ing altogether. This video outlines most of the harmonic building blocks of his style, and there are few teachers more qualified than Professor May.