One of the most unique and instantly recogniseable guitar players ever, Brian’s tone, approaches to song writing and inventinve use of effects really need no introduction to any of us and this is his only instructional video – but its a very good one.

As with most of the other Master’s Series, this is of primary interest to fans of Brian but there are still some hints and tips for anyone interested in classic rock guitar.

The whole thing kicks off with a very in-depth review of his guitar, amplifiers, and effects before moving swiftly on to cover the guitar parts from some of his most famous tunes:

* Lick 1 “Liar” solo (4:09-4:17)
* Lick 2 “Modern Times Rock’n'Roll” solo (1:13-1:21)
* Lick 3 “Jesus” solo-scale (3:07-3:13)
* Lick 4 “Father To Son” (?)
* Lick 5 “March Of The Black Queen” (1:37-1:47)
* Lick 6 “March Of The Black Queen” (5:06-5:16)
* Lick 7 “Brighton Rock” (1:53-1:57)
* Lick 8 “Bohemian Rhapsody” 1st solo
* Lick 9 “Tie Your Mother Down” solo, before slide (2:59-3:12)
* Lick 10 “Sombody To Love” solo (1:59-2:21)
* Lick 11 “It’s Late” (3:37-3:48)
* Lick 12 “Dead On Time” (1:47-1:58) The complete solo but in two separate parts
* Lick 13 “Dead On Time” (1:58-2:02)
* Lick 14 “Dragon Attack” (2:11-
* Lick 15 “Put Out The Fire” (:-2:19)
* Lick 16 “It’s A Hard Life”, not exactly, Brian shows what he would have liked to play in the original record (3:07-3:11)
* Lick 17 “Star Fleet” The scales going up, explain the two guitar, Eddie Van Halen’s and his. (3:56-4:03)
* Lick 18 “Love Of My Life” Played with the Red Special, very interesting. Like in the original record Brian doesn’t play the same as he does live, and this version is the live one. Here the time is from the “Live At Wembley ’86″ version.(0:45-1:41)
* Lick 19 “Keep Yourself Alive” All Intro. (0:08-0:33)
* Lick 20 “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” All solo, but without the Telecaster (1:19-1:34)
* Again an expanation of the delays, playing the slow part of Brighton Rock Solo.

Fascinating, recommended viewing and a great insight into one of the greats. Just watch out for the clogs

6 Comments

1. 

   Posted by SwampAshSpecial on 25 September 09 at 11:30pm

   great to see the site up and running!!!! I love Brian May so much!!!

   • 

     Posted by Dave on 26 September 09 at 11:20am

     Hey fella

     Yeah, he’s a great favourite of mine as well. One day I’m thinking about picking up that “Red Special” pedal that digitech do as they’re only about £80 now. Should go well through a cheapish Vox

     • 

       Posted by SwampAshSpecial on 03 October 09 at 7:53pm

       yeh – he has a company making red special copies at about £500 each – nice guitars, but only if you want to play soley queen – it dosen’t do much else!!!

       • 

         Posted by Dave on 04 October 09 at 1:53pm

         They also have necks like baseball bats and a really odd short scale….but they do sound fantastic

2. 

   Posted by Adi Hughes on 16 April 10 at 6:45pm

   Awesome, I have this on video!

   • 

     Posted by Dave on 16 April 10 at 7:12pm

     I guessed that you might mate