It seems that Brian May has been rehashing this solo since Queen's early days. In most situations I would think, 'Okay dude, move on. Try something new.' But how in the hell can you top a Brighton Rock solo??? You can't!
Bravo Brian, keep playing it until you die.
Well, I think if anyone else tried it, I would agree. The song makes a strong point to rely primarily on the sound of the instrument rather than the music being played. But, that's why I love it. It glorifies the Red Special/Brian May guitar sound which is the greatest audio invention of mankind(in my opinion).
A point about the sound.
Okay, let's say you have a little dinky acoustic guitar. Brighton Rock would be boring on it, just a bunch of scales. You would rather hear something more musically stimulating. However, with such a wild and expressive sound as that which May invented, a scale would be better because instead of focusing on a unique melody, you would be hearing something simple and focusing on that unique sonic distortion.
Like if you were to say something to someone. You could speak with words, each word revealing detail to what you are saying, or you could keep everything shorter and more simple, but waver the tone of your voice to emphasize words so that you communicate with the help of emotion to add to their meaning.
It's a well thought out piece of guitar music, with each line played to give off harmony with the other lines. It's also a call and response type of thing with the second line "answering" the first line. It's probably easy in theory, but when they made it and had to duct tape the reels and improvise like crazy to get the final result it becomes more impressive.
To each his own, Thomas, and not doubting your music knowledge, but there are virtually thousands of guitar songs where the echo is not used as anything but an echo, with no thought to harmony. It's not a given as I'm sure you know, as the harmony depends on the speed of the delay and length of time played between notes.
<b><font color = "crimson">ThomasQuinn wrote: Sorry, but I don't agree. Ever since it's first appearance in 'Blag', it has sounded IMHO like a guitarist practicing his scales as a warm-up and adding an echo to it.
exactly. it was the one moment in ALL the concerts i went to where i menatlly switched off for 17mins.
i hate it...blag showed a lack of imagination....the subsequent tours showed a lack of effort....even down to the lazy 'three blind mice' during the 75 tour.....it;s lazy and it's not much more than counterpoint echos on the effects pedals....
AmeriQueen wrote: Well, I think if anyone else tried it, I would agree. The song makes a strong point to rely primarily on the sound of the instrument rather than the music being played. But, that's why I love it. It glorifies the Red Special/Brian May guitar sound which is the greatest audio invention of mankind(in my opinion).
bizarre - at best - because the 'BR solo' live - is probably as far detached from the traditional RS sound as Brian could get....the warm sound of the RS is more akin to the solos in WWRY and various ballads...BR is all about counterpoint and distortion - very un-redspecial-like if you ask me...
and anyhow...all guitarists do a 'solo' live
schenker
blackmore
rhoads
moore
townsend
it's the way they 'show off' man
He used 2 Echoplex tape delay units to create a form of harmony and counterpoint he could play live.
Think of a song like Row your Boat or Frere Jacques which are known as rounds. These are the simplest and most familiar types of counterpoint. In a round, everyone sings the same melody, but they start singing it at different times.
It was groundbreaking at the time and Brian May still does it better than anyone else but I think it would be more effective if it was shorter.
For me there are good Brian solos and bad, it depends if he's inspired or not.
After hearing the Wembley 86 guitar solo on DVD i just thought it was amazing and probably to the people IN the stadium it made all sense!
The thing is, this is a Tri-dimensional guitar solo, so to speack, and regular CD's doesn´t do it justice, but if you listen to it in 5:1 surround then you'll probably get Brian's intention.
The problem with Brian and Queen is that they're ahead af their time. It's like "A Night At The Opera". When it was first released and over the years we could say that it was very well produced, etc. But when it was released in surround DVD-audio everybody was shocked at the brilliance of the record, even producers couldn't believe their ears, and as Brian said, it was meant to be heard like that but at the time the technology didn't existed!
I think the same thing about his guitar solo, you have to be there to fully apreciate what he's trying to do.
And by the way, this is not the most easiest guitar solo because you can get lost between the various lines. You have to be totally confortable with it. Why do you thing guys like Satriani and Steve Vai admire Brian for?- Mostly because of his use of harmonies.
There are three guitar players that have a distinct guitar solo in their set that represents their style above other thing:
Brian May- Brighton Rock (harmonies)
Edward Van Halen- 316 (tapping)
Yngwie Malmsteen- His Baroque and Roll thing (sweep picking)
These guys are the originals.
Take care