The Genius Of... Brian May

With Bohemian Rhapsody pulling in crowds at the movies Jon Bishop examines the multi-faceted and instantly recognisable guitar style of Queen’s melodic master.

- Jon Bishop

Welcome to our all-encompassing look at Queen’s incredible guitarist Brian May and his various approaches to electric and acoustic playing. The aim of this lesson is to learn and apply some of the tried and tested concepts used by May during his stellar career.

The Brian May guitar sound is one of the finest and most recognisable in rock history. His many tones are the product of a unique combination of ingenious ingredients, all cooked up by Brian and his father - plus a little help from a wall of Vox AC30s, a Dallas Rangemaster treble booster and a funny little transistor amp put together by bassist John Deacon. Although upgraded and modernised here and there, most of these ingredients have remained pretty much unchanged for the best part of five decades.