Topic: Brian May is effing incredible.

[Bonk]

Queen in full flight is the Voice of God.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DynaBonk#p/c/F673E69E071D1D17

Just had to get that out of my system. Carry on.

[Corbomite]

Queen Live Killers is still in my top five favorite live albums of all time. Its worth it just for Brighton Rock.

[marstone]

Not bad, just doesn't sound right to me.  So loading up an older video of Freddy

Comparing the two, he did a really good job.  I can live with it.

[Bonk]

Brian May being the guitarist. There is one sound. Kinda like how you can recognise Santana on the first note.

I'm not talking about the new lead singer Paul Rogers (nothing against him, but those are some mighty large shoes he has to fill - too large).

Queen without Freddy? Sabbath without Ozzy? Floyd without Roger? Genesis without Pete? GnR without Slash? No. Just No.

Check out the "Impromptu" clip with on the youtube queen channel. Wow. Just wow.

I always get a kick out of how May is patient with Freddy's theatrics and humours him by participating for the sake of the music. (video for : It's a hard life)

When I say Brian May is effing incredible I'm thinking of the solos in "I want it all" and "The Invisible Man". It's like Eddie VanHalen playing better music.

It's too bad they don't have a version of '39 with Freddy singing posted. George Michaels will have to do.

[marstone]

Well, then I will agree with ya.

[Capt. Mike]

If I malmember correctly, Brian's guitar neck was a custom set, with a longer scale and heavier wood used than the standard maple..those make for interesting playing, as I'm finding out with my new bass, which has a 27" fret board, as opposed to my older bass with a 24" fret board..you wouldn't think 3" would matter, but it does

Mike

[Rod ONeal]

I read an interview with Frank Zappa a long time ago. He was asked who he thought "the best guitarist in the world" was. After politely letting the interviewer know that there was no such person (He gracefully avoided telling the interviewer that's the dumbest question guitarists get asked), he then singled out Brian May as someone who he really liked. He went on for a minute or two really praising him.

Also heard Jeff Beck single him out as well being someone who he really respected. Jeff's a bit of an egomaniac and doesn't often praise other guitarists. So, any praise is high praise indeed.

So yeah, Brian May is real, real good.

[Voidwar]

Brian May has been referred to as a virtuoso guitarist by many publications.[20][21][22][23] He has used a range of guitars, most often the "Red Special", which he designed when he was only 16 years old.[24] It was built with wood from an 18th century fireplace. His comments on this instrument, from Queen In Their Own Words (ed. Mick St. Michael, Omnibus Press, 1992, p. 62) are:

I like a big neck – thick, flat and wide. I lacquered the fingerboard with Rustin's Plastic Coating. The tremolo is interesting in that the arm's made from an old bicycle saddle bag carrier, the knob at the end's off a knitting needle and the springs are valve springs from an old motorbike.
—Brian May

During the time in which Brian May and his father were building the Red Special, May also produced plans to build a second guitar. However, so successful was the Red Special, that May simply had no need to build another guitar. These plans were eventually given to guitar luthier Andrew Guyton in around 2004/05, some slight modifications were made and the guitar was built. It was named "The Spade", as the shape of the body resembled the form shown on playing cards. However the guitar also came to be known as "The Guitar That Time Forgot". As yet, this guitar has not been used in any recordings and remains in May's possession.

[Bonk]

Wow, cool! No wonder it has that Queen sound. (Poor/cyclic description I know, but I think you'll know what I mean) It was made with love.

I also find that Carlos Santana, Walter Becker and Slash have a similarly unique sound commensurate with their virtuosity. Those are the names that really stand out to me (topped by May) There is another in this class that I'm forgetting though.

David Gilmour, Eddie Van Halen and Joe Satriani too perhaps, but not so much, their sounds are more generic.

Wait a minute, that observation looks like I just might like tube preamps more than solid state...?

I had this instantaneous moment of understanding with a coworker one day back in 99 or 2000 when the new Santana album came out. It took about 250ms into the first note and we looked at each other and reached for the volume. That's the kind of distinct sound I'm talking about. We both knew immediately who it was in less than a second even though we'd never heard the song. There is something about overdriven tube preamp sound that I just can't let go of. 

[Capt. Mike]

Hey Bonk, here's a little thing I got from Gibson

  http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/gibson-tone-tips-40-1230/Default.aspx   


Mike (builder of his own tube amp as a teenager)..my dad worked for Wurlitzer in NY, and would bring home the parts, and I still have the original schematics for the juke box amplifier..worked great..but it got sold when I joined the USAF..wish I still had it, only 250 watts    

Mike

[Voidwar]

I also find that Carlos Santana, Walter Becker and Slash have a similarly unique sound commensurate with their virtuosity. Those are the names that really stand out to me (topped by May) There is another in this class that I'm forgetting though.

May or may not like his stuff, but Zakk Wylde definitely has the distinctiveness you are describing.

[Bonk]

May or May not? (sorry)

Um oh yeah, my thought on that is Randy Rhodes. I'd put them in the same class, there are a few more of that school/generation too, but those are the two big ones, Zakk and Randy.

Mike, yeah I've looked at tube vs solid state clipping on the scope at school. (still relevant in chemistry - and in audio for that matter really for the discerning ear) Cool article though, I like the barbecue sauce description. (a la Walter Becker)

A 250 watt Wurlitzer jukebox? You sold it?    (granted, lugging that thing around would be a bitch)

P.S. the best warm tube simulation in solid state I've heard was the old Zoom 9000 "walkman-style" effects processor. I'd love to have one of those, a pair of sennheisers or bose earphones and a gibson les paul - I would play until my blood merged with the devices and we become one... ah... Crap, I can almost afford that now! Bad thoughts.... those are toys for retirement. (you bastard! )

[Capt. Mike]

I didn't sell the amp, my parents did while I was in the Phillipines...I have forgiven them, they were going through a divorce at the time, and were getting rid of stuff...

Now..a picture of some of my stuff    

There are advantages to having a military retirement pay for the house payment, and a really good metrologist job calibrating test equipment (and being one of 15 peeps in the USAF that do fiber optics)

Mike

[Bonk]

What make is that electric on the right in the back? (with the stripes - it looks like an old Norman-pre-Godin) And what make is the classical in the back leftish? I'd love to have a Takamine classic.

[Corbomite]

I also find that Carlos Santana, Walter Becker and Slash have a similarly unique sound commensurate with their virtuosity. Those are the names that really stand out to me (topped by May) There is another in this class that I'm forgetting though.

Alex Lifeson

[Capt. Mike]

What make is that electric on the right in the back? (with the stripes - it looks like an old Norman-pre-Godin) And what make is the classical in the back leftish? I'd love to have a Takamine classic.

The electric in the back is a body and neck I bought from Antonio Tsai off of Ebay (he lives in Taiwan)..I have to put the electronics (I have the humbuckers) and the bridge/saddle and cut a nut for it..one of those winter projects I haven't gotten to

The classical is an Eko Concerto (Itallin), but I'm assuming you mean the cutaway, If it's the one in front of the rack, it too is an Eko, but a Ranger 6.

I have a fondness for Eko's, since my first 12 string was an Eko J56...

Now, if you want to slobber over classic foreign guitars, go here..I do  http://www.fetishguitars.com/   

Mike

[stoneyface]

i agree. i saw brian may open for g-n-r way back in the day. was mid 90's as i recall. and that dude can play! (oh and sing a bit too)

i would also add that freddie mercury and queen as a whole, were very "trek", they believed in a bright better future.