The three greatest guitar solos of all time, according to Brian May
Guitar solos: pointless waffling that only incels enjoy or the epitome of rock ‘n’ roll that can make you grow your hair and quit your job? Well, it’s hard not to hear Brian May ripping it up like the Hulk with a bailiff’s letter on ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and not think that the latter prevails.
The magic of May’s output with Queen is that he reconciles both sides of that argument, and his solos are so much better as a result. “As a guitarist, you can go so far, but I have never thought that the guitar is the most important thing on most records,” he explains, “it’s the singer and the song that is important.”
Nevertheless, his “last minute” spontaneous embellishments bring these songs to life like Dr Frankenstein enhancing an already animate human. He lyrically builds on the melody that is already there, explaining to Guitar World, “My advice for anyone writing a solo would be to sing it in your head.”
With this mindset, May has crafted guitar solos that the masses are able to sing back, in turn. In fact, I’ve been hearing the searing solo on ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ in my head ever since I mentioned it a few minutes ago. Perhaps you’re hearing it now, too.
But from where does May draw his inspiration for this spontaneous approach? Which solos does he see as capturing the spirit of what shredding is all about? Well, over the years, he has heaped praise on three particularly lauded offerings from the annals of rock ‘n’ roll, and we’ve compiled these comments below. Head bang responsibly – we will not be held liable for any whiplash claims.
The three greatest guitar solos of all time, according to Brian May:
‘Key to Love’ – John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers (performed by Eric Clapton)
Eric Clapton is god… or so said thousands of blues devotees in London when he first broke onto the scene as Britain’s first great guitar luminary in the 1960s. With his vocal-like phrasing, vibrato control, and melodic economy, he might be heavily rooted in the blues, but when you hear him play it, you know it’s him.
His style might be rather different from May’s, but the noodle-haired rocker still appreciates his output, explaining that this 1966 gem, performed as part of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, is a searing classic. “It’s the hottest, burning, high-passion piece I’ve ever heard in my life,” he told Classic Rock. “It’s Eric Clapton, ‘Key To Love’, from John Mayall’s Blues Breakers [with Eric Clapton] album.“
He added, “It’s the hottest, burning, high-passion piece I’ve ever heard in my life – still to this day. I just love it. It totally rips, and I’ll never get over that. That’s one of my great inspirations.“ For May, the epoch lies in the way the composition is arranged to imbue the solo with the quality of a rainstorm after a stuffy day. “He burned in that solo! The whole track revolves around that solo. Every time I put it on, I’m just waiting… John Mayall’s great, but you’re waiting for that moment when Eric rips out and suddenly he’s whacking into those top notes. It’s incredible. Absolutely spine-chilling,“ he proclaims.
‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ – Jeff Beck (performed by Jeff Beck)
With the whammy bar often at the ready, Jeff Beck proved himself to be the master of expression. As Ronnie Wood would remark, his late friend never ran out enthusiasm to uncover new tricks on the guitar and this made him both a purist and a perfect innovator. That rare mix always enamoured May who similarly favoured fusion.
Speaking about his 1967 classic that ran as his debut solo single, May remarked, “The ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ solo from Jeff Beck… to me he is a sort of unattainable perfection. He’s in a class of his own.” As he was coming through, the way in which the solo operated like a singer was divine inspiration for May.
As he told Total Guitar, ”I was inspired by things like that and I wanted my guitar to have that voice. I wanted it to have the smooth tones of a singer, but also the ‘consonants’, sort of the definition which gives you the words when you’re singing.” Simply put, it doesn’t get any better than ‘perfect’ does it?
‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ – Rainbow (performed by Ritchie Blackmore)
They may well go to the same barbers, but that’s not the only reason the Queen guitarist adores Ritchie Blackmore. He was both song-serving and virtuosic, like May, playing very much on instinct. As Blackmore put it himself in an apt description of their shared expressionist philosophy, ”Jimi Hendrix used to play lots of wrong notes, because he was searching all the time, ‘where the hell is that correct note’. When he did find that right note… wow, that was incredible, but if you are always playing the correct notes, there is something wrong, you’re not searching, you’re not reaching for anything.”
A sense of searching (and finding) is write large over the 1979 classic from Rainbow’s album Down To Earth, ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’. May hailed it as another defining masterpiece, saying, “It’s uncompromising and it has the perfect element of pop, which is you can sing it and it’s in your head all day.“
He added, “It’s passionate, it has a real tug on your emotions. But Ritchie’s in it, and Ritchie is powering the whole thing. The under solo is just brilliant. They did the immortal version of it.”
