How Brian May Got THAT Tone on Bohemian Rhapsody | Friday Fretworks
An analysis of Brian May’s guitar tone on Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
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Key points:
0:00 Intro
0:08 JAM!
0:36 The REAL reason nobody sounds like Brian May?
1:33 The Red Special
2:58 The guitar’s wiring
4:13 Brian’s string gauge
5:03 Sixpence
6:27 Treble Booster
7:41 AC30s
8:55 The Deacy Amp
10:39 Recreating the tone
12:01 My recreation
12:28 Comparison between mine and the original
13:02 Conclusion
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#Brian #Tone #Bohemian #Rhapsody #Friday #Fretworks
Originally posted by UCRcsFKc_8Sjz1chAwC9jWRw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYR1Srj-Wko
His Father was or had something to do with science and Electronics loved music and how Like British musicians are tougt all instruments and singing styles and can play just about every instrument known to man Americans either you have it or you don't cause you have to have good grades to be in music class or to play for the school band even choirs!????????????????
Yeah his Dads a G. Respect.
Ah Brian, genuine renaissance man, highly intelligent and well read. Hell of a fkn guitarist too.
3:54 the best moment in his life for that guy interviewing Brian
I have to be honest, I think you could literally study him and use his exact gear and the best that’s possible is pretty damn good. I watched The Queen Extravaganza do Prophet song, and I think that’s going to be as close as you get. I use a single BlackStar HT 20 with a KAT Treble Booster, the specific TC Electronics Chorus pedal, a reverb and delay pedal. I sound as close as anyone I’ve heard lol. Mod tone are the specific reverb and delay pedals. They aren’t made anymore but they are my go to lol.
One note, and you instantly recognize who it is. Legendary musicians do that.
Killer Queens solo didn't sound so bad either ????
You look like George Harrison you should do a tribute band!
Your tone was really close – just need a different cab IR that has that boxy wooly sound
I have been obsessed with this solo since I was 5 and when the song came out. To me, it sounds so scooped of natural tone that on it's own, it's like he is using a cheap 50 quid amp in a phone box but put in the mix, it has ethereal magic!
you got really close. Like you said nobody can perfectly get there, especially considering all the factors you talked about. I've always loved that tone, but now that I fully appreciate all the unique factors, I can say that sound is truly out of this world. The screechy out of phase tonality he gets is unreal. Definitely one of the best lead tones I've ever heard easily.
What an impressive young guitarist! The theory behind all this talent is complex indeed! My generation is privileged to have been brought up with such a talented band. One of the world’s best. It’s good that there’s a younger generation with the ability to reproduce such sublime music
F… THERE ARE OTHER MORE POWWERFUL QUEEN SONGS…………………. ESPECIALLY YERAS 1984-1991, RADIO GAGA, HAMMER TO FALL, SCANDAL, THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES, RIDE THE WILD WIND…
I think the only thing missing on your version is a little bump in the eq. Yours has a little bit more high mids, the original has a little bit more of a mellowness to it, maybe a bit more fat. It sounds like it was done after the recording itself, with an outboard EQ or the desk.
You managed to sound more like Brian May than Brian May
any tips on getting vibrato like brian may?
spot on !!! Good job 🙂
a lot of the bohemian Rhapsody sound was the two burns pickups out of phase
,the fretboard looks very burns guitar to me as well ,after decimalisation
the sixpenny bit was worth two and a half pence which used to buy me a bag of chips
in the late 70s which allowed me to buy a SG and a dod250 in the 80s i had it too easy.
At 9:49, the Deacy amp was credited as being used in the outro section of Bohemian Rhapsody, and yet at 10:19 it was stated that the Deacy wasn't actually used, with Brian himself quoted claiming that the solo was done with the AC30 & a treble booster.
However, I believe the 2nd statement is misleading, as Brian was likely referring only to the main solo tone (which was replicated in this video), and not that of the outro.
Can you please clarify this?
Brian credits Rory Gallagher for his genorisity in talking to him after gigs when Brian was young. I assume Brian was obviously the real deal.
Not guitar but Dr. Brian Cox, UK astrophysicist, played keyboards with D:Ream, who had UK hits like Things Can only get Better.
when you played the solo, it sounded like reggae ????????
Great video but wrong sixpence. Brian May uses a 1947 sixpence because 1) it was the year he was born and 2) the ones made before 1950 have a different metal content, more nickel and are softer. Sixpences also have a serrated edge which can be used to get a different effect. ???? He must have jars and jars of them because after they went out of circulation, fans would collect 1947 sixpences for him. Anyone who needs to use 3 different guitars when playing A Crazy Little Thing Called Love live is fanatical about detail.
An American guitarist called Brian May a singer in disguise…that's why i started playing
As far as the light gauge strings go, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame, tells a story about using very heavy gauge strings until at 22 years old, backstage at an early ZZ Top appearance at a Blues festival, when BB King who was playing the same show, asked if he could play Billy's guitar. Billy said yes, but when BB got hold of the ZZ Top guitar, he strummed it a few times, handed it back with a confused look and asked him why the strings were so heavy. (I think Gibbons said he was using .011 or .012s at that time) He asked if that wasn't how you got that heavy Blues sound, to which BB asked him, "Why you workin' so hard?" He started playing .007s ever since. I heard that story in high school but could only find .009s. I think I would break anything lighter.
My Peavy Vypr has a setting that is supposed to be a "classic" Vox type emulation (not sure which amp they based it on) that I've been using with my Red Special and it sounded great, but, not exactly spot on. I recently picked up a Rush Pepbox that is made by the same company that the guy that made the first British fuzz pedal made back in the day (Pepe Rush) but I haven't tried it with the Brian May guitar yet. I know the Barcelona based company Aclam have 2 Beatles themed Pedals out now using the circuitry used in the ultra rare Vox UL730. I bought the Mocker, but probably should have gotten the Dr. Roberts as the Mocker's distortion/fuzz (that came standard on the UL730) is always on and the Robert's has a gain knob that presumably you can turn down to just breaking up and get that warm Vox amp sound that I hope is closer to Brian's sound. I am working on getting the correct power conversion plugs for the UK as my amps are rated for American power, not the higher voltage UK electrical rating or I'd have tried it already.