The Different Sounds of Brian May’s Red Special
Probably the most famous home made guitar of all time, and it adorned all the hits of one of the greatest rock bands of all time
Brian May’s Red Special
A mythic guitar that you can tell immediately from it’s tactile purring and whining, it exudes far more character then most hard rock guitarists of the day.
In many ways, Brian May was the epitome of the great 70s guitar heroes; he had the sweet lilting tone of George Harrison, the gliding distortion of David Gilmour, the proto-speed metal playing of Ritchie Blackmore and displayed the finest expression of Jimmy Page’s ‘guitar army’ concept with his heavy use of the treble booster and layers of overdubs.
The many tonal qualities of the Special enabled him to play a variety of styles of music; shape-shifting to fit the dynamic of each song. The animated shrieks, whines and drawls echo and back up similar trills and wails of front man Freddie Mercury’s equally tangible voice.
Here is a rundown of the sounds I’ve identified throughout his Queen’s legendary 1970s run;
1. Creamy, saturated sustain tone
This bouncy, elastic tone pops up everywhere: its almost his default sound. It practically screams out of his treble booster with minimal volume due to the Vox AC30 amplifier. The best example is the nasally multi-tracked solo in Killer Queen, where the different tracks diverge at times for strong harmonies and interesting dissonance
2. Sudsy sweet chord slides
One of my favourite sounds that comes out of the Red Special are the sliding figures, where May wrenches the guitar neck for maximum sustain and sweetness in tone. The texture of this sound is soapy and wringed out, as well as carrying a saccharine romantic lilt to it. The most memorable usage of this sound was at the end of Bohemian Rhapsody, where it provides the musical bed for the bittersweet realisation that “nothing really matters”: a line delivered by Freddie Mercury with breathy exhaustion, matching the weariness of the faint multi-tracked chord slide.
3. Warm flute tone
This is a fairly common tone in Brian May’s arsenal; it is a clear, juicy, lightsabre tone that drips and slips all over several tracks whilst piercing through with the attack of a piccolo flute. Midway through Love of my Life you hear this sound, as May’s Red Special prances back and forth in fanciful pied piper like doodles.
It’s spritely and fluttering like a woodwind instrument, fitting in with the jazz band mimicry of Good Company; where it spouts and dallies around the skiffle rhythms.
4. Muscular meaty torque slides
Another feature of May’s playing on the Red Special would be his ability to wrangle out the most tactile squeaks and scratches from his creation in direct contrast to the inflated, puffed up distortion. The thick gauged strings, along with his unusual choice of plectrum (an old British sixpence) and the unique dimensions and materials of the guitar itself, all allow May to achieve a equal balance of smooth distortion whilst simultaneously producing sharp guitar zaps.
The best example of this is the triple tracked slide guitar solo at the end of Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon where May squeezes out a zingy little solo, dragging the strings in a meaty legato slide right at the tail end of the track
Other experiments;
. Misfire kicks off with an array of sweet, multi-tracked slide guitars that sound like a hyped up Hawaiian lap steel
. In 39, May lays down three guitar tracks, all an octave apart to create a majestic three part harmony line that cascades gloriously like a triumphant trumpet chorus
. All Dead, All Dead features walls of spongy fuzz guitars that converge on a beaming lead guitar. The sandwiched, multi-tracked fuzz guitars resemble a Moog or even a church organ in it’s polyphonic grandeur
. Seaside Rendezvous features May’s tripled guitars strolling in a sultry, elegant drawl like a big band clarinet line
. In the intro of Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together), slowed down multitracked bass notes of the guitar are used to mimic the brooding cellos of a Wagnerian string section
