Brian May Essay PDF

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Katie McKersie B00682338 BRIAN MAY Biography Brian May is a musician, singer and songwriter from Hampton, Middlesex, England. He is the lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Queen. Freddie Mercury worked along side May as the lead singer and Roger Taylor was the drummer. May’s success with Queen excelled in 1970 with the album “A Night at the Opera” and its single “Bohemian Rhapsody”. However, May’s relationship with Taylor first developed in the band Smile, which they had joined while in university. Once the early 1990s came, May’s band Queen hit the UK top charts and performed in some of the biggest venues around the world. A setback in their work was the death of Mercury in 1991 but May and Taylor eventually moved on, incorporating other vocalists into their performance. May also was working on some side projects while with his band Queen. For example, May contributed to Steve Hackett’s album, Feedback 86, by playing the guitar for many of his tracks. May furthered the success of his career, accepting the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2005 for his services to the music industry and for charity work. May accepted many more awards for his work and for his band Queen, representing a very successful career. In addition to rock music, May stayed focused on his science passion, and in 2006 returned to his studies in astrophysics. He then completed his thesis at Imperial College in London, England, earning his PhD. May’s intellectual abilities and musical talent set him apart from many other guitarists. Finally, he has had a keen passion for movies and 3-D photography. (Wikipedia, 2018) Style of Music May’s style of music is like no other. He has multi-tracked guitar lines overdubbed on top of each other and well-constructed melodic leads. It has been said that May’s music replicated popular rock guitarists such as, Elvis Presley, Steve Hackett and Buddy Holly (Music Career, 2017). With his band, Queen, he produced progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal but the band gradually changed their style to be more radio friendly. Their more recent music incorporated pop rock in order to cater to more peoples likes. Although May’s lead style is rock, some say these songs drew from blues, metal, classical and even trad-jazz. During Queen’s later years, they became a solely studio band. One thing May is particularly good at is his scalar picking approach, as heard in his track, A Kind of Magic. Also, his track, Who Wants to Live Forever is known to be a soulful melodic sense, delivering emotive vibrato and perfect string bending. (Scapelliti, 2017)

Guitars/Other Equipment May first started playing the ukulele and piano before he received his first guitar as a gift for his seventeenth birthday. Him and his father then began to construct their own guitar, naming it the Red Special. This guitar later became a visual trademark throughout his career. He used this guitar on all of the Queen’s albums and still is using it. Throughout his career, May used a 1978 Fender Telecaster, 1950s Fender Stratocaster, Burns Double Six and a couple different Gibson’s. He also played an array of acoustic guitars such as; ovation pacemaker 1615, Guild 12-string, Martin D18 and Hairfred acoustic. However, he always ended up coming back to the Red Special. There was a replica made of the Red Special, by John Birch in 1975 and appeared in the music video, “We Will Rock You”. Although May did not like it because he claimed it did not sound like the original one, even though it had the same features and was almost identical. (Ground Guitar, 2017) Opinion I think it is really amazing that May and his father constructed their own guitar with very minimal knowledge and experience on how to do this. However, it is the physical musician that is the most important and crucial part to creating music, not the guitar. Therefore, I do give all of the credit to May rather than his guitar the Red Special. However, many people disagree on this. I think he particularly showcased his talent in his solo days, proving to everyone that he is a great guitarist on his own and with his band behind him. Although May is a great guitarist and I enjoy his music, when I think of the band Queen I tend to think of Freddie Mercury first due to his memorable stage presence. This is something that May lacks and could improve on. He tends to lay low in performances and prefers to watch the crowd rather than control them. However, I still think May is a great guitarist and has contributed greatly to the success of Queen and he deserves more recognition. (Music Career, 2017)

References

Scapelliti, C. (2017, April 10). Brian May: “The Guitar Isn’t the Most Important Thing”. Retrieved April 7, 2018, from Guitar World website: https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/brian-may-guitar-isnt-most-important-thing Brian May’s Guitars and Gear. (2017). Retrieved April 7, 2018, from Ground Guitar website: https://www.groundguitar.com/brian-may-guitars-and-gear/ Guitar, T. (2016, March 11). How to play guitar like Brian May. Retrieved April 7, 2018, from Music Radar website: https://www.musicradar.com/tuition/guitars/how-toplay-guitar-like-brian-may-635709 Brian May. (2018). Retrieved April 7, 2018, from Wikipedia website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May...