Was 'The Invisible Man' the only time Brian ever..

AB-88 wrote:

The Invisible Man - Guitar Solo (See Attachment)

Thanks for that, its great but it isnt the full solo. After the vocal comes back in the solo continues, its very low down in the mix so you have to have your listening ears on!

The Real Wizard wrote:

mooghead wrote:

BM solo's got boring in about 1974 because he only ever played the same thing...

People keep saying that, but is there any evidence to reasonably back it up ?

Compare Earls Court 77 to Milton Keynes 82. The only thing that is same is the analog delay. Musically there is absolutely no overlap at all.

1977 (@ 49:00) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRjorhmxeQE
1982 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DbQQFHDy6A

There are certain elements that remained the same over the years, but many of them grew melodically and rhythmically while others were dropped. His solo spots were a very organic place for experiment and growth.

He brought in the harmonizer by 86, and by 93 he found many new avenues with it. Even last year he was incorporating new things into his solo.

If you want to find someone who keeps playing the same solos year after year, just watch any Carlos Santana video. He has a smoking band and all, but he's been playing the same licks since Woodstock. But that tone is ever so sweet, so all is forgiven.

They are different but they sound the same, the whole single echo thing never has done it for me. Perhaps I am being unfair, I just find that particular technique very unspectacular.

Everytime he plays that solo he plays it differently, and i love that.. it are the little bits. I hear some major/minor/pentatonic stuff in it, but even some seventh stuff and diminished and augmented :)

He improved the solo since 2005, drasticly.

mooghead wrote:

They are different but they sound the same, the whole single echo thing never has done it for me. Perhaps I am being unfair, I just find that particular technique very unspectacular.

Aha, so the truth comes out :-)

And you're definitely not alone. Plenty of Queen fans aren't overly fond of it. I even know some professional musicians who don't care for it, seeing only a "hey, look at this this new toy I have, and deal with it for the next five minutes."

As far as I see it, Brian was never trying to show off his technique. He was aiming to create new sounds by layering melodies and harmonies on top of one another. But since he wasn't playing at lightning speed ("faster = better" had already somehow been established by this point), most people didn't see the innovation in progress.

Got me thinking - I wonder if he was the first to use delay. Jimmy Page was using it in Dazed And Confused on stage by mid-1969, and Brian used it on Blag with Smile around the same time. Or did someone else do it earlier?

""hey, look at this this new toy I have, and deal with it for the next five minutes."


Or 30+ years!



I don't necessarily think faster=better but its amazing how low down a guitarist with Brian's success comes in best guitar player polls. Not that I place any importance on them at all.

I like his solos with the delays.

On a related point, is Tie Your Mother Down the only time Brian played with a slide? Because of its familiarity it is one if those songs that tends to get overlooked in analysis, but to me us one of his most 'un-Brian' like solos.

Nah, Brian used the slide on a few other songs:

Drowse
I Go Crazy
Radio Ga Ga

There may be more than that, but that's all I can think of right now.

I believe some noises at the beginning of Death on Two Legs are also played with the slide.


I'm Going Slightly Mad too.

You dont fool me is one of Brians best solos!

jazzy mercurois wrote:

I believe some noises at the beginning of Death on Two Legs are also played with the slide.

You would be correct, sir.

I thought Roger played the guitars on Drowse.

Roger played electric rhythm, Brian played acoustic rhythm and electric slide.

The Real Wizard wrote:

As far as I see it, Brian was never trying to show off his technique. He was aiming to create new sounds by layering melodies and harmonies on top of one another.

Exactelly!
And that´s why Yngwie MAlmsteen loves Brian and Queen. Because of the harmonies.

Here´s a clip of Malmsteen playing to achieve a "similar" effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_FxSG5yMSg


This is exactelly what Brian is doing using a different technique. Creatig harmonies. A great example for me is his Wembley solo. It´s perfect and the last 3 minutes are pure genius.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTWXj448G88

Guys like Malmsteen, Satriani and Steve Vai love Brian because of this. Satriani knows how difficult it is to control feedback on stage.
To be able to think of this and to incorporate it on stage -LIVE- is a milestone in electric guitar. Brian is a genius, and sometimes you need to be an electric guitarplayer to fully understand his genius and what he´s achieving with the sound. That´s why guys like Malmsteen, Satch and Vai all respect Brian. Because they know. They know the amount of thinking that went on until Brian was able to present and play this new technique live. They know the balls it takes to do so, in front of an audience.

We only hear the 10 minutes of solo, but they know what it took to create those 10 minutes of pure bliss.

Here is Brian at the Olympics 2012. He was superb! Great sound, tone, full control of the whamy bar vibrato with wonderfull bends, and perfect timing. All this "alone" in front of the world. It doesn´t get any better than this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzoyDILKlhY

AB-88 wrote:

The Invisible Man - Guitar Solo (See Attachment)

How on earth did you get the guitar solo isolated like that? There are no stems or multitrack for The Invisible Man that I know of, and I don't see how you could do it using the 5.1 version or using any software, as it's so clean. Would be very interested to know.

Incidentally, in the extended version of Scandal there's a bit of extra guitar that, for me, is the closest Brian's come to shredding on record.