Brian and Steve Howe on Innuendo

Brian just hasn't really been a guy to work on his chops. He even admitted it in guitar magazines in the 90s, saying he prefers to focus on creativity instead of technical exercises. You really can't argue with a guy who has sold a couple hundred million records on that point.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that if you change a single variable, something else switches off.

There are literally a million guitar players in this world with better chops than Brian. But you can bet your life that 99.99% of them sure don't has his skills in composition and arrangement, nor his relevance, accessibility or longevity. I'd say he made the right choice.

As for the original point - Brian is bang on about Steve Howe being the better player. He could've spent the time to get his chops up to snuff to play the smooth chromatic run, but it was just easier to hire Steve Howe who could already do it.

^^ Great post!

To put it another way, if he had worked on his 'chops' more, he wouldn't be exactly the same Brian May.....and how many of those million guitar players with better technique have written as many great songs as Brian?

One of my favorite guitar players is Neil Young....probably a million guys that could 'out-shred' him as well! But definitely a guy who played with passion and soul.....(listen to the 'one-note guitar solo' in Cinnamon Girl...lol) And hugely influential, at that.....


Btw, one thing I just love that Brian does, that I dont really hear a lot of other players do.........that sorta fast low-string riffing he does in solos and the like.......a bit in TYMD, and in I Want It All, Princes Of The Universe, and probably a few other songs I am not thinking of at the moment....relatively a simple thing, but it just kicks ass! Or do more guitar players do that than I am aware of? lol

Thanks for all the comments guys....I didn't know there were that many details to consider but like I said I'm not a guitar player. I was fanatic with my comment (gretatest of them all..) but he is my favourite guitarist after all. There's no other band or musician that I follow or listen regularly / continously except Queen. (Don't mean I did not want to or tried to). They may not be the best or hardest to play but I love Brian's guitar sound and his solos on Queen songs.

The 2 most fascinating sounds I have ever heard in my life have always been:

1- Freddie's voice
2- Brian's guitar solos

and no fact will change that....

[QUOTE] [b]TheAdmiester wrote:[/b]

Isn't that part mimicked by the electric guitar for the solo? Surely that's already being able to play it?[/QUOTE]

But he's just mimicking the easy bit (the diatonic scale fragments), which, as I wrote earlier, he also recorded on classical guitar. What Steve did (and that's not included in the re-exposition of the solo) was the chromatic run and the ornaments that connect the second iteration with the third and continue thereafter.

Maybe Steve Howe was just passing through and one thing led to another...

Simplest theory of all. :-)

[QUOTE] [b]ludwigs wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]ili wrote:[/b]

Regarding the spanish guitar part in the middle section played by Steve Howe, I read somewhere that Brian asked him to play because he admitted that he wasn't able to...

I'm not a guitar player but I have been listening and watching Brian for the last 25 years, Without debate he is one of the greatest guitarists in the world; if not the greatest of them all. Personally I don't think there's any melody/ tune / music that Brian cannot play on any kind of guitar if he wants to.

Why do you think he made such a statement that he could not play what Steve was able to? Was he just being humble or really telling the truth? I'd like to get opinions from you especially if you're a guitar player.[/QUOTE]

I'd have to disagree with your, " Without debate he is one of the greatest guitarists in the world; if not the greatest of them all. Personally I don't think there's any melody/ tune / music that Brian cannot play on any kind of guitar if he wants to".

I don't believe he can play lot's of things and also styles.
Totally agree that he is one of the most gifted re: ideas, composition etc but fairly average as a player. (I'm not to put him down as he is my favourite guitarist too - I'm just being realistic.) Greatest of them all?? Definitely not!!

I've studied his style for over 30 years both practically and theoretically and have also spent many years studying other players, so feel I can make a valid opinion/grasp on his limitations as a guitarist. Excellent composition skills but lousy 'live' player on the whole - lacking in any improv skills.

Could he play some of the classical repertoire? He himself stated a few years ago, during the opening talks to one of the Proms concerts, that he didn't have the ability to pull those off. 'Sting' tries but isn't particularly good at it.

Flamenco - not at all!
Jazz? Hmm, again his skills are limited - both chord work and also scalar sequences/modes.
Rock - Totally!!! Even the 'spin-off' genres.
Latin - 'Who Needs You'. Brilliant licks and ideas/feel.

My favourite guitarist, as I said but...not the greatest by a long, long way. (not versatile enough either)
[/QUOTE]

While I think saying someone is the “best” is juvenile, just because he isn’t the most technical guitar player doesn’t mean he couldn’t be one of the best guitar players ever. He can’t play at a million miles an hour and pull off every note....but going on that criteria, someone like Mozart would be the best piano player ever...but what does that matter, more people listen to John Lennon or Elton John and in general their music is easier to listen to. I’d prefer to listen to a slow uncomplicated piece than someone hitting 100 notes a second or doing some complicated runs (the run in bohemian rhapsody solo sounds pretty good to me).

Brian May’s has his own approach to the guitar and the best thing about him is he always produces a kick ass sound with fantastic licks – even a song like hang on in there has some interesting licks. The Queen catalogue is littered with these types of licks and runs, they don’t need to be complicated, it’s the way they’re pulled off that is the skill. And also what a skill he has in orchestration. Even Roy Thomas Baker said he was incredible at building up guitar harmonies and at speed! I’d take listening to Brian May any day for the types of licks he creates. Maybe he is the best.

[QUOTE] [b]una999 wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]ludwigs wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]ili wrote:[/b]

Regarding the spanish guitar part in the middle section played by Steve Howe, I read somewhere that Brian asked him to play because he admitted that he wasn't able to...

I'm not a guitar player but I have been listening and watching Brian for the last 25 years, Without debate he is one of the greatest guitarists in the world; if not the greatest of them all. Personally I don't think there's any melody/ tune / music that Brian cannot play on any kind of guitar if he wants to.

Why do you think he made such a statement that he could not play what Steve was able to? Was he just being humble or really telling the truth? I'd like to get opinions from you especially if you're a guitar player.[/QUOTE]

I'd have to disagree with your, " Without debate he is one of the greatest guitarists in the world; if not the greatest of them all. Personally I don't think there's any melody/ tune / music that Brian cannot play on any kind of guitar if he wants to".

I don't believe he can play lot's of things and also styles.
Totally agree that he is one of the most gifted re: ideas, composition etc but fairly average as a player. (I'm not to put him down as he is my favourite guitarist too - I'm just being realistic.) Greatest of them all?? Definitely not!!

I've studied his style for over 30 years both practically and theoretically and have also spent many years studying other players, so feel I can make a valid opinion/grasp on his limitations as a guitarist. Excellent composition skills but lousy 'live' player on the whole - lacking in any improv skills.

Could he play some of the classical repertoire? He himself stated a few years ago, during the opening talks to one of the Proms concerts, that he didn't have the ability to pull those off. 'Sting' tries but isn't particularly good at it.

Flamenco - not at all!
Jazz? Hmm, again his skills are limited - both chord work and also scalar sequences/modes.
Rock - Totally!!! Even the 'spin-off' genres.
Latin - 'Who Needs You'. Brilliant licks and ideas/feel.

My favourite guitarist, as I said but...not the greatest by a long, long way. (not versatile enough either)
[/QUOTE]

While I think saying someone is the “best” is juvenile, just because he isn’t the most technical guitar player doesn’t mean he couldn’t be one of the best guitar players ever. He can’t play at a million miles an hour and pull off every note....but going on that criteria, someone like Mozart would be the best piano player ever...but what does that matter, more people listen to John Lennon or Elton John and in general their music is easier to listen to. I’d prefer to listen to a slow uncomplicated piece than someone hitting 100 notes a second or doing some complicated runs (the run in bohemian rhapsody solo sounds pretty good to me).

Brian May’s has his own approach to the guitar and the best thing about him is he always produces a kick ass sound with fantastic licks – even a song like hang on in there has some interesting licks. The Queen catalogue is littered with these types of licks and runs, they don’t need to be complicated, it’s the way they’re pulled off that is the skill. And also what a skill he has in orchestration. Even Roy Thomas Baker said he was incredible at building up guitar harmonies and at speed! I’d take listening to Brian May any day for the types of licks he creates. Maybe he is the best. [/QUOTE]

Totally agree!!!
Guitar wanking does nothing for me. I have stated BM is my favourite player - he isn't fast but I'm more into the structure, feel and compositional skills/ideas of a player - and his sound, just does it for me.
His work (and Queens) is the vast majority of my transcribing and replication work
Yes, I've worked the Rush, Rhoads, Sabbath, Vai catalogue BUT it's BM's work that I spend literally months working out pieces.

Aside from all of that, he and Roger make a hell of a racket together, which can only be a good thing.

Liszt was way faster than Mozart.

[QUOTE] [b]Oscar J wrote:[/b]

Liszt was way faster than Mozart.[/QUOTE]

And a dragster is faster than an E-type jag but.....

Which holds more of an emotive preference?

Actually more people listen to Mozart than John Lennon or Elton John, and not just because his music has been around for longer, but you're right more people are, today, into pop music. More people alive today probably know Justin Bieber and Miley Cirus than John Lennon.....

Rachmaninoff and Horowitz were probably the greatest pianists we have recorded, in any genre, and Art Tatum too.

The question as to why Brian chose to invite someone else to play a particular passage on a particular song is probably simply that he admired the playing of Steve Howe, and wanted him to play that particular passage. It's probably that simple. Brian could have probably played it, or even used editing to make it work (like the harp on A night at the opera).

I agree that Brian is one of the greatest minds in rock music arranging. I'll bet he helped Freddie with some of the complex vocal arrangements on some songs, and I think he probably has some of the best ears in the business. However, there is a certain wooden-ness in his playing live, you know, like he's a little bit scared to do something wrong (and then does it wrong anyway), but it's not like he screws up ALL the time. He isn't a Hendrix, but then he's not that kind of musician. Brian seems to thrive in the studio, and I know he says he loves live playing and have the direct contact with the audience, but it seems that there is a little bit of a fear factor comes into play. Maybe not fear, but just a bit of tension in his technique perhaps. Like his singing too - it's good. His voice is good, great range, but there are few times when he really (and I mean REALLY) lets go and lets it flow.

I still think he's awesome though, and untouchable, and he is a founder member of one of the greatest (in terms of the whole thing - the look, the sound, the marketing, the scale of the thing) groups in rock music.

I still think 'LOUSY' live player is too harsh a statement. He deoes make mistakes I agree, as I said he isn't the best guitar player in the universe, as Brian has stated himself. And no I don't play, I'm just an appreciator of music, not a perfectionist either. I just like sitting back, enjoy listening to good music (of many kinds), not analysing,not picking things to pieces, not breaking things down (I leave that to the talented people/musicians amongst us). Oh and I think I better add that my name isn't Annie, it's Stu lol. I better change my Username!

@ Ludwigs....great post(s)...

[QUOTE] [b]ludwigs wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]Oscar J wrote:[/b]

Liszt was way faster than Mozart.[/QUOTE]

And a dragster is faster than an E-type jag but.....

Which holds more of an emotive preference?[/QUOTE]

I didn't mean anything by that, was just referring to una999's comment, which seemed to suggest that Mozart was the most technically accomplished pianist ever.

Wait, are you comparing Liszt to a dragster? :-)

[QUOTE] [b]miraclesteinway wrote:[/b]

The question as to why Brian chose to invite someone else to play a particular passage on a particular song is probably simply that he admired the playing of Steve Howe, and wanted him to play that particular passage.[/QUOTE]

According to what the late David Richards said, it was Freddie who invited him, not Brian. Now, it's not like Freddie said 'hey, we need Steve for this, let's fly him from wherever he is,' it's, as someone else already said, a simple coincidence: they'd been working on the song (and, judging by what Steve commented later on, they'd already recorded Brian's bits, which are 90% of the classical work and 100% of the rock work on that piece), Steve dropped by to say hello to them as he'd been doing a session nearby, and then they (Fred, Bri, whoever) asked him to add some chromatic runs and put the icing on the cake and that was it.