Editing Brian May (section)

===Guitar style===
[[File:Koeln1998 Brian May.jpg|thumb|right|upright|May [[tapping]]]]
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 | quote  = I can listen to any player and pantomime their sound, but I can't do Brian May. He's just walking on higher ground.
 | source =&nbsp;—[[Steve Vai]]<ref>{{cite magazine | url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-153675/brian-may-2-154589/ | title= 100 Greatest Guitarists | magazine= Rolling Stone | date= 18 December 2015 | access-date= 19 April 2019 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190322144636/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-153675/brian-may-2-154589/ | archive-date= 22 March 2019 | url-status= live }}</ref>
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{{Quote box
 | quote  = His tone immediately grabbed me. Brian has his own style and sound, so you can always tell his work. Even in 1971 he had incredible finesse, amazing fluidity.
 | source =&nbsp;—[[Andy Powell]], [[Wishbone Ash]]<ref name="Jackson2011"/>
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May has been referred to as a virtuoso guitarist by many publications and musicians.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2007 |title=Queen |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharpe-Young |first=Garry |title=Brian May |publisher=[[RockDetector]] |url=http://www.rockdetector.com/person/may/brian+harold |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904041346/http://www.rockdetector.com/person/may/brian+harold |archive-date=4 September 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Coleman |first=Mark |date=9 October 1986 |title=''A Kind of Magic'' |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |issue=484 |url=http://rollingstone.com/artists/queen/albums/album/210159/review/5946266/a_kind_of_magic |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001090826/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/queen/albums/album/210159/review/5946266/a_kind_of_magic |archive-date=1 October 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Donaghy |first=James |date=17 February 2007 |title=Not another axe to grind |periodical=[[The Guardian]] |url=http://guardian.co.uk/theguide/music/story/0,,2013600,00.html |location=London |access-date=26 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304213650/http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/music/story/0%2C%2C2013600%2C00.html |archive-date=4 March 2007 }}</ref><ref name="Sutcliffe">{{cite book |last1=Sutcliffe |first1=Phil |title=Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock |date=2009 |publisher=[[Voyageur Press]] |isbn=978-0760337196 |page=164}}</ref> He has featured in various music polls of the greatest rock guitarists, and in 2011 was ranked number 26 on ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's list of the "[[Rolling Stone's 100 greatest guitarists of all time|100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time]]".<ref name="Rolling Stone"/> In January 2007, the readers of ''[[Guitar World]]'' voted May's guitar solos on "[[Bohemian Rhapsody]]" and "[[Brighton Rock (song)#Brighton Rock|Brighton Rock]]" into the "top 50 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time" (No.20 and No.41 respectively).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guitarworld.com/50-greatest-guitar-solos|title=50 Greatest Guitar Solos|publisher=Guitarworld.com|access-date=27 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601115757/http://www.guitarworld.com/50-greatest-guitar-solos|archive-date=1 June 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Former [[Van Halen]] vocalist [[Sammy Hagar]] stated, "I thought Queen were really innovative and made some great sounding records... I like the rockin' stuff. I think Brian May has one of the great guitar tones on the planet, and I really, really love his guitar work."<ref name="Sutcliffe"/> [[Justin Hawkins]], lead guitarist of [[the Darkness (band)|the Darkness]], cites May as his earliest influence, saying "I really loved his tone and vibrato and everything. I thought his playing sounded like a singing voice. I wanted to be able to do that. Whenever I went to guitar lessons, I was always asking to learn Queen stuff."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/26822-the-darkness-justin-and-dan-hawkins-swan-on | title=The Darkness' Justin and Dan Hawkins Swan On | work=[[Premier Guitar]] | first=Tzvi | last=Gluckin | date=15 February 2018 | access-date=26 May 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526203526/https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/26822-the-darkness-justin-and-dan-hawkins-swan-on | archive-date=26 May 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref>

American guitar virtuoso Steve Vai has spoken highly of May's work, saying:{{blockquote|In that whole genre, in that whole period—he's one of the most unique contributors. He doesn't get credit. Because what he does is so rich and so specific, and so deep, it fits so well in Queen music, you just feel it as part of that music. But when you break it down and when you look at it from a guitar player's point of view, it's unique, and nobody to this date could do what he does and make it sound like that. He is an iconic player. His tone, his choice of melody notes, he doesn't just do solos. His solos are melodies, and they're perfectly in place.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/steve_vai_brian_may_doesnt_get_enough_credit_his_solos_are_melodies__theyre_perfectly_in_place.html | title= Steve Vai: Brian May Doesn't Get Enough Credit. His Solos Are Melodies & They're Perfectly in Place | website= [[Ultimate Guitar]] | date= 24 December 2018 | access-date= 30 September 2019 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190929232015/https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/steve_vai_brian_may_doesnt_get_enough_credit_his_solos_are_melodies__theyre_perfectly_in_place.html | archive-date= 29 September 2019 | url-status= live }}</ref>}}

Most of May's electric guitar work live and in the studio is done on the [[Red Special]], which he built with his father, an electronics engineer, when he was sixteen years old.<ref name=redspecial/><ref name=Grdn2014/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/09/hey-sound-homemade-guitars|title=Hey, what's that sound: Homemade guitars|first=David|last=McNamee|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=27 September 2014|date=11 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330161424/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/09/hey-sound-homemade-guitars|archive-date=30 March 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|cPD7_hQk7hk|Brian May Interview}} The Music Biz (1992). Retrieved 19 August 2011</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/bio/C2341|title=Songwriters Hall of Fame – Brian May Biography|publisher=Songwritershalloffame.org|access-date=27 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025081039/http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/bio/C2341|archive-date=25 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="rdspecial"/> It was built with wood from an 18th-century fireplace, and was composed of household items such as mother-of-pearl buttons, shelf edging, and motorbike valve springs. While May and his father were building the Red Special, May also produced plans to build a second guitar. However, the Red Special was so successful that May did not need to build another guitar.<ref name="The Spade"/> These plans were eventually given to guitar [[luthier]] Andrew Guyton in around 2004–05. Guyton made some slight modifications and the guitar was built. It was named "The Spade" as the body's shape resembled the form shown on playing cards. The guitar also came to be known as "The Guitar That Time Forgot".<ref name="The Spade">{{cite web|url=http://www.guytonguitars.com/the-spade-guitar.html|title=The 'Spade' guitar|website=Guyton Guitars|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407053706/http://www.guytonguitars.com/the-spade-guitar.html|archive-date=7 April 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

May commented on the Red Special:

{{blockquote|I like a big neck – thick, flat and wide. I lacquered the fingerboard with Rustin's Plastic Coating. The tremolo is interesting in that the arm's made from an old bicycle saddle bag carrier, the knob from the ends of a knitting needle, and the springs are valve springs from an old motorbike.<ref>Mick St. Michael (1992). ''Queen in Their Own Words''. p.62. Omnibus Press, 1992</ref>}}

In addition to using his home-made guitar he prefers to use coins (especially [[Sixpence (British coin)|a sixpence]] from the farewell proof set of 1970), instead of a more traditional plastic [[plectrum]], because he feels their rigidity gives him more control in playing.<ref name="Jackson"/> He is known to carry coins in his pockets specifically for this purpose.<ref name="Jackson">Laura Jackson (2011). [https://books.google.com/books?id=9bMW7YFSiuoC&q=brian%20may%20sixpence&pg=PT14 "Brian May: The Definitive Biography"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314151322/https://books.google.com/books?id=9bMW7YFSiuoC&pg=PT14#v=onepage&q=brian%20may%20sixpence |date=14 March 2020 }} Hachette UK, 2011</ref>

A meticulous arranger, he focuses on multi-part harmonies, often more [[Counterpoint|contrapuntal]] than parallel—a relative rarity for rock guitar. Examples are found in Queen's albums ''A Night at the Opera'' and ''A Day at the Races'', where he arranged a jazz band for guitar mini-orchestra ("Good Company"), a vocal canon ("The Prophet's Song") and guitar and vocal counterpoints ("[[Teo Torriatte]]").

May explored a wide variety of styles in guitar, including: [[sweep picking]] ("[[Was It All Worth It]]" "Chinese Torture"); [[tremolo]] ("Brighton Rock", "[[Stone Cold Crazy]]", "[[Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)|Death on Two Legs]]", "[[Sweet Lady (Queen song)|Sweet Lady]]", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "[[Get Down Make Love]]", "[[Dragon Attack]]"); [[tapping]] ("[[Bijou (Queen song)|Bijou]]", "[[It's Late (Queen song)|It's Late]]", "[[Resurrection]]", "Cyborg", "Rain Must Fall", "Business", "China Belle", "I Was Born To Love You"); slide guitar ("Drowse", "Tie Your Mother Down"); [[Jimi Hendrix|Hendrix]] sounding licks ("[[Liar (Queen song)|Liar]]", "Brighton Rock"); tape-delay ("Brighton Rock", "White Man"); and melodic sequences ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "[[Killer Queen]]", "These Are the Days of Our Lives"). Some of his solos and orchestral parts were composed by [[Freddie Mercury]], who then asked May to bring them to life ("Bicycle Race", "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon", "Killer Queen", "[[Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy]]"). May also performed notable acoustic works, including the finger-picked solo of "White Queen" (from ''[[Queen II]]''),  "[[Love of My Life (Queen song)|Love of My Life]]" and the [[skiffle]]-influenced "'39" (both from ''A Night at the Opera'').

Aided by the uniqueness of the Red Special, May was often able to create strange and unusual sound effects. For example, he was able to imitate an orchestra in the song "[[Queen II#"Procession"|Procession]]"; in "[[Get Down, Make Love]]" he was able to create various sound effects with his guitar; in "Good Company" he used his guitar to mimic a trombone, a piccolo and several other instruments for the song's Dixieland jazz band feel. Queen used a "No synthesizers were used on this album" sleeve note on their early albums to make this clear to the listeners.<ref>Cunningham, Mark (October 1995). [http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/oct95/queen.html "The Making Of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121141500/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/oct95/queen.html |date=21 November 2008 }}. Sound on Sound. Retrieved 23 May 2012</ref> May also used his guitar to create the chime effect in "Bohemian Rhapsody".<ref name="bohrapchimes">{{YouTube|Z85YsUAU6pA|The Making of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'}}. Retrieved 28 December 2012.</ref>