Earlier this year, Total Guitar asked its readers to vote for the greatest rock guitarist of all time – and the results are in(GUITARWORLD)
The electric guitar player who came in at number one? Queen legend Brian May, who edged out Jimi Hendrix to nab the top slot.
To honor the guitarist Total Guitar readers crowned the greatest, the magazine recently sat down with May to talk all things guitar.Regarding being voted into the top spot, May said, “I’m absolutely speechless. I’m blown away. I have to say it’s completely unexpected."
“Obviously I’m deeply touched that people feel that way about me. I’m not under any illusions that, technically, I’m even on the tree of great guitarists. I guess this tells me that what I’ve done has affected people, and that means a great deal to me.
He creates solo in his mind before playing it on guitar
Proving that he is indeed a musical genius, Brian once revealed that he has a habit of composing his guitar solos on his mind even before playing it down on his guitar. He shared that “the fingers tend to be predictable unless being led by the brain.”
One of the guitar solo compositions he crafted with this technique was that of Bohemian Rhapsody’s.
4. He has a doctorate degree in Astrophysics
Even though it was nearly forty years after he first pursued a doctorate degree in Astrophysics passed, he went back to academics in 2007 and finished his studies after he was invited back to the Imperial College London. This makes him one of the most highly-educated musicians.
Last year, he has teamed up with other astrophysicists to work for NASA and analyze data from the Pluto New Horizons Probe. How cool is that?
"I will never claim to be a great guitarist in the sense of, you know, a virtuoso. I guess I just try to play from my heart and that’s about it.”
Asked about the guitarist who came in at number two, May said, “Jimi is, of course, my number one. And I’ve always said that. To me, he’s still something superhuman. It’s like he really did come from an alien planet, and I will never know quite how he did what he did.
“And every time I go back to Hendrix, I’m thrilled and stunned, and I get that feeling all over again, like either I’m going to give up playing guitar, because I can’t face up to this, or I’m gonna really have to get into it in a big way and try and do what is in my own body and soul. I never stop learning from Jimi.”
He uses a home-built electric guitar called “Red Special”
When Brian was a teenager in the early 60’s, he could not afford to buy a guitar. But this didn’t stop him from chasing after his passion as he made his own — an electric one — with his father, Harold.
