Nearly half a century on from its initial release Bohemian Rhapsody remains one of the ultimate examples of an irresistibly head-banging electric guitar riff – not to mention a go-to sing-along song and a staple at parties, weddings and, not least, Queen sets. Yet Brian May says that after all these years, he still finds its iconic heavy riffs a challenge to play – and blames Freddie Mercury for their hand-aching complexity.
The six-minute cinematic whirlwind of a track, from the 1975 album, A Night at the Opera, was actually penned by Mercury on piano. However, transferring the riffs for its climatic hard rock section onto the guitar proved to be a harder process and resulted in a riff that May still struggles to wrap his fingers around today.
In a new interview with Total Guitar, he details how Mercury’s tendency to play in octaves made playing it on his beloved Red Special a stark challenge, dubbing it “the most unnatural riff to play you could possibly imagine.”
“It’s not a riff that a guitarist would naturally play. And that’s a double-edged sword,” May explains.
“It’s difficult for the guitar to get a hold of it, but once you have got hold of it, it’s very unusual. And to be honest, I still don’t find it easy! I can play it at home okay, but in the heat of the battle, when we’re playing it live, and there’s huge adrenaline, it’s the climax of the show and that riff comes along, it’s not the easiest thing to play.
“I’m excited and I’ve got to keep the passion,” he continues, “but I’ve got to keep a part of my brain cool just to handle where the fingers have to go because it isn’t natural. But that’s that is the joy of it, really, because it’s so unusual.”
The Queen man is the cover star for the new issue of Total Guitar and his exploits across the operatic powerhouse track make up a large chunk of the conversation.
“Freddie had that riff in his head and he played it on the piano, which is quite difficult because he plays in octaves,” May says of its creation. “I just worked off that and slightly adapted it to the way a guitar needs to play it.”
The track’s winding eccentricity meant May could tap into the full tonal diversity of his Red Special.
“I was able to do a lot of interesting stuff with sounds because in Bohemian Rhapsody, I pretty much use every sound that my guitar can create with different pickup combinations,” he says.
“So even during the course of those riffs, the sound is changing because there are different guitars coming in with different pickups selections.”
However, the track isn’t the only instance of Mercury bashing out heavy riffs on the piano for May to play. He adds that the relationship between piano and guitar made for some brilliant heavy moments, but it often came at the behest of the guitarist’s fingers.
“Freddie had a habit of writing an Eb and Ab,” the guitarist says. “So it was always a challenge for me to find places on the guitar to make that work. But it obviously contributed a lot to the way I developed as a player. It was a good thing, even if it was... strange!
“But it’s funny - Freddie was a good riffmeister, really! That riff for Ogre Battle [from 1974’s Queen II], a lot of people think that’s mine, but that came out of Freddie’s head. So he had very good ‘heavy’ sensibilities. He was a devotee of Jimi Hendrix. People think he was just concerned with the lighter stuff but it’s not true. He did enjoy the heavy stuff, too.”
On the topic of heavy riffs, May’s chat with Total Guitar also went on to discuss Queen’s iconic collaboration with David Bowie, Under Pressure. Released at a time when both artists were at the height of their powers, May revealed his vision for the track was a lot more guitar-centric.
“It was very difficult… because we all had different ideas of how it should be mixed,” says May. “I think it’s probably the only time in my career I bowed out, because I knew it was going to be a fight.”
To read TG’s full interview with May - which sees the British guitar icon offering fresh insights into the creation of many huge Queen hits, including We are the Champions, Don’t Stop Me Now, Another One Bites the Dust and, of course, Bohemian Rhapsody, pick up a copy of Total Guitar issue 381 from Magazines Direct.
