Brian May: “I will never claim to be a great guitarist, you know, a virtuoso”
Brian May who recently picked greatest rock guitarist in the worldwide. Queen guitarist and co-founder interview with Total Guitar magazine new issue.
He is one of the most-known guitarists around the world. Guitar World magazine just voted the top 100 guitarists and Queen guitarist picked for the first number. After that, he just talks about using a coin instead of a guitar pick. Brian May revealed how this method impacts his guitar sound and style. However, May also talks with TG editor Chris Bird and pays tribute to his heroes and friends who placed high in this pool – from the legend guitarist like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to Eddie Van Halen.
Queen guitarist Brian May answered this question, “What does it mean to you to come in at number one in Total Guitar ’s poll of the greatest rock guitarists?” and replied:
“I guess this tells me that what I’ve done has affected people, and that means a great deal to me. 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.”
Then Brian answered, “How early on were you using the sixpence?” and replied:
“Oh, from the beginning pretty much. I used to use anything I could find. Also, I used to like soft picks. I used to make them out of the inserts from biros, ballpens and stuff . And I remember I made a pick out of some material that was used to hold lighter flints that my dad had. And then I discovered I preferred something more and more rigid, something that didn’t give at all. Because I could feel all the movement from the string interaction in my fingers.
Also, added:
“And one day, I just picked up a coin and it happened to be a sixpence and I discovered it gave me everything I needed… And more, really, because you can play with the angle and you can get a real kind of scrape, or ‘scrawp’, by angling it to the strings.”
Check out the Brian May guitar tutorial from 1983 below.