Brian May reveals his favorite Queen guitar solo. And it's not "Bohemian Rhapsody"

What is the greatest guitar solo ever recorded? And what's the finest one in the Queen discography? Brian May himself answers that question, naming his favourites in a conversation with Chris Bird, then editor of Total Guitar, and surprising anyone who would have bet on "Bohemian Rhapsody". The guitarist's comments were picked up by Paul Brannigan in an article published on Louder, which also recalls the many accolades May has received over the years.

In 2023, Total Guitar readers voted him the greatest rock guitarist of all time, while the year before they had crowned his solo on "Bohemian Rhapsody" the greatest guitar solo ever. Two votes of confidence that May welcomed with gratitude, even though he holds slightly different views on his own finest performances. His favourite solo recorded with Queen, in fact, is the one on "Killer Queen", the 1974 single taken from the album "Sheer Heart Attack". "Killer Queen has always been one of my favourites," he said. "It was something more complex, an adventure in weaving guitar harmonies into a solo. It represented a real leap into the unknown, and it contains a melody that doesn't appear anywhere else in the song. In that sense, it's fairly comparable to the one in 'Bohemian Rhapsody'."

The choice reflects one of the most recognisable traits of May's style: his ability to turn the electric guitar into an almost orchestral instrument, layering independent melodic lines and building elaborate harmonisations through multitrack recording. A technique that would become one of the hallmarks of the Queen sound. "My dream was to use the guitar as an orchestral instrument, and I was lucky enough to actually pull it off," he explained. "The 'Killer Queen' solo was the first time I really managed to express that idea of harmonies. All those lines move independently, they don't just run in parallel: they interact with one another the way a small jazz band would. It came out so well that it's probably the solo I'd want to be remembered for."

But shift the focus from the Queen discography to the history of rock as a whole, and May's judgement changes completely. His all-time favourite solo doesn't belong to Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck, but to Eric Clapton, specifically his performance on "Key To Love", featured on John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers' 1966 album "Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton". "It's the most blistering, passion-filled solo I've ever heard in my life, still to this day," May said. "I love it. It's devastating, and I'll never stop being blown away by it. It's one of my greatest sources of inspiration." The Queen guitarist singled out above all the expressive intensity of Clapton, able to pack all the emotional tension of electric blues into just a few seconds. "He was really on fire in that solo! The whole track builds towards that moment. Every time I hear it, I find myself waiting for it. John Mayall is fantastic, but you wait for the moment Eric explodes and suddenly hits those sky-high notes. It's incredible, it gives you chills."

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