QUEEN Guitarist BRIAN MAY On FREDDIE MERCURY - "People Think He Was Just Concerned With The Lighter Stuff But It’s Not True; Freddie Was A Good Riffmeister, He Did Enjoy The Heavy Stuff, Too"

In a world-exclusive interview with Total Guitar, guitar legend Brian May takes you behind-the-scenes of the making of 13 iconic Queen cuts, and reveals what inspired his magical guitar playing in "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Don’t Stop Me Now" and many more. An excerpt from the interview is available below.

Total Guitar: In previous interviews with Total Guitar you’ve spoken about the guitar solo in 'Bohemian Rhapsody', but let’s talk now about that song’s end section, in which the band really rocks out. It was Freddie’s song, so did he have all of it planned out, or was that rock section worked out with you?

Brian May: “It was more Freddie’s idea. Freddie had that riff in his head and he played it on the piano, which is quite difficult because he plays in octaves. I just worked off that and slightly adapted it to the way a guitar needs to play it. 

“And 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. So even during the course of those riffs, the sound is changing because there are different guitars coming in with different pickups selections. 

“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.”

Read the complete interview here.