Who waits forever anyway…
Our guitar solo transcription for this week’s challenge comes from one of my favourite guitar players of all time. Those who know me will know how much I love Queen and Brian May’s playing. This solo is a prime example of why! It’s short & sweet and not technically challenging, but the note choice and dynamic range makes it a study in how to construct an epic solo.
Targeting chord tones
So as the heading suggests, Brian May is a master of targeting chord tones in his solos. The chords are notated above each bar in the transcription. When you’re going through and learning the tune, you should note where the sustained notes are chord tones and which ones they are. For example, the longest note in Bar 2 is a G, which is the 3rd of E minor. If you want to write an epic solo of your own, you could do worse than steal ideas and concepts from Dr. May!
Flow of the solo
If you want to engage your listeners, a great musical device is to build your note density and intensity as your solo progresses. This is exactly what Brian does here. Each phrase has more notes than the last, culminating in a wonderful flurry notes down to the final chord of the section.
Right enough talking, get to learning the solo!
Thanks for coming!
I really hope that this transcription has helped you! Do let me know how you’re overcoming the cross-picking issue. It would be really useful for me to see other solutions to the problem. Do check back on 4th March to see my next post! Can’t wait? Why not check out last week’s post!
Do you have any suggestions of guitar solos I should transcribe? Or would you like to book a lesson to learn how to play your favourite shredder’s guitar licks? Get in touch with me using the contact page and I’ll do my best to help wherever I can.
Big love, and awesome licks.
Ed