COVER STORY
I look in the mirror, and
I’ve aged a lot. I find it
harder and harder to hold
my body together, and
that’s going to increase.
But inside, I feel just
the same as when I was
19. It’s strange, but I
still get excited by the
sound of the guitar.”
let things happen. I had some training
because of taking piano lessons and I
knew what harmonies were. But if you
get too technical about it, I think you can
get a little sterile and you start doing
the expected thing. Whereas if you allow
yourself to be intuitive, a lot better things
come out. I do know before I start playing
whether I have something to say or not.
But if I don’t have something to say, the
best thing is to not do it and come back
on another day.”
Experimenting with time signatures is
something that’s always grabbed May’s
attention. “I’m interested in things that
make up magic moments,” he agrees.
“Timing-wise, (Cream drummer) Ginger
Baker was fascinating because he was
always doing things that sounded like they
were in a particular time, but actually
they were in another. Unless you listened
very carefully, you would think the first
beat of the bar was someplace completely
different. I was always intrigued by that.
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GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER
DIGITAL EDITION
In the days of Cream, Eric Clapton would
also play licks that would seem to be in
a different time signature to what they
actually were. I always found that exciting.
I suppose some of that crept into what I
do, as well.”
Incidentally, those infamously layered
Queen harmony parts had to be
constructed one at a time. “You can’t do
two notes at one time,” May explains.
“When you are using the guitar in that
way, it’s not a polyphonic instrument. You
can only play one and get the sound, so it
has to be one at a time. I think it’s good
to work in sections because otherwise,
you tend to forget where you’re at.”
For May, the guitar appears to be the
eternal fountain of youth. “First of all, to
me, the sound of the guitar is something
that’s glorious, and it still has the same
effect on me,” he says. “I look in the
mirror and I’ve aged a lot. I find it harder
and harder to hold my body together
and that’s going to increase. But inside,
I feel just the same as when I was 19.
It’s strange but I still get excited by the
sound of the guitar. I also still get excited
by seeing someone else make that kind of
sound. I saw Jeff Beck play recently and
I got exactly the same kind of thrill and
buzz watching the guy now as I did when
I was a kid. That never goes away.”
After six decades of playing, recording,
and listening, the guitar continues to
excite May like nothing else. “There is
something about the guitar that expresses
anger, and passion, and frustration better
than anything else,” May affirms. “No
matter what a