h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's some info on Brian May (thanx to documentary video: "Brian: The Early Years")

Name: Brian Harold May
DOB: Saturday, July 19, 1947
Birthplace: Hampton, Middlesex
Parents: Harold and Ruth May.
Harold was a practical man who enjoyed making things from furniture to toys and models. He was also a capable musician who was proficient in both piano and ukulele. Brian took after his father and enjoyed making toys and models.
Brian, age 5: began piano lessons because his parents said so. Brian hated those lessons because they were when he would rather be out with his friends.
Brian, age 6: Brian started playing the ukulele. This went very well and from there he moved on to the guitar.
Brian, age 7: His parents gave him a Spanish acoustic guitar. Brian loved the electric sound and created himself a pickup by winding copper wire around three small magnets.
Brian, age 9: Quit piano lessons after passing the level four theory and practical exams. As he was not forced to practice now, he began to enjoy the instrument a bit more.
During school years: Brian also liked photography and astronomy. He was given his own camera and made his own telescope. To this day, both astronomy and photography play a key role in Brian's life (he is a collector of early stereographs and still partakes in astronomy).
Brian's musical interest: Brian’s favorite musicians in his pre-Queen years were Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. He played along with these records at home, starting with chords and gradually moving to improvised solos. He began to dissect each song as if it was a "keychain puzzle". Quote: "I would listen to the songs and want to know everything-how the harmonies worked, what made one harmony affect you in a certain way".
Brian carried on playing his guitar, but his one wasn’t good enough for the music he was listening to and trying to copy. His family wasn’t very rich they could not afford a new, better guitar. As both Brian and his father were great at making things, they came up with the idea to build a guitar exactly to Brian's specifications. A small bedroom in the family house was converted into a workshop in August of 1963.
Finding the parts for the guitar was an nightmare in itself. Brian himself carved the neck by hand from an old mahogany fireplace mantel that a friend threw out. The body was made from a piece of oak and whatever wood he and his father could find. His mothers button box was raided for fret markers. A problem arouse when Brian tried to make pickups. He could not get the sound he wanted so he resorted to buying three burns pickups, which of course he modified himself. The bridge was hand carved out of steel and the tremolo system included two motorbike springs. Brian and his father had created a masterpiece. This guitar became known as the Red Special.

1965: Finished school with 10 O levels. Applied to study astronomy at Imperial College in London. He joined up with a band called 1984.
1968: The band 1984 disbanded. Brian concentrated more on his astronomy and went to Switzerland to research zodiacal light. Music was still a great part of his life.

In the Autumn of 1968 he put up a notice at Imperial College looking for a drummer. Roger Taylor responded. Afterward, Freddie Mercury was introduced do the forming band, and in 1971 John Deacon was the final member to join the force that soon took over the world.

I remember Brian answering a card I put on an Imperial College Notice Board in October 1967 inviting anyone interested in forming a band to meet in the Jazz Club one night.

Seven or eight guys turned up - did he really call himself Brian Money in those days? and a singer whose real name was Lance England.

Brian was very shy and came without a guitar but as soon as he picked up one of ours and began to play, we knew we were outclassed!

I can imagine. That must've been awesome!

Brian has spent most of his career playing not through a stack of Marshalls or Fenders, but a pile of Vox AC-30 amps, little things that were made for practice, beginners or a small club. He has at least three signal chains of them because he routinely used an pair of analog delays to get the cascading arpeggio effect that is most famously known from "Brighton Rock".
Brian routinely uses an old sixpence for a pick.
Burns returned the favor when they recently began making a copy of the Red Special. Guild and at least one Japanese company had previously made versions of Brian's guitar.
For those who choose to make their own instrument, Burns and another company sell the circuitry and the pickups that are found in the Red Special copy.
Brian also uses a treble boost effect box when he plays, to emphasize the highs, as the lows are often lost behind the bass player's notes.

At one point, if I remember correctly, he used to belong to a band called Smile.

>> Brian routinely uses an old sixpence for a pick <<

Ah yes, I'd forgotten that. He likes to use the serrated edge to play sometimes, so I guess any coin with a milled edge would do.

RF

U221383

Brian May and Roger Taylor were both in Smile.

Brian runs a website, and has his own niftly little interesting soapbox, in which he communicates his personal views, rants and comments. (Most of them related to astronomy or musical projects). He updates them very often and makes him appear to be very close to the reader - you'll get to know a bit about the current details in the 'Person' Brian May, as opposed to 'Queen Guitarist' Brian May.

http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssb.html

HELL

It's nicer that way. I think at times famous people like to be known as PEOPLE, not just icons all the time.

>> Brian routinely uses an old sixpence for a pick <<

More recently, he's changed to using his fingers, A la Mark Knopfler. I don't know if it's a pernmanent change, but I know he played with his fingers rather than any pick on at least his 'Another World' album.

TK[1]