S Poddar
Brian May, the legendary guitarist for Queen, has always been one for inventive modification of guitars. No one can forget the Red Special he made with his father from spare fireplace wood. This instrument has become as legendary as May himself, but his knack for modifying guitars doesn’t stop there. One of his lesser-known yet equally intriguing experiments took place during the making of Queen’s debut album in 1973.
Whereas most guitarists try to achieve clarity and a pristine sound when setting up an acoustic guitar, carefully adjusting it to eliminate any string buzz, May did the opposite. He actually customized a budget acoustic guitar costing about £10 to feature the buzz and to sound different from any other. During recording sessions for the album, he used unorthodox techniques such as using a knitting needle to ensure the guitar buzzed just like he wanted it to.
Recently “re-built” and reissued, Queen’s debut album brings new light to these processes. The new mix resurrects the distinctive quality Roger Taylor’s drum patterns achieved and the fuller, beefier guitar tones May would have wanted for his song. Describing this latest version, May explained it is the sound he himself always wanted the record: richer, more resonant.
As Brian May reflects on the early days of the band and time spent in Trident Studios, he said it was a period of innovation and discovery. In an interview with BBC 6 Music’s Matt Everitt, he described how exciting it was to put long-held ideas into practice. “We had loads of stuff in our heads,” May explained, “and we were just finally able to put it on tape, which was incredibly thrilling.”
The experimenting period had brought some great achievements of the group. Such as how long May had that one day he has to let his creativity through for bringing something on earth; such is the fact about the period of studio brings for May to develop the three-piece guitar solo, “This was the first time he managed to get a three-part guitar solo down on tape”. It had been in my head for years before that. But to actually do it was amazing.
These early recording sessions were not only about learning how to use the studio but also about pushing the frontiers of what could be accomplished with limited resources. In fact, the cheap acoustic guitar May transformed stands out as a testament to how far the band was ready to go in experimenting with unorthodox sounds. The buzz he deliberately generated became an integral part of the album’s signature sound, illustrating the band’s willingness to take risks and innovate.
The re-released first album also reveals youthful ambition and creativity that was so defining in the early years of Queen. Though the rawness of the original recordings, the new mix brings out nuances May and the band wanted to create, thus demonstrating how they were already quite visionary at the start. With these revived tracks continuing to capture the ears of listeners, it becomes clear that the innovative and experimental spirit behind Queen’s early work is just as captivating today.
His tale of the $15 cheap buzzing acoustic guitar is a reminder of his endless pursuit to find that perfect sound, no matter how against tradition the rules were. Ingenuity and a willingness to experiment have always driven the sounds produced by Queen, and every album showed technical ability combined with creative boldness.
