In 2023, the readers of Total Guitar voted Queen's Brian May the Greatest Rock Guitarist Of All Time. One year earlier, those same readers voted May's solo on Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody the Greatest Guitar Solo Of All Time. Naturally, May was honoured by both accolades, but during an interview with Total Guitar editor Chris Bird, May actually nominated a different Queen solo as his personal favourite: his solo on the band's 1974 single Killer Queen from their classic album Sheer Heart Attack
“Killer Queen has always been a favourite of mine," May told Bird. "It was something a bit more complex, an adventure in putting guitar harmonies into the solo. It was quite a step into the unknown, that solo, and it has a melody that I put in there which doesn’t appear anywhere else in the song, so in a sense they’re quite comparable, that and Bohemian Rhapsody.“
Reflecting upon what characterises a definitive Brian May solo, the guitarist mused "I suppose it’s the ones that become orchestras."
"My dream was to use the guitar as an orchestra instrument, and I was lucky enough to make the dream come true," he explained. "The Killer Queen solo was the first time I really managed to get the harmony thing across, and all those harmonies move about, they’re not just following each other parallel – they all interact like a small jazz band would do... it worked out so nice. I would probably put that forward as the one that perhaps I would want people to remember me by."
Unprompted, in the same interview, May also revealed to Bird his favourite guitar solo of all time.
“It’s [Eric] Clapton, Key To Love, from John Mayall’s Blue Breakers album," he said. "It’s the hottest burning high-passion piece I’ve ever heard in my life – still to this day. I just love it. It totally rips, and I’ll never get over that. That’s one of my great inspirations.
"He burned in that solo! The whole track revolves around that solo. Every time I put it on, I’m just waiting... John Mayall’s great, but you’re waiting for that moment when Eric rips out and suddenly he’s whacking into those top notes. It’s incredible. Absolutely spine-chilling."
