After the eruption of rock ‘n’ roll as the major force in popular music in the 1960s, guitarists began to come in all different shapes and sizes.
Players of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton’s ilk proved themselves as eminent forces in blues-derived electric guitar during the psychedelic wave. Meanwhile, the likes of Bert Jansch and James Taylor made crucial steps in the acoustic realm, laying the foundations for the singer-songwriter boom. Brian May learned from them all.
What made this period so transformative was the sheer diversity of approaches emerging at once. Guitarists were no longer confined to a single stylistic lane; instead, they were pulling from blues, folk, classical, and experimental traditions to forge entirely new identities. It created a landscape where innovation was not just encouraged but expected, and standing still creatively was almost impossible.
For a young musician like May, this meant there was no singular blueprint to follow. Rather than imitating one hero, he absorbed elements from multiple players, blending technical precision with melodic sensibility. That synthesis would later become a hallmark of his playing, allowing him to craft solos that felt both intricate and instantly accessible, rooted in tradition yet unmistakably his own.
Before he joined Queen, the band that would change his life forever, May was poised before a fork in the road. One route served his passion for rock music, and the other, his more academic passion for physics. After completing his BSc in physics in 1968, he decided to give the dice a roll on his abilities as a guitarist.
The 21-year-old had played the guitar for several years but became increasingly passionate during his time at university. Coinciding with the psychedelic era, led by Cream, The Beatles, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, May became enamoured with the instrumental and compositional nuances of Hendrix, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page during this period.
One guitarist from this period seemed to interest May more than any other. Jeff Beck, who famed The Yardbirds as a talent breeding hub alongside fellow alums Clapton and Page, is May’s number one. “Jeff is one of those people who makes me not want to play guitar because I just watch him,” May once humbly admitted. “He’s incredible, and having him in the room was extraordinary.”
As the guitarist of Queen, May is revered for his propensity to churn out catchy and innovative solos. This talent was at least partly attributable to Beck, who was known for carving out killer riffs and leaving jaws slackened. “I can’t figure out how that stuff comes out of those fingers. It’s like watching Mozart,” May continued in his praise. “Jeff is extraordinary. I don’t like to put people in categories or whatever, but he’s got to be one of the greatest musicians on the planet, ever.”
So enamoured was May that he even wrote a song about the former Yardbird. Entitled ‘The Guv’nor’, the track appeared on May’s 1998 solo album, Another World. As mutual admirers, the pair of guitarists teamed up to record the song at Allerton Hill Studio. “I wrote the track all about him and took it to him. He was sort of in disbelief,” May recalled. “He’s like, ‘No, no, it’s not about me!’ I sketched out the places where I wanted him to explore but, of course, gave him free rein of what he could play, and then once he came into the studio, plugged in.”
The chance to work with Beck was giddying for May since he had idolised him since his teen years. After recalling that, as a teenager, he was present at one of Beck’s first concerts with The Yardbirds at the famous Marquee Club, May seemed to confirm his all-time favourite on the strings. “Jeff is a phenomenon,” the Queen guitarist reaffirmed, “an absolute phenomenon of the world, and it was extraordinary for me to be able to interact with him in this way and I’ve said that he’s the governor, he is my hero and I would stand by that.”
Throughout his career, Beck awed the masses with his talent by playing with the Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and later leading The Jeff Beck Group. Of the famous Yardbirds trio, his career didn’t live up to the grandeur of Page’s run with Led Zeppelin or Eric Clapton in several bands and solo endeavours. However, following his death in January 2023, it became apparent that he was the guitarist’s guitarist.