Brian May revealed that, in Queen’s early days, he felt the band needed a second guitarist due to his lack of confidence in his playing. He also reflected on his experience with Marshall stacks and why he eventually abandoned them.
Although Queen became famous for its classic four-piece lineup—Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor—the idea of adding another guitarist crossed May’s mind in the band’s early years. While Jamie Moses later joined as a touring member in the ’90s, Queen initially thrived on a stripped-down rock formula with just one guitar. However, as May shared in a recent interview with Guitarist, he initially felt uncertain about carrying the guitar duties alone.
Reflecting on Queen’s early live performances, he said (via Guitar):
“There’s videos from the early days and I think we were pretty good. Very early on, we arrived at this view that being a live act was not the same as the studio. Actually, it was simpler because there’s only four of us on stage and no overdubs.”
However, it took him a while to gain confidence in handling both rhythm and lead guitar:
“It took me a long time to feel confident about being the only guitar on stage. I always felt like I needed a rhythm guitar. But, gradually, I got into this habit of playing lead and rhythm at the same time – and I realized that nobody noticed the lack of it. So we had enough. You could fashion that live performance to make people feel they’d heard an orchestra.”
During the same interview, May also recalled his early struggles with Marshall stacks, particularly one experience that left him disillusioned:
“I remember, we played one show at Olympia. Top of the bill was Jimi Hendrix and everybody essentially played through the same gear. So I plugged into a Marshall stack with my guitar and treble booster. Turned it all the way up – and it sounded so awful. I could hardly play. I didn’t know what to do. It sounded like an angry wasp. It didn’t have any depth or articulation, I couldn’t play chords. It was a really hard experience for me.”
This moment was pivotal in shaping May’s signature sound, steering him away from Marshall stacks and toward a setup that better suited Queen’s dynamic and orchestral approach to rock.
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