[High Praise! to Mental Floss]
I’m not a guitar player, but I admire those who do. And I really liked the way Queen’s Brian May shows how he does it:
[Brian May Star Licks (BEST SOUND Instructional Video Full 1984)] (Viewer #166,573)
For non-guitar players, it’s probably “too long, didn’t watch”; but for those who do watch it, I’d be interested in your opinions.
The start covers how he gets his sounds.
The two pickup phase reversal is still a mod to most guitars. It is fairly easy to do without changing the look of your guitar by using a pot with a push/pull switch built in.
Running the chorus and delay through separate amplifiers is a good tip, but I only have one amp.
Brian May is great, and for its time this is a good instructional video, but this is a very early instructional video. Instruction through video has improved a lot in the years since this was made. (multiple cameras, fingerboard closeups, dynamic diagrams, electronic slow downs, and things that slip my mind right now)
It is interesting to see how he got some of the sounds on Queen songs, but too long for that alone and not very good instruction compared to what is being produced today.
@1 – A very fair, balanced, and objective review – exactly what I was hoping for. Bacon to you for taking the time to write that.
Agreed, to this day, until and unless you start using multiple amps with each one having a slightly different signal feed you will not get the qualities that come out in the recordings and at many live shows. Same goes for a lot of instruments really (speaking as someone who is primarily a bass player) and while some things can be compensated for when you take the time to digitally model a virtual environment (which many rack devices do) there is still a noticeable difference to the trained ear.
Some of the virtualized models for effect units have gotten *very* good though but you really must take the time to experiment and understand exactly what they do and how they do it.