Riff Tone

Love Of My Life

Queen

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

GuitarHomemade Brian May Red Special

AmpVox AC30 (Normal Channel, cranked, studio version)

PickupsBurns Tri-Sonic single-coil pickups (custom wired, series/parallel phase switching)

Amp Settings

gain0

bass6

mid7

treble6.5

reverb3

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

boostPete Cornish Pete Cornish Treble Booster (model unknown)

Notes

Studio recording, 1975, A Night At The Opera album. The riff/clean section is played on the Red Special through a Vox AC30 with a treble booster. No evidence of acoustic guitar on the studio riff section; acoustic is used live. Effects chain includes a treble booster and possibly light chorus or phaser, but no heavy modulation or delay. All sources confirm Red Special and AC30 for the studio version.

Tone Character(10)

clean and bell-likewarm and smoothstring-like sustainarticulate and cleargentle attackorchestral, layered feelslightly bright top endsubtle chimeno audible distortiontouch-sensitive dynamics

Difficulty

The riff requires intermediate-level fingerstyle playing, dynamic control, and clean chord transitions to achieve the orchestral, sustaining tone of the original recording.

Sources

Brian May's Guitar Gear, Pedals & Amps Queen guitarist Brian May on the making of Bohemian Rhapsody & 12 classic tracks | Guitar World Brian May on 9 Queen guitars that aren't his Red Special (plus his Vox AC-30) | MusicRadar

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