Jeff Beck and Brian May on stage together, 2011
Photo: Getty Images, Dave Hogan. All rights reserved.
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The British magazine “Total Guitar” recently conducted a poll of its readers with the aim of identifying the “greatest guitarist of all time”. The winner: Queen guitarist Brian May, beating the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen. But May prefers to draw attention away from himself – and in a new interview with Howard Stern chooses his own top guitarists.
Brian May’s Favorite Guitarists: Love for Jeff Beck and Ed van Halen
May spoke to Stern for the “The Howard Stern Show” about his new honor. With humility in his voice, the 75-year-old says in the video: “There are people I listen to every day who do things I could never do.” And then prefers to generously spotlight other guitarists:
“I listen to Nuno Bettencourt and smile because it’s so beautiful and so far from what I could ever do. It doesn’t bother me because I don’t feel competitive. I just love the guy and love what he does. The same goes for Jeff Beck. And for Eddie Van Halen. We worked together and it was the most wonderful experience. My jaw dropped every time he touched the strings. It was just beautiful.”
May on Kurt Cobain: “It’s not about technique, it’s about what you feel”
Furthermore, May finally names Steve Vai and his “old heroes” like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. Finally, he takes a moment in the credits to praise Kurt Cobain: He uses the Nirvana frontman as an example of a guitarist who shouldn’t feel like he has anything to prove.
May explains, “I don’t think a guitarist should feel like they have to prove anything. It’s not a competition. Kurt Cobain is a great example. There isn’t much technicality to him and he hasn’t worked that hard to be technically proficient, yet he leaves us with a legacy of some of the greatest guitar music of all time. So it’s not about technology. It’s about what you put in and what you feel and how that feeling comes across in your guitar playing.”
May’s most recently released album is the deluxe edition of Another World (2022).
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