Quote

I never took sheet music seriously. I could do better myself just by listening to other people and using my own intuition.

Brian May

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Brian May
Age: 77
Born: 1947
Born: July 19
Actor
Astrophysicist
Composer
Guitarist
Musician
Physicist
Pianist
Record Producer
Research Fellow
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Hampton
Middlesex
Brian Harold May
People
Intuition
Seriously
Using
Took
Listening
Music
Better
Sheet
Never
Sheets

More quotes by Brian May

Image
I'd put a lot of work into playing guitar and was thinking I was pretty damn good. But Hendrix came along and destroyed everyone.
Brian May
Image
I had this idea... I wanted the sound to sing and have that thickness but yet still have an edge so that it could articulate. So my dad and I designed the guitar... the one that was made from an old fireplace.
Brian May
Image
I think music is about our internal life. It’s part of the way people touch each other. That’s very precious to me. And astronomy is, in a sense, the very opposite thing. Instead of looking inwards, you are looking out, to things beyond our grasp.
Brian May
Image
My big hobby is photography. I collect stereo photographs from the 19th century.
Brian May
Image
I don't surf the net in general. I have someone do it for me instead, because I find it sluggish.
Brian May
Image
From the beginning of Queen there was such momentum that I never had any time to do anything else. My energy was 95% focused on the band
Brian May
Image
I'm hopeless at playing scales. Try and be instinctive first and analytic afterwords, although it's good to study the theory of music.
Brian May
Image
The guitar has a kind of grit and excitement possessed by nothing else.
Brian May
Image
There are a lot of things in Queen albums that you don't expect that's why we threw them in
Brian May
Image
I despise the Lottery. There's less chance of you becoming a millionaire than there is of getting hit on the head by a passing asteroid.
Brian May
Image
I like a big neck – thick, flat and wide. I lacquered the fingerboard with Rustin's Plastic Coating. The tremolo is interesting in that the arm's made from an old bicycle saddle bag carrier, the knob at the end's off a knitting needle and the springs are valve springs from an old motorbike.
Brian May
Image
Each gig should be unique. You're always treading that line between keeping yourself fresh and giving people something they want to hear
Brian May
Image
I tend not to write on guitar very often. I tend to start off with keyboards.
Brian May
Image
Doing Made In Heaven was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, but I wouldn't have put my seal of approval on it if I hadn't thought it was up to standard.
Brian May
Image
Not for a million - years. I mean, I like the INXS boys, but I found the process very degrading, really. Reality television has eaten away at our standards of excellence. I don't like this whole culture, which has evolved, of TV being the king.
Brian May
Image
I think a lot of people would be better off in America, where at least you would find some radio station somewhere that would play you.
Brian May
Image
In print, people can do anything to you. Everything you do is picked apart. People love it they're waiting for you to make a mistake.
Brian May
Image
My children hate me being such a big star. It's very hard for them to have a father who is always in the public eye.
Brian May
Image
My mum says I wanted to be a surgeon, but I don't remember that. I think from the time I knew what was happening, I wanted to be a guitar player.
Brian May
Image
I've always lived in that guitar world. I have noticed kids being more into the real essence of guitar music now.
Brian May