CLASSIC CORNER : BACKTRACK
next day to go to Montreux , which is an old haunt of mine and my family . We recorded Going for the One in Mountain studios there in Montreux , Switzerland on the lake . Beautiful place . I ’ m having lunch in a restaurant and a big chap walks by and we look at each other . It ’ s one of Queen ’ s crew . He says , “ Come on down . They will be really pleased to see you .” I went down later that afternoon and was so impressed to find Roger , Freddie , and Brian sitting around like a real group talking about the lyrics and the arrangement . They were knuckling down to this discussion . I was in on it . They said listen to some tracks . It was fantastic . They said this is the title track . Brian edged over and said , “ I ’ m having trouble on this . I can ’ t seem to get it up to speed and the style is not right . This adlib flamenco – you can do that .” They had some Gibson Chet Atkins guitars . I picked out the one I felt most comfortable with , adjusted the bridge a little , the volume inside to get it how I was used to it . Off I went . We spent an hour that afternoon doing some guitars and went off and had dinner . When we came back we had another listen . As often happens after dinner you say , “ I think that ’ s alright .”
Did you hear the changes before going ?
I ’ d heard the whole song . It was all there . One of the only sort of empty spots was that bit in the middle of “ Innuendo .” It had all the structural things for a guitar break . It was reasonably easy . It wasn ’ t one of those things where I didn ’ t know where to start . They knew what direction they wanted – it was obvious . They just said improvise but it ’ s got to be fast . That ’ s where I popped in a fast chromatic run . They said , “ Wow , that ’ s great . That ’ s what we want .” It was an improvised solo . Once I learned the shape of the main phrase I could go off on any tangent I wanted . It was great fun . It ’ s always fun to work with people who are not used to you ( being ) around or what you do . Their impression and surprise when you pull something out of the bag instills tremendous confidence and excitement . When you work with the same people they go yeah . Nobody ever says “ Wow , listen to that !” Everybody is too blasé . They are so used to your style they can ’ t see it . Certainly stepping out is always a time when it ’ s a nice surprise to turn other people on . ■
26 GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER DIGITAL EDITION DECEMBER SPECIAL