Queen: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

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Summary: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

What a solo this is! Brian May has beautifully combined his melodic soloing skills with a more rock&roll style to create something very special. Ollie will take you through every single lick and the technique and scale behind it.

The intro lick: D minor lick

First of all we will tackle the cool lick that we play just before the main solo. This is based around the D minor pentatonic shape 1, but we use some really cool chromatic notes to make the lick really stand out. The pentatonic scale and the chromatic notes are shown below:

Following The chords: The Scales

When we get to the main solo we need to start thinking about what the chords are doing underneath the solo, to work out what Brian May is playing underneath. So the first set of chords are Bb /// //// D /// //// Bb /// //// E / A / F ///. So when we are on the Bb we are using the Bb major shape 4 for the lick and the rest we move with the chord. See the scale shapes below!



    Keep Learning: Scales!

    If you really like this track but struggle with the various jumping around scales then you may need to develop a better base for your lead playing. We have a great course that really helps you master the pentatonic shapes. It's a full course, and totally free (As is everything on the site). You can find it here: Intermediate Lead Guitar Course.

Ready to move on? Remember to check out every lesson in this unit first – then try the next unit...

Don't Stop Me Now Solo

The build up to the guitar solo in this track always gives us chills! The fact that for the whole track there isn't a single guitar part, then suddenly Brian May cranks up the volume and hits that first screaming bend... It's awesome! Ollie will take you through every note and talk about the scales and shapes being used.