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Here it is - courtesy of http://www.brianmay.com

**Mon 02 Aug 04**
THE PITCH OF NO ONE BUT YOU

Ah ! The strange key of No-One but You ! - an interesting question indeed.

There are MANY reasons why a recording might not be at "concert pitch". I won't go into them all here and now. But "No-One but You" is a special case. I originally recorded it as a solo track, and it was Roger who paid me the compliment of wanting to bring it under the Queen umbrella. Of course I couldn't refuse, because the subject matter was very much Queen relevant, and the track would reach Queen fans much more effectively if it appeared under "Queen" rather than "Brian May".

But of course as soon as you throw a song into a group arena, you no longer have full control. Queen was always a democracy, and songs were always pulled to pieces in the process of becoming Queen tracks. Almost always they benefited. My solo version of NOBY was more or less complete as regards keys, guitars, and vocals, but I had already asked Roger if he would play drums, as the piece was really "Taylor-Made" (sorry!) for him. Roger felt strongly that my tempo was too slow, and convinced me to try changing the tempo. I was happy with my vocal, but of course changing the speed of my track also changed the pitch. We decided against using the "stretching" technology to return the track to original pitch, since so much quality would have been lost (the machines are better now). So, unless I wanted to start all over again with my vocal, which I felt had that "First Thought" vibe, I was stuck with it being slightly raised in pitch. I got Roger to sing the middle verse so it would become more a Queen thing, using my track as the demo in this case .... I enjoyed 'producing' his vocal, pushing him to try things ... and Roger played superb drums - he has the ability to make you feel every hit is for a reason, a rare quality. So the track evolved into what you hear on "Queen Rocks". I mixed it, and actually contemplated returning it to the original pitch, but Roger was so convinced it would stop Radio playing the track, I gave in. That's one decision I've always regretted, (Radio pretty much never played it anyway!) but it's water under bridge....

So there it sits, about half way between A440 and the next semitone up! It annoys me greatly ! But for We Will Rock You I did a new arrangement, (to be sung by a girl, rather than us) which starts in a higher key and modulates to an even higher one for the last verse. The original song has a couple of interesting features, if you're interested! The mood is intended to be very much Ketty Lester's fabulous old hit "Love Letters in the Sand". The whole vibe of that song has always haunted me, and for this occasion it related directly to how I felt about Freddie. So the time signature is 6/8, which is also reminiscent of "We are the Champions". I had all this in mind writing the song, which I wanted to be a tribute to Freddie. One of the great innovations of "Champions", one of Freddie's little masterstrokes, is that when the song moves from Verse to Chorus, it modulates effortlessly and without apology up two keys. It would be hard to find another song written before that time which did this. Freddie had a fabulous ability to move songs around related keys, which still astounds me. Anyway, as part of the tribute, I decided that "No-One But You would do the same. So when you hear this song in our show, in London, Brisbane, Barcelona, Las Vegas, Moscow, or Cologne, the girl you see singing it moves between 3 different keys, and a span of 6 semitones in addition to the range of the melody. It's quite a demanding sing. Of course our wonderful Kerry Ellis set the standard as "Meat" in the original Dominion cast, which you can hear on the London cast album. She set a very high bench mark, every night for two years. If you are in the right part of the UK you can see Kerry in "Miss Saigon" on tour in the coming months - starting in Plymouth right now.

So, I ramble. But there ya go.

Love Bri

Sounds like the action could have been set too low - does it happen on every fret or just a few? If it is just a few the truss rod may need adjusting - either way, it should go back to the store who adjusted it for you!

What a nasty incident to have happened. You hear about the dog chasing the postman but that is really nasty.

Never played it myself...

+1 to that - we are all happy to help.

You will find a lot of songs, especially heavier rock songs are tuned down half a step. That just means each note is turned one fret lower. It makes no odds whether you bother to tune down or not unless

a)it suits your singing voice if you are singing or
b)if you intend to play along to the track itself using that tab.

What is your favourite AC/DC song at the moment James? Do you really not listen to anything else? 

I only know one or two by KISS but I quite enjoy them. I love Tracy Chapman - great voice and great songwriting. It took me ages to be able to play this lovely little riff and sing (if you can call it that) at the same time:

[youtube]/watch?v=Orv_F2HV4gk&p=CD168A8A3BCA1735[/youtube]

Hey Wurzel! Welcome to the forum!

The issue I find with the guitar is when you first start off you see progress everyday as the progress is so significant. Then when you have mastered the basics progress seems non existent.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you recorded yourself two years ago and listened now you would think you were crap back then and much better now! I am sure you are improving daily though the improvements are more subtle!

What music you into and what sort of thing are you working on at the moment with your guitaring?

Whatever you decide make sure you upload the recording so we can hear!

Yes that would be my preference too. I think it looks great on a LP - however I am a long way off being in the market for one though unfortunately!

I think you might be right!    but that gives you many more years experience.

I know this is probably going to sound crazy but I do not think I have heard any of the albums listed in your posts. I might know one or two tracks from Pink Floyd but that is it!

Might have to check them out!

Ok guys competition results time.

This time we had 7 people that qualify for the draw so thanks a lot for the continued support from everyone. It is really appreciated.

So here is the deal. I have selected the 7 names that have qualified, I have them written down on a piece of paper in front of me.  Against each name I allocated a random number.

So the next person to post a number between 1 - 7 will define the winner.

Can Mikey maintain his luck three times in a row or will someone else scoop the £50?

Next poster will decide - good luck everyone!