Living Colour Guitarist Names Queen Song With ‘Perfect’ Solo

For music fans through the ages, the works of guitarists have always been a point of discussion and debate, but who better to weigh in on the merits of a guitar solo than one of modern rock’s finest guitarists – Living Colour‘s Vernon Reid. The musician, who recently used the X (formerly Twitter) platform to raise the follow counts of several classic guitarists, was once again sharing his thoughts on one of the guitar’s most beloved solos, shouting out what he thought was the “P-E-R-F-E-C-T’ guitar solo.

Which classic solo gets that nod? Well, that would be Brian May‘s work on the epic ’70s Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody.” “The guitar solo in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is P E R F E C T,” quipped Reid. “It’s THE solo that made Brian May an ICON. It CANONICALLY morphs from Blues Rock to mockingly Operatic & back again, seamlessly. It’s figuratively, ‘The Icing On The Cake.'”

The high praise came in response to a fan who had critiqued the solo as “sometimes choppy,” but admitted they felt bad for saying so. Reid concluded in his response, “You’re not a bad person. You’re just wrong(imo).”

Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”

But Reid’s praise for Queen didn’t stop there. He went on to add, “The thing I MOST [love] about Queen? Which I firmly believed influenced Prince? Which they got from Beatles? Innate scalability. That is to say NO other band that COULD execute ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’? Would EVER do a ‘We Will Rock You.’ They’d find it BENEATH them to do something THAT simple.”

READ MORE: 15 Greatest Guitar Solos of All-Time

Do you agree? What do you feel is the “perfect” guitar solo? Drop your thoughts in the comments.