Excessive number of chords?

[admin]

Apparently Brian May plays around 40 different chords in Bohemian Rhapsody, and very few are  simple majors or minors. Many are odd balls, like B flat 11th. WTF!

Did he over do it?

[delzep]

Queen are

[brenmurph]

I suppose without us laypeople knowing all the techy music stuff.... the fact that it was number one for a couple of months, as famous as any other song and quite unique as a rock meets classic track....all in the uniqueness which is probably down to a lot of things inc the 40 + chords.. and prob even more on Freddy's piano....
Procol Harum ( rock meets class masters) played a 14 minute track in  germany that nobody has ever been able to reproduce/ cover  properly due to its musical complexity on hammond, guitar and piano. Even the orchestra spend 2 days practising  till they got it  close but not as perfect as it should have been.

what a track Bohemian rhapsody is....stood the test of time and id say theres quite a few decades left in it

[Eoin]

I'd say personally he did it just right. One of the best tunes of all time.

[Rossa]

Was listening to a technical appraisal of that song, and holy crap, it's more complex than the artwork on the roof of the Cistine chapel.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/radio-documentary-rhapsody-bohemia-bohemian-queen-freddie-mercury.html

They put it on the leaving cert in the late 1990's.