The biggest hurdle to writing like Queen is that all four members of the band contributed songs, and mostly wrote individually. Aside from the instrumentation, to write "like Queen" is really to pick one of the four songwriters and go for their personal style. Freddie's songs ("Bohemian Rhapsody," "Killer Queen," "Bicycle Race") are understandably what people most often think about when they imagine a "Queen Sound." They have that operatic quality with weird key changes and complicated sectional arrangements. His songs are invariably the most musically complex, and that's what's being copied here. Brian May's songs ("Fat Bottomed Girls," "We Will Rock You") are equally great but they're more much likely to be straight-ahead arena rockers with two or three simple chords. Roger Taylor ("A Kind of Magic," "Radio Ga Ga") tends toward syth-heavy feel-good slightly oddball stuff that sounds most characteristically "eighties." John Deacon ("Another One Bites The Dust," "You're My Best Friend") was really heavily influenced by American soul and the Motown sound, and the songs he contributed are again something different from the rest of the band repertoire.
Thank you for leaving the most descriptive and insightful statement I've ever had on my channel. :) Honestly, this is great information. I wish I would have included it somehow. I'm going to give it a big thumbs up. I think I went more Freddie on my attempt.
Mark Venus exactly... they were just talking about hits for simplicity's sake but it would be sad to reduce brian to that as his lesser known work is beautiful
@Luke Maynard I agree but I´d add: Brian´s songs can be very different from each other, but the one thing they all have in common is that there often is some space for guitar solos or fill-ins. Brian is responsible for about 70% of the heavy side of Queen ("Son and Daughter", "White Man") and for a lot of ballads that shift between hard and soft ("White Queen", "Sail Away Sweet Sister..."). His influences include classics like the Who, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin as well as Lonnie Donegan (Skiffle), Folk stuff, the great late Rory Gallagher and Psychedelic acts of the 60s. And Jazz ("Good Company" from "A Night At The Opera" is definitely worth a listen!). Folk influences can be heard on "The Night Comes Down" and the famous "39". "The Prophet´s Song" is one of his more proggy and complex songs, and then there is the power pop of "Keep Yourself Alive". "White Queen" and TPS are based on literature, other songs by him are based on his personal experiences from his childhood and all the obstacles in life. If you read your way into those lyrics, they are quite easy to understand. I could go on and on talking about Brian... Roger´s songs are way less complex than Brian`s songs are. On the first two Queen albums, you get the Brit Blues Rock of "Loser in the End" and the mix of good ole Rock And Roll and Ritchie Blackmore-esque (proto-Speed Metal) vibes in "Modern Times Rock`n`Roll". ANATO´s "I´m In Love With My Car" and "Tenement Funster" are more of a ballad, and later, he went on to do poppy stuff like "A Kind Of Magic" and "Radio Ga Ga". But most of his songs (Radio Ga Ga´s an exception) have A LOT of guitar presence. Either a very fast, chugging rhythm guitar á lá "Sheer Heart Attack" or "Loser In The End"´s Bluesy licks. He probably leaves space for the guitar because he´s a guitarist himself (and actually not a bad one...) and loves it when Brian spices up his songs. Roger´s lyrics often deal with stuff you face as a young adult and musician. Just like his music, the lyrics are way less complex than Brian´s and Freddie´s... So Roger´s versatile too. I agree on John and Freddie. John also has some Jazz Pop in there ("You´re My Best Friend"), and he hung out with Nile Rodgers quite often. So that´s where he learned to play that funky music. And from records, of course. Freddie and Brian have the most complex lyrics, and when Freddie adds some Fantasy, it gets whacky and awesome... Btw, Fred also wrote some easy stuff like "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and the heavy "Ogre Battle", the latter only has a few key changes (G to A, A to G.), and CLTCL has none. The opposites of that would be "The March Of The Black Queen" and "The Fairy Feller´s Master Stroke". Oh, and Tim Staffell, bass player and lead singer of Brian and Roger´s pre-Queen power trio "Smile", is the co-writer of a few early Queen songs. He´s not really important for the Queen versatility thing, but when he wrote songs with Brian, they mostly sounded like British Blues-Based Hard Rock ("Doing All Right", the non-album B-Side "See What A Fool I´ve Been"). Great song Ben, it really sounds Fredd-ey (Freddish?) and has that "A Night At The Opera" vibe. All the best Dave
Good call on using the Ten of Swords tarot card in the lyrics. I got that reference immediately. Ten of Swords can mean tears, trouble and misfortune; so apt for this song. Bravo Ben. Fantastic.
John Deacon loved dance songs with bass driven. He wrote “”I Want to Break Free” and lead on “Under Pressure”. Uncle Freddie steered the group musically and what they stood for and their values. Queen is my favorite band.
Just a critique, most of the instruments didn’t follow the same exact note as the singer in their songs. It was always the singer being the high notes, and the instruments being the low notes and solos. Nice guitar solo tho. Also, go high as possible while singing, and have a high note in there to make us cringe in joy.
Ohh Queen! Excellent choice, Ben! Personally I thought this was one of your finest songs to date! Well crafted music and lyrics, with great tempo and mood changes! 🙂
*"On behalf of our crew and staff, please look back and laugh"* is a line that has character 😂 You did a great job!!! And btw I saw that cat and it's cute bc Freddie was a cat lover ✨
You know no fear... loved it. One of my favs of yours here. Had a bit of a Rocky Horror Picture Show dynamic to it as well, I thought. I'd be interested to hear you do some of your favorite UA-cam channels of local artists here too... Peace, amigo!
When I read the title I said "no way" well damn it Ben you gone and did it. This song had a real sense of movement it really grabbed me and kept me listening.
I made sure to include some headbanging moments, Janet! I realize that Wayne's World has a LOT of influence on my "Show". Deep down, I think I want these videos to be on my public access channel. PARTY ON, JANET!
Correct me if I'm wrong but John didn't play bass like that espeially in the beginning of a song. If he did it, he probably did in a higher octave like in Love of My Life. The slow part was very Queen though
I think that everything was awesome and I loved the song but the singing(I know freddie had a bit of a unique voice no one could replicate) was a little bland and didn't feel very queen. It could use a little growl and a wider range
The fact that someone asked you to write a song like Rush and the request didn’t even phase you, you simply said, “OK.“ What it must be like to have that kind of musical versatility and confidence?
Ben Aaron I think if you wanted to give it more of an early Queen vibe than the first section would be sung more in falsetto and also the synth would be replaced with a something else because they did use any synths throughout the 70’s
I would love to dive into the world of Elliot Smith. I will definitely put him on the list. He has that pop-influenced sound that's masked by a broken confidence. His story is a bit heartbreaking.
One of my favorite bands but I think you missed the point of Bohemian Rhapsody. It actually outlined Freddy Mercury's inner self and the fact he is well read.
Strange. You ended up sounding like David Bowie. Maybe David never existed and really it was all members of queen squished together into a thin white duke’s suit.
This is my music that I wrote in the style of Queen. It's not using any of their lyrics or melodies, which is the only part of a song you can have copyrighted. I've researched many aspects of songwriting, and your former half of the comment is incorrect. The latter, I can totally agree with. Cheers.
@@benaaronmusic I didn't mean it in a harsh way btw. It's very hard to sound like Queen. List to the song "Totally Gay" from Big Mouth, they hit the nail on the head
The biggest hurdle to writing like Queen is that all four members of the band contributed songs, and mostly wrote individually. Aside from the instrumentation, to write "like Queen" is really to pick one of the four songwriters and go for their personal style.
Freddie's songs ("Bohemian Rhapsody," "Killer Queen," "Bicycle Race") are understandably what people most often think about when they imagine a "Queen Sound." They have that operatic quality with weird key changes and complicated sectional arrangements. His songs are invariably the most musically complex, and that's what's being copied here.
Brian May's songs ("Fat Bottomed Girls," "We Will Rock You") are equally great but they're more much likely to be straight-ahead arena rockers with two or three simple chords.
Roger Taylor ("A Kind of Magic," "Radio Ga Ga") tends toward syth-heavy feel-good slightly oddball stuff that sounds most characteristically "eighties."
John Deacon ("Another One Bites The Dust," "You're My Best Friend") was really heavily influenced by American soul and the Motown sound, and the songs he contributed are again something different from the rest of the band repertoire.
Thank you for leaving the most descriptive and insightful statement I've ever had on my channel. :) Honestly, this is great information. I wish I would have included it somehow. I'm going to give it a big thumbs up. I think I went more Freddie on my attempt.
Couldn’t agree more with this comment, Very well said.
Mark Venus exactly... they were just talking about hits for simplicity's sake but it would be sad to reduce brian to that as his lesser known work is beautiful
Later though in 1990 - 1991 they started writing songs all together
@Luke Maynard I agree but I´d add:
Brian´s songs can be very different from each other, but the one thing they all have in common is that there often is some space for guitar solos or fill-ins. Brian is responsible for about 70% of the heavy side of Queen ("Son and Daughter", "White Man") and for a lot of ballads that shift between hard and soft ("White Queen", "Sail Away Sweet Sister..."). His influences include classics like the Who, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin as well as Lonnie Donegan (Skiffle), Folk stuff, the great late Rory Gallagher and Psychedelic acts of the 60s. And Jazz ("Good Company" from "A Night At The Opera" is definitely worth a listen!).
Folk influences can be heard on "The Night Comes Down" and the famous "39". "The Prophet´s Song" is one of his more proggy and complex songs, and then there is the power pop of "Keep Yourself Alive". "White Queen" and TPS are based on literature, other songs by him are based on his personal experiences from his childhood and all the obstacles in life. If you read your way into those lyrics, they are quite easy to understand. I could go on and on talking about Brian...
Roger´s songs are way less complex than Brian`s songs are. On the first two Queen albums, you get the Brit Blues Rock of "Loser in the End" and the mix of good ole Rock And Roll and Ritchie Blackmore-esque (proto-Speed Metal) vibes in "Modern Times Rock`n`Roll". ANATO´s "I´m In Love With My Car" and "Tenement Funster" are more of a ballad, and later, he went on to do poppy stuff like "A Kind Of Magic" and "Radio Ga Ga". But most of his songs (Radio Ga Ga´s an exception) have A LOT of guitar presence. Either a very fast, chugging rhythm guitar á lá "Sheer Heart Attack" or "Loser In The End"´s Bluesy licks. He probably leaves space for the guitar because he´s a guitarist himself (and actually not a bad one...) and loves it when Brian spices up his songs.
Roger´s lyrics often deal with stuff you face as a young adult and musician. Just like his music, the lyrics are way less complex than Brian´s and Freddie´s...
So Roger´s versatile too.
I agree on John and Freddie. John also has some Jazz Pop in there ("You´re My Best Friend"), and he hung out with Nile Rodgers quite often. So that´s where he learned to play that funky music. And from records, of course.
Freddie and Brian have the most complex lyrics, and when Freddie adds some Fantasy, it gets whacky and awesome...
Btw, Fred also wrote some easy stuff like "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and the heavy "Ogre Battle", the latter only has a few key changes (G to A, A to G.), and CLTCL has none. The opposites of that would be "The March Of The Black Queen" and "The Fairy Feller´s Master Stroke".
Oh, and Tim Staffell, bass player and lead singer of Brian and Roger´s pre-Queen power trio "Smile", is the co-writer of a few early Queen songs. He´s not really important for the Queen versatility thing, but when he wrote songs with Brian, they mostly sounded like British Blues-Based Hard Rock ("Doing All Right", the non-album B-Side "See What A Fool I´ve Been").
Great song Ben, it really sounds Fredd-ey (Freddish?) and has that "A Night At The Opera" vibe.
All the best
Dave
Good call on using the Ten of Swords tarot card in the lyrics. I got that reference immediately. Ten of Swords can mean tears, trouble and misfortune; so apt for this song. Bravo Ben. Fantastic.
Thank you for noticing that line! It was a bit of foreshadowing in the lyrics! Thank you so much for watching, Rebecca. :)
John Deacon loved dance songs with bass driven. He wrote “”I Want to Break Free” and lead on “Under Pressure”. Uncle Freddie steered the group musically and what they stood for and their values. Queen is my favorite band.
Could you do a video like this but with The Beatles? That would be awesome!
Just a critique, most of the instruments didn’t follow the same exact note as the singer in their songs. It was always the singer being the high notes, and the instruments being the low notes and solos. Nice guitar solo tho. Also, go high as possible while singing, and have a high note in there to make us cringe in joy.
Thank you, this song's a bloody masterpiece!
"The happy couple were whisked away to their honeymoon suite in Montego bay!"
Ohh Queen! Excellent choice, Ben! Personally I thought this was one of your finest songs to date! Well crafted music and lyrics, with great tempo and mood changes! 🙂
This something straight out of the Queen II album. Good job!
I appreciate that you understand my approach to making a Queen-ish song. It's not great, but it's a lot of fun for me.
@@benaaronmusic well i've wrote little something that i thought it was great
To me it sounds like night at the opera and queen II at the same time
*"On behalf of our crew and staff, please look back and laugh"* is a line that has character 😂 You did a great job!!!
And btw I saw that cat and it's cute bc Freddie was a cat lover ✨
Holy crap-tastic this one's fantastic! Kudos to you again, Ben!
I was getting in to it then the song ended. Wished it was longer loved the lyrics. Yeah Queen!
i love the way he talked about bohemian rhapsody then he talked it being easy to be understood :)
This is brilliant, Ben!
You know no fear... loved it. One of my favs of yours here. Had a bit of a Rocky Horror Picture Show dynamic to it as well, I thought. I'd be interested to hear you do some of your favorite UA-cam channels of local artists here too... Peace, amigo!
That was amazing. Not too much like queen but something of its own. I'd listen to an album of this
Amazing song you did , cool genre 😄
THIS IS AMAZING PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WRITE MORE
Excellent! The imagery was really vivid, I could almost see the wedding disaster happening; really fun!
That was awesome Ben yes that definitely is just like a Queen song should be awesome Ben great my friend
Very Cool Ben.. excellent Queen style Prog Pop song..the arrangement must have been a nightmare for you ..lol..really well done my friend
When I read the title I said "no way" well damn it Ben you gone and did it. This song had a real sense of movement it really grabbed me and kept me listening.
“Wayne’s World” approved, Ben! A kick arse, Queen inspired song. Loved it. :) Janet
I made sure to include some headbanging moments, Janet! I realize that Wayne's World has a LOT of influence on my "Show". Deep down, I think I want these videos to be on my public access channel.
PARTY ON, JANET!
One my favorite groups. Yes you caught the drama of the operatic style. Magnificent instrumentals and vocals. Applause. R.
One of my favorite groups as well, Rita. They had so many amazing songs. Thank you for the kind words. :) -Ben
No, really! Dude! You are awesome! Please never stop this "write a song like"-format
That was a fantastic song keep it up
Been waiting for this one! It'd be cool to see you do one on Patsy Cline,even though she didn't write a lot of her own stuff. Great job as usual ☺
Enjoyed that Ben
I love this song!
Wow, thank you so much!
Oh dear. Very cool song. Enjoyed. I could also see Danny Elfman writing a song like that. Nice work
What about the rhye themed songs? I love those the most, along with mad the swine.
Well done!
well done
Deserves more views!!
Great video , great song , good luck to you!
I appreciate that, Hacibey.
-Ben
Loved It. Great Work
can You Break it Down? How You Did The Instruments Pattern? and How To Create Something Similar
Brilliant song
yay
Correct me if I'm wrong but John didn't play bass like that espeially in the beginning of a song. If he did it, he probably did in a higher octave like in Love of My Life. The slow part was very Queen though
I think that everything was awesome and I loved the song but the singing(I know freddie had a bit of a unique voice no one could replicate) was a little bland and didn't feel very queen. It could use a little growl and a wider range
Thanks for the input. I didn't want to sound like Freddie. Pretty impossible. Cheers.
This is actually really good and entertaining lol
I'm so happy to hear that, Filip. Thank you for understanding my ideas. -Ben Aaron
Great job, can you please do rush one day!
13 year old classic rock expert - I admire your persistence. I promise to do Rush, but I'm not sure when. Sometime this year, maybe this Summer.
Ben Aaron, lol, cool, thanks
A couple of Elliott Smith songs to go to first would be See You Later, Coming Up Roses or Indepedence Day.
The fact that someone asked you to write a song like Rush and the request didn’t even phase you, you simply said, “OK.“ What it must be like to have that kind of musical versatility and confidence?
i know right,, i like how he talks about it too
What venue did you play in Woodbury, MN?
I was playing at Potbelly Sandwich Shop every Tuesday for about 9 years. They stopped live music there (and at all Potbellys) back in January 2019.
Sounds like a different genre
TBH it sounded more like Genesis in my ears. Great vid btw
I kind of though the same thing. The drumming reminds me of Collins, and the singing reminds a whole lot of Peter (especially the irony)
‘Twas good
Thanks a lot.
Wait until a Wayne's World reboot is made and your song is headbanged to in the car.
Sorry had to say it, anyone else notice the B string was off a little bit?
But like... this video opened a door for me, thank you!
This sounds just like a Queen song!
No way! I don't sound much like those guys, but I appreciate the comment, nonetheless.
-Ben Aaron
Ben Aaron I think if you wanted to give it more of an early Queen vibe than the first section would be sung more in falsetto and also the synth would be replaced with a something else because they did use any synths throughout the 70’s
to me this sounds like early queen in the 70's
Idea is pretty much I Write Sins Not Tragedies
And since requests are being thrown out there, how about spending a week listening to the legendary indie artist Elliott Smith?
I would love to dive into the world of Elliot Smith. I will definitely put him on the list. He has that pop-influenced sound that's masked by a broken confidence. His story is a bit heartbreaking.
One of my favorite bands but I think you missed the point of Bohemian Rhapsody. It actually outlined Freddy Mercury's inner self and the fact he is well read.
It's kind of like Queen and Elton John mixed together in my opinion
Why do you look like Jim Halpert
Cut back on the booze, Grandpa.
Your from Minnesota, why haven’t u done Prince? He’s on your wall lol
I have such little talent compared to Prince. He was a legend. Maybe one day.
Cool, now you just need to collab with Marc Martel
Hey could you send me the notes please? 😂
Strange. You ended up sounding like David Bowie. Maybe David never existed and really it was all members of queen squished together into a thin white duke’s suit.
I love that idea! :) lol. Thanks for watching, have a great day, Sergei.
Sounds a bit like Roger Waters in the 70's - 80's The Wall era
Everything is good except the vocals they seem uninspired. You need lots of emotion and high notes
You're totally right. I wish I would have added more range and dynamics in the vocals. I'm happy to read your exemplary comment.
@@benaaronmusic I really liked the music. Thanks for the video. Maybe you could make a part 2. In some of queens other styles
@@benaaronmusic if you ever wanted another vocalist. I'm down 😂.
That was a nightmare.
Tip No 1:
You can’t. They were too unique.
Ain't that the truth!
this is not songwriting like queen this is stealing their music and changing it a bit.but over all pretty good but needs a bit more work.
This is my music that I wrote in the style of Queen. It's not using any of their lyrics or melodies, which is the only part of a song you can have copyrighted. I've researched many aspects of songwriting, and your former half of the comment is incorrect. The latter, I can totally agree with. Cheers.
That was a poor people's queen😂
Right! $0 budget for sure.
1:30 ew
Just the way he said it
@@derpybulldog829 sorry about that
I’m just jokin around bro keep doing what you do
This is quite bad so called play like queen. Sounds more like bad british humour tv show.
You missed the point.
That song is cringe
Yeah, it's not my best. Thanks for watching.
@@benaaronmusic I didn't mean it in a harsh way btw. It's very hard to sound like Queen. List to the song "Totally Gay" from Big Mouth, they hit the nail on the head
@@RetroRevivalLuke Yeah, they were really talented. I like Big Mouth.
Omg just wasted 8 minutes of my life
If you are going to act like the Queen, you should have dressed like her.
She dresses only in the finest bright colors. I tried to match her with my different colored shirts.