10 Legendary Rock Songs That Feature Weird Instruments

From the minute that Queen walks into the studio, nothing really seems to be off the table. These are the guys that would go on to make songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, so they were never afraid of getting something that was a little bit strange into the mix. And when Brian May got one of his features on A Night at the Opera, he carried on the tradition of the family by bringing a ukulele banjo in for Good Company.

Being a hybrid of the two instruments, the ukulele banjo is what helped Brian learn guitar in the early days and was often carried by his father through the war. Since this song lends itself to an old time-y feel, the kind of off kilter sound of the instrument feels right at home here, almost like you can see the old man rocking away in his chair as he plays this song. That's just a drop in the bucket for what Brian eventually did with the solo section to this song.

Although what you're hearing in the solo section is all guitar, Brian was looking to make the traditional jazz band break that he loved listening to when he was a kid, overdubbing one layer of guitar on top of the other to get different sounds, whether that's the horn breaks, sliding up to create the sound of a trombone, or getting harmonics to make the sound of bells. Freddie Mercury might get a lot of praise as the musical genius of Queen, but we also have a mad scientist of recording behind the fretboard as well.