Tony Iommi trades guitars with Brian May and faces the struggle of all left-handers, as he wields the Red Special upside down
The two British guitar heroes and friends spent the afternoon trading licks – and instruments – as part of a forthcoming documentary on riffs
Brian May has shared footage and images of an afternoon he spent with Black Sabbath icon Tony Iommi and – as is the law among friendly guitarists in any spontaneous six-string scenario – it seems the two players swapped guitars in the process.
Iommi is one of rock’s famous lefties and therefore is forced to play Brian May’s iconic electric guitar, the Red Special, upside down.
May, meanwhile, appears to reciprocate the gesture with the Iron Man’s JayDee Custom SG-style build, denoted by its famed crucifix inlays.
Iommi also has on hand a red SG-style build, which appears to be the St Moritz replica of his famous left-handed 1965 Cherry ‘Monkey’ Gibson SG Special, so called for its monkey sticker.
The original was used all over ’Sabbath’s early-’70s records – including Paranoid, Master Of Reality and Vol. 4. – and now resides on the wall of the New York City Hard Rock Cafe.
“Joy!” says May, writing about the meet-up on Instagram. “A rare and special afternoon with my dear pal Tony Iommi making a documentary on…. riffs! Rock on, folks."
A post shared by Brian Harold May (@brianmayforreal)
A photo posted by on
Somewhat excruciatingly, there is no audio for the short clip that May has shared and no further information on the riffs documentary he alludes to, but suffice to say, our appetite is well and truly whetted.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
The two guitarists are firm friends and have previously spoken about their admiration for each other. Iommi has described May as one of his "rock gods." In May’s 2020 interview with Total Guitar, meanwhile, the latter repaid the favor.
“He is really my dearest friend in the business,” said May. “He’s a luminous human being is Tony, with a wonderful, kind nature and an incredibly baffling sense of humor.
“And, of course, he is the father of heavy metal. He did that. He made that happen. And it’s from his fingers and his mind... he forever wears that medal, I think.”
The two guitarists have previously recorded together, too, and rumors have long circulated of unreleased collaborative recordings.
Perhaps there might be more time for that after the release of Iommi’s in-the-works solo album...
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Matt is Features Editor for GuitarWorld.com. Before that he spent 10 years as a freelance music journalist, interviewing artists for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.
“We were opening for ZZ Top at Madison Square Garden. I told the guys, ‘I’ll go out there and blow for 60 seconds, then we’ll go into the first tune.’ I hit the first chord and my Marshall blew up”: Richie Sambora on Bon Jovi's nightmare arena debut
“My first real gig with The Band was in front of 25,000 people and we had no real rehearsal… We just flew out to Dallas and opened for Crosby, Stills & Nash”: Jim Weider on replacing Robbie Robertson – and the ’52 Tele he got while working at a car wash