Texture, rhythm and harmony
Texture
The texture is melody-dominated homophonyA musical texture which features a melody with accompaniment.. There is a clear melody line and the accompaniment mostly plays block chordWhen all the notes of the chord are played together as one sound. on each beat.
There is imitationWhere one musical part copies another. between the voice and the electric guitar at points in the song, e.g. following the 'willing as' the guitar repeats the same notes in imitation bar 62 on beat 4.
Imitation of the melody line between vocals and guitar
Metre, rhythm and tempo
The time signature is 12/8, which means that there are four groups of three quavers in a bar; this is a type of compound timeWhere each beat of the bar is divided into three. signature. Many of the rhythms are dotted crotchet to quaver, which gives the song a swung feel. The tempo is at a steady 112 bpmBeats per minute.. syncopationRhythm patterns where stressed notes are placed off the beat. is found at various points in the melody, which helps create the upbeat feel. Each new section begins with an anacrusisAn upbeat.
Harmony and tonality
The tonic key of Killer Queen is E鈾 major - however, the verses start in the relative minor of C and the choruses move to the dominantThe fifth tone or degree of any of the major or minor scales. B鈾 major. Both of these keys are the closest relations to E鈾 major.
Not all of the chords used belong to the tonic key. For example, bar 18 has the chords G7, F7/A, G7/B and C. If all the accidentalA one-off use of sharp or flat to alter the pitch of a note from the key signature. in the key signature were used, these chords would actually be Gm7, Fm7/A鈾, Gm7/B鈾 and Cm. However, they have been altered to chords that don鈥檛 belong to the tonicThe first degree of a scale and the central key of music. In Roman numerals this is I. key.
extended chordA chord that adds additional notes to a triad, such as the seventh, ninth or eleventh note of the scale. , such as seventh and eleventh chords are employed. A harmonic pedalHeld or repeating note on the same pitch, while the chords change above it. is used in bars 5 to 6 at the start of each verse to underpin the music. Mercury鈥檚 overdubbed vocal parts move in parallel harmonies, which makes the band sound bigger and helps differentiate between sections of the song.
Shared between the band members, a descending chromaticChromatic harmony uses notes from outside the key to colour the chords. bassline is heard in bars 7 to 9, which highlights the flamboyancy of the song. A circle of fifthsWhen the chord sequence moves by an interval of a fifth, 聽eg C major - G major, D major - A major.聽 features at bar 20 where the chords are A - Dm - G7 - C, which are all closely related, as shown in the diagram below.
An extract from bar 7 to 9, a descending bassline is played on the bass guitar and piano
Sonority
Some techniques used by the guitar include, a pitch bendWhen the pitch played slightly rises or falls but returns to original pitch. at bar 30, a slide guitarA guitar technique often used in blues music. A glissando effect is achieved by sliding an object across the strings. at bar 34, a palm mutingDamping the guitar strings while playing. at bar 69, and light distortion An electrified setting that can create a more fuzzy or gritty tone. throughout. Freddie Mercury uses a portamentoA slide. between the two syllables of 鈥榪ueen鈥 in each chorus. In bar 17 a flangerWhere a music sound signal is copied and then played back simultaneously at a different speed, creating a swirling effect. effect is applied to the lyric 'like a laser beam' to produce a sound of a laser, which is a technique known as word paintingWhen the music replicates what it is wanting to portray, eg an ascending melody when the lyrics talk of mountains..
Many of the techniques used in Killer Queen that enhance the sonority of the song were added in the recording studio. These effects include reverberationAdding multiple echoes to make a sound appear to be coming from different spaces. on the lead vocals and stereo panningThe positioning of sound in a stereo field.. These can be heard in bar 19 and during the overlapping guitar parts in bar 55.