| fras444 19.06.2018 23:18 |
When it comes to Brian and instruments he could do pretty much anything quite well. Guitar aside, he had good voice on him, he was also very accomplished on piano, drums....? He could have quite easily been self indulgent and composed an almost complete 'Queen' song on his own, much like the others.. BUT.... Apart form the cosmos rocks... Brian has never played bass on any of his songs 'Queen'. Why would that be? You think being a guitarist would make him an adapt bass player.... Was bass just that too hard for him?? Did he ever lay a bass guide for John or are there any studio demos of him playing bass. Cant find any info on what bass parts were his or Rodgers on Cosmos Rocks? Anyone in the know... Was Brian good on bass? Side note When it comes to individual talent and at Queen members individual height, News of the world - Jazz and ABTD on The Game. Both John, Roger and Freddie have all produced, you could say... A self indulgent song where by almost everything was all done on their own, vocal and or instrument wise... Except for Brian... Maybe 'Dear Friends' is his closest attempt.... |
| The Real Wizard 20.06.2018 02:18 |
Deacon's style was distinctly his. Playing bass is a whole other skill set. It's far more than just playing lower notes (unless you're in Green Day or something). Brian plays great guitar, fairly decent piano, but he's no bass player. |
| fras444 20.06.2018 03:53 |
A line I remember reading. Dave Mustane. In a band hirachy the bass player is right at the bottom... Bass well there are bass players and then there are BASS players and John was a BASS player it's more than just a few notes instrument than what some people think when compared to a guitar player. Very intrigued as to why Roger chose to play bass on some of his songs yet Brian didn't. When it comes to drawing up paralles within the band and from various team chemistry/mates topics within this forum, John and Brian couldn't be so far apart but yet Brian involved John on almost all of his Queen related projects and projects outside of Queen. Like you said Bob, when it comes to bass John must had something that Roger could do but Brian could never be able to do regardless of being the only other full time string member. When you actually look at it. As much as you think Brian is a nice guy and when the likes of Seb says the total opposite being quite a prefectionist to almost being anal about his songs to almost straight out arrogant. Out of all the members in Queen. He was really the only one who readily used the skills of all the others when he could have really written a whole lot of songs within queen and do it himself but didn't... Freddie. A few songs where Brian dosnt feature. Roger a few songs where John doesn't feature.... Or put it this way. When you take away songs that don't feature Freddie on vocals, Brian needs both Roger and John to complete the song but Roger dosnt necessarily need Brian or John to complete a song but still record it on a queen album |
| Togg 20.06.2018 11:15 |
Roger has a much better grasp of rhythum than Brian, he's a drummer, many drummers understand that underpinning the song is what sets a song apart from just a chord progression so he is able to wave a complex pattern of bass rhythum under the track, Brian tends to lay things on top of the song |
| Sebastian 20.06.2018 12:13 |
Brian did, allegedly, play bass here and there, only that it was then replaced by John. An exception was 'Dancer': Brian played the bass (on synth) and John didn't take part of the song. |
| Star* 20.06.2018 14:38 |
Brian has no interest in playing bass guitar or drums otherwise he would have done so by now, He is regarded though as possibly the greatest axe man of them all ! Even Eric Clapton commented that Brian can do pretty amazing things he wished he could do ! Quite a compliment from Clapton. |
| ColMan 20.06.2018 15:25 |
Verdens gang (VG) gave the concert 5 out of 6 link Dagbladet gave the concert 3 out of 6 link Thanks for sharing. |
| ColMan 20.06.2018 15:26 |
Sorry I replied in wrong thread. |
| Holly2003 20.06.2018 15:35 |
happystar wrote: Brian has no interest in playing bass guitar or drums otherwise he would have done so by now, He is regarded though as possibly the greatest axe man of them all ! Even Eric Clapton commented that Brian can do pretty amazing things he wished he could do ! Quite a compliment from Clapton.Brian played bass on The Cosmos Rocks. Clapton hated Brian's "Blues Breaker" song. He said "The blues has rules" or something like that... |
| Star* 20.06.2018 15:58 |
Holly: Clapton was speaking generally about Brian Mays guitar style. Maybe Brian was forced to try Bass as John Deacon was not around for The cosmos rocks album. |
| miraclesteinway 20.06.2018 20:08 |
The Cosmos Rocks certainly does lack without John Deacon's involvement. It could have been a much better album with him on it. He was probably right to stay away from it. |
| Sebastian 21.06.2018 03:26 |
happystar wrote: Brian has no interest in playing bass guitar or drums otherwise he would have done so by now,He has, many times - bass, that is. |
| Star* 21.06.2018 06:50 |
miraclesteinway : John Deacon has been right to stay away from many post watershed Queen involvements, he is a top man and many highly respect him for that. |
| Togg 21.06.2018 10:20 |
happystar wrote: Brian has no interest in playing bass guitar or drums otherwise he would have done so by now, He is regarded though as possibly the greatest axe man of them all ! Even Eric Clapton commented that Brian can do pretty amazing things he wished he could do ! Quite a compliment from Clapton.Brian played a lot of Bass on solo tracks, he has a Red Special Bass built for him by Andrew Guyton, which also retails under the BMG brand |
| Togg 21.06.2018 10:22 |
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| Togg 21.06.2018 10:28 |
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| Togg 21.06.2018 10:46 |
"Brian has no interest in playing bass guitar or drums otherwise he would have done so by now," Well it would seem he's had enough interest to get a bass built and play on a good number of tracks |
| Star* 21.06.2018 15:55 |
Never see any pics of Brian and the bass guitar? |
| Star* 21.06.2018 17:22 |
Togg: Do tell me the Queen tracks Brian played bass on then? |
| Sebastian 21.06.2018 17:45 |
happystar wrote: Togg: Do tell me the Queen tracks Brian played bass on then?I'm not Togg but I can answer: 'Dancer' (synth bass), 'The Hero' (demo), 'Headlong' (demo - synth) and probably a few more, not to mention a lot of 'The Cosmos Rocks' (labelled as Queen + Paul Rodgers). Now, the point I was making was that Brian did play a lot of bass outside Queen. Judging by the credits: - Resurrection - Driven by You - Last Horizon - Just One Life - The Business - Why Don't We Try Again - On My Way Up - Cyborg - The Guv'nor - The Wilderness - All the Way from Memphis - Dream of Thee (if it's got bass... can't remember) - Dangerland - Anthem - I Can't Be Your Friend - Defying Gravity - You Have to Be There - Love It When You Call - Save Me (Kerry Ellis version) - Diamonds Are Forever - No-One But You (Kerry Ellis version) - I Loved a Butterfly (Kerry Ellis version) - Love in a Rainbow - One Voice - Born Free - The Kissing Me Song Which amounts to ca. 26 tracks. We could easily make a doulbe-album with songs that feature Brian on bass (not counting 'Cosmos Rocks'). |
| mooghead 21.06.2018 19:20 |
Why would he play bass when John Deacon is stood right there holding a bass guitar? Anyway, can you imagine how horrendous the triple repeat thing would sound on a bass which is something Brian would definitely have done?! |
| john bodega 22.06.2018 05:54 |
You could, as a guitarist, spend a month practicing a song on bass and trying to get it to sound as bass-player-like as your ability allows, or you could just hand the bass to the bass player. |
| Togg 22.06.2018 07:32 |
I would imagine in the early days when they put demo's together he would also have mapped out a few Bass lines on tracks he was putting together, whether it made it to a full scale demo we may never know, but often as a composer you mapp out a full demo with guitar,bass, drums and keys to help you write, then hand it over to the band. |
| Vocal harmony 22.06.2018 09:36 |
john bodega wrote: You could, as a guitarist, spend a month practicing a song on bass and trying to get it to sound as bass-player-like as your ability allows, or you could just hand the bass to the bass player.Agreed. But Brian certainly played Bass on The Cosmos Rocks and some of his solo material and "some" Queen stuff. Seb's list is worth a look. Yes being a Bassist is a skill that has to be learned, but being a guitarist you would already have the mechanical skill and an understanding of how a fret board works. I don't think Brian would be the sort to pick up a Bass, play a root note and call himself a Bass player, he would however spend time to understand and learn to play like a Bassist would. |
| cmsdrums 22.06.2018 13:45 |
Amongst many other things, the one thing that The Cosmos Rocks lacks is a bassist....not 'someone playing bass', but a BASSIST (these are two very different things). There is not one memorable bass hook or line on that album - Brian and Paul played a lot of it (with Roger adding some too), and it just marks time - there's nothing inventive to it and it's almost an afterthought. There was actually very recent piece by Brian either on his soapbox or other social media outlets where he talked about recording, and referred specifically to some bass recording he was doing but saying that he needed to get someone else in to do it because Justin Shirley-Smith openly tells him that his bass playing isn't good enough! Another example is the band Thunder - they lost their bassist in 1997 and so the guitarist (Luke Morley) played all the bass parts on the album they were recording at that time (he writes all their music too so sounds ideal) - when they did get a bassist (Chris Childs, who would be perfect for Queen btw!!) he remarked in interview that he was amazed that it was a guitarist playing the bass as it was better than it had any right to be! ps - I'm not sure - as per the original post - that Brian is a great drummer; I've never seen or heard him play, and a lot of his solo stuff is programmed by him on drum machines. He does create some inventive parts (more so than his bass playing) but I don't know that he actually plays...would love to see something contrary to this though! |
| Togg 27.06.2018 07:38 |
I wouldnt mind betting Brian has never even sat behind a kit, he doesn't strike me as someone that has any affinity with the drums, would love to see evidence to the contary |
| fras444 28.06.2018 22:26 |
It's interesting to read about them having a go on other instruments, having fun and fooling around during down times and the visuals that go with it.. 'Togg' I couldn't imagine Brian either, being the type who would sit behind the drums, even if it was in studio just to have a play around.. Freddie on the other hand, I could quite easily see Freddie having a thumble on the drums though and making a dick of himself. As to bass, Roger would have that rhythm/funk mentality over Brian to make the bass seem easy to master or to at least to play a certain sound on his own songs on Queen albums. Wonder what Johns advances were when it came to playing around on drums in studio? Would he have the most idea out of the four on how drum parts would sound when writing his songs, to the point of sitting on the drum kit to show Roger how it should roughly sound if Roger wasn't quite getting the idea to the point of, he could had some drum credits to his songs..? Thanks Seb Will have to listen to those songs to hear just how Brian sounds on bass unless they are not the most memorial bass lines in the bass world |
| Jeremy 30.06.2018 03:41 |
I believe Brian also played bass on "Have A Cigar". That's the Pink Floyd cover on the Mission Impossible II soundtrack. There's a section in the bridge that has the bass part featured so ( if it's indeed Brian), you can examine his technique and tone in detail. |