I never went to a queenconcert with John Deacon as the bassplayer because I was born in 1988. He is a very basic bassplayer and I'm very interested in the bassound. I'm sure a lot of people here went to a queenconcert. Can you describe his bassound. Did queen have enough bass ? Because when I listen to a dvd I think there isn't enough bass. But this obviously can compare to a real concert.
So : how was John's bassound at a live queen concert ?
Don´t think that he´s a basic bass player, because he´s not. Actually he´s very good. Watch carefully the tribute concert. Sometimes people think that play fast is more dificult but it´s not allways the case. There are tons of heavy metal bass players that if were asked to play "These are the days of our lives" like John, with the same bass lines, they just couldn´t. That´s why the bass player for Queen + Paul tour says that John Deacon is an underrated bass player and says that John is as good or better than those overrated bass plyers on the market.
But it´s like i said, sometimes you only guive credit once you try to emulate the same songs with a band and see how dificult it is to keep the right timing. Next try to do it in front of 250.000 people and you get an idea!
Take care
I know opinions can be different about his bassplaying but my question was how his basssound was during their concert. Only people that saw them live can answer this question. Did you feel his bass very good ?
I never saw them live, but for what i heard on tapes, i think he has the perfect sound for a pop/rock band. I think he has a dry tone- really i don´t know how to describe it but to get an idea go listen to a cover of Another one bites the dust and compare to the original and you´ll understand what i mean.
But you´re talking of live sound so why don´t you listen to the sound of the EXtreme playng Queen songs at the tribute and then compare the sound of John during some concert you have.
I think it´s well balanced with the sound of Brian and Roger.
Take care
i have seen queen many times and i can tell you that the bass sound was powerful. john was a main part of the queen sound and kept the sound together to allow brian to create all those riffs. listen to live killers or even better listen to early stuff hammersmith 75 etc.
i was lucky enough to be behind the stage at wemley 86 and was chatting to john while brian was doing his solo,great guy.
he gets alot of his tone by licking his fingertips and also uses sponge under his strings at the bridge to dampen so to get a bassy tone.
> he gets alot of his tone by licking his fingertips and also uses sponge under his strings at the bridge to dampen so to get a bassy tone
Yeah, its always funny to see him doing that!
I've seen them twice. Once in 78 and again in 80 here in the States. He's always had, at least to me, one of the nicest sounds from his Fender Precision basses. They really added to the live sound and I always thought it was a classic Fender sound. Really nice bottom end sound live. When Brian goes into any solos or fills, that bass really stands out and keeps the song together. I'm glad we had Deakey around in Queen. Nobody else could have taken his place on those past tours.
To say John was a basic bass player is ridiculas. as a bass player i see and play many basic bass riffs, john hardly ever just kept playing a single consecutive note. And if he was he would always add in a little run or hammer on togive it more tone. A classic example is the bass during the solo of tie your mother down. most players would just continue to play the main riff but john performs this brilliant run up and down the fretboard. i recently purched a book called "Queen; the bass collection" his basslines are some of the hardest ive come across. i believe the reason john was such a ryhthmic player was due to the fact that there was only 1 guitar so john had to play rhythm with his bass as most players do when there is only one guitar. JOhn deacon has a brilliant sound and was a brilliant player.
john is'nt a basic bass player....just try to play the intro of The millonaire waltz (with headphones you´ll hear it clean and only in the left channel!)..it sounds great mixed with the piano lines!!
John is the most creative Bassist I know of I'll give him that. He's not the best by a long shot. Did you know he's actually a really shy and normal sort of guy, that seem's rather odd for a big rockstar like himself
liam wrote: To say John was a basic bass player is ridiculas. as a bass player i see and play many basic bass riffs, john hardly ever just kept playing a single consecutive note. And if he was he would always add in a little run or hammer on togive it more tone.
He did in Hammer To Fall. A simple A for ages. And I count that as well for being a great bass player, it's skill!
Deaconfan wrote: John always gives the song what it deserves!
But John doesn't play only an "a" in Hammer To Fall, he plays also same varied lines along!
Of course not the whole song, but basically through the guitar solo he does.
JDL2nd wrote: Because when I listen to a dvd I think there isn't enough bass. But this obviously can compare to a real concert.
That's exactly the reason why I don't like Wembley DVD- there's no bottom end at all. Both drums and bass sound extremely flat. Terrible. Same with a guitar- seems like trebble and mid are high and no bass... That's why I can't stand Wembley sound- it's terrible!
FriedChicken<br><font size=1>The Almighty</font> wrote: Finally someone agrees with me. the guitars have no power at all, thats not only on wembley, but on every MAgic Tour show
ditto, although it sounded a bit better at Knebworth. Just a tiny bit...
Nothing's better than the 70s crunchy sound... ;)
7Innuendo7 wrote: the riff to Stone Cold Crazy is awesome, are the slide notes in Radio GaGa from a fretless? anyone know what he used in the studio for that?
7Innuendo7 wrote: the riff to Stone Cold Crazy is awesome, are the slide notes in Radio GaGa from a fretless? anyone know what he used in the studio for that?
hmmm, good question! really hard to tell. is seems to me, that there are (minimum) 2 bass lines plus the synth-bass and plus the "slapping" part...
Indeed, one bass line sounds very fretless - in this case he would have used the Precision fretless. Well, this "fretless questions" haunt me since a few months. Is the bass on My Melancholy fretless or not? How many percent of the "Jazz" album are played on a fretless? (don't kill me for this question, but I guess there are some tracks)