John Deacon on the 6 strings

One thing that I am fascinated in at the moment and and would love to be filled in more on that's... John Deacons skills on the six strings and songs apart from his own that he play's the guitar on.

How important was his 6 string input to the band and how would one rate his skills or to.. compare it to Roger Taylor the other member to also play regular guitar... We all know he played most of guitar work on his own songs and some rhythm parts on Freddie's songs such as staying power.

Almost every queen album has a acoustic performance from him. But apart from his own, how many songs did he actually play guitar on and if he has played on Brian's songs such as the likes of father to son, was there any reason for it? was he that good enough or was it just quicker to write a song if Brian and John played the guitar parts at the same time if so why not let Rodger play?

Also being a finger bass player it makes flamenco so much easier, he did a great job on those spanish style song's of his such as "who needs you" he's alright with the lead guitar bits such as misfire and back chat and haha did he actually shred that guitar on that stutter rap track?

Hmm...

From what I know, John played MOST of the guitars on Misfire, but not the lead harmony parts and the such. He did leave most of the guitar work to Brian, minus the occasional rhythm parts here and there. On AOBTD he played all the rhythm parts that you hear. Same with Back Chat. Rhythmically, John was amazing. A flashy lead player he wasn't, but that's what Brian was for anyways. John was always in the pocket, nothing out of place, and spot on rhythmically speaking. Hence why him and Roger worked so well together and held up that rhythm section together.

It's such a shame that the cameras filming the MK Bowl gig didn't give us anything of John playing the funky rhythm guitar parts of Staying Power, other than for a tiny snippet across from Brian's side of the stage at the start and end.

Wow! I actually never realized that about Staying Power. Never thought about it before.

Didn't he play some acoustic parts on Queen II? Can't remember where I've read that but supposedly he's in there somewhere.

[QUOTE] [b]cmsdrums wrote:[/b]

It's such a shame that the cameras filming the MK Bowl gig didn't give us anything of John playing the funky rhythm guitar parts of Staying Power, other than for a tiny snippet across from Brian's side of the stage at the start and end.[/QUOTE]

I love the live version of Staying Power. It's a long way from being my favourite Queen song, but live it really showed Queen ax a very tight musical unit.

Not only was it, by FM's admission, hard to sing but it relys on musical tightness more so than almost any of their other songs. It could become a total train wreck very quickly if any one not on the beat.

JD's rhythm work is great, as are Brian and John but also the keyboard Bass line and Brass stabs. In the close ups from Milton Kynes they actually look like they're working hard at this song.

John played guitar on many of their albums, actually. Tenement Funster is a nice example (where he plays acoustic guitar).

[QUOTE] [b]fras444 wrote:[/b]

Almost every queen album has a acoustic performance from him.[/QUOTE]

Not really:

* Queen: No.
* Queen II: Yes.
* SHA: Yes.
* ANATO: No.
* ADATR: Yes.
* NOTW: Yes.
* Jazz: Yes.
* The Game: Yes.
* Flash: No.
* HS: No.
* Works: No (the one on IWTB is classical electric).
* Magic: No.
* Miracle: No.
* Innuendo: No.
* MIH: No.

So, 6 albums out of 15 (40%) feature John on acoustic, nine albums out of fifteen (60%) do not feature John on acoustic. So no, it's not 'almost every Queen album' having an acoustic performance from him. It's less than half of the Queen albums.

[QUOTE] [b]fras444 wrote:[/b]

he did a great job on those spanish style song's of his such as "who needs you"[/QUOTE]

On WNY he played rhythm; Brian did the solos.

[QUOTE] [b]fras444 wrote:[/b]

the lead guitar bits such as misfire and back chat[/QUOTE]

He did play 'Misfire' but that's hardly a demanding solo. As for 'Back Chat', John played rhythm, Brian played lead (and also another rhythm).

[QUOTE] [b]fras444 wrote:[/b]

did he actually shred that guitar on that stutter rap track?[/QUOTE]

No, he didn't. By his own admission, he's only in the video.

[QUOTE] [b]cmsdrums wrote:[/b]

It's such a shame that the cameras filming the MK Bowl gig didn't give us anything of John playing the funky rhythm guitar parts of Staying Power, other than for a tiny snippet across from Brian's side of the stage at the start and end.[/QUOTE]

Yeah man when I first read that John played guitar on this song I instantly checked it out.... So gutted that it only showed snippets of this rare moment...

Did you ever find yourself thinking out loud, saying "come on Deacky do something flashy for once you have a guitar!! get closer to Brian and have a jam or do a little solo with him....!"
then again I guess Queen were never a band like Led Zep to take huge step out of the box on stage and have a huge jam and improvise with each other like what Jimmy, Jones and Bonham did. They liked to be tight and professional

[QUOTE] [b]angermair73 wrote:[/b]

Wow! I actually never realized that about Staying Power. Never thought about it before.[/QUOTE]

Yeah bro that black thing Deaky has, has two extra strings on it.

Hey.... along with Spread your wings and Your my best friend and that live performance with John on the strat, doesn't that make Rodger the only member not to have played any other instrument on any visual Queen performance, live or promo vid apart from vocals

[QUOTE] [b]Rick wrote:[/b]

John played guitar on many of their albums, actually. Tenement Funster is a nice example (where he plays acoustic guitar).[/QUOTE]

Shit that would be something rare, considering Roger was somewhat protective of his songs and liked to play everything especially the last half of the 70's.

[QUOTE] [b]fras444 wrote:[/b]

Roger was somewhat protective of his songs

[/QUOTE]

There's absolutely nothing to support such a claim. He played other instruments on his songs because rather than explaining what he wanted he'd rather do it himself, unless he decided someone else would be much better suited for the job, or unless he was open to other people's ideas. There's nothing about being 'somewhat protective', at least not more than anyone else.

[QUOTE] [b]fras444 wrote:[/b]

and liked to play everything especially the last half of the 70's.

[/QUOTE]

Really?

* MTRNR: He doesn't play everything.
* TLITE: He doesn't play everything.
* TF: He doesn't play everything.
* IILWMC: He doesn't play everything.
* Drowse: He doesn't play everything.
* TLITE: He doesn't play everything.
* SHA: He does play everything (possibly).
* FI: He doesn't play everything.
* MOTJ: He doesn't play everything.
* CS: He doesn't play everything.
* AHB: He doesn't play everything.
* RI: He doesn't play everything.
* CAG: He doesn't play everything.
* ATD: He doesn't play everything.
* RGG: He doesn't play everything.
* Machines: He doesn't play everything.
* TGIC: He doesn't play everything.
* AKOM: He doesn't play everything.
* DLYH: He doesn't play everything.
* TIM: He doesn't play everything.
* Breakthru': He doesn't play everything.
* HMH: He doesn't play everything.
* RTWW: He doesn't play everything.
* TATDOOL: He doesn't play everything.
* HFE: He doesn't play everything.

So, out of 25 Queen songs he wrote, on 24 he does NOT play everything (96%). I forgot to mention the FG OST, but there, AFAIR, he only plays everything on one.

In fact, not even on his off-Queen career he 'liked the play everything'. Half of the keyboards on FIS are by the late great David Richards, there's a lot of input by other people on SF, H, EF, possibly FOE as well, and the other four albums were recorded with another band.

Seriously, using initials for songs and albums should be banned. What a fucking nightmare. Not even attempting to read that.

Great thread.

[QUOTE] [b]bambams-paradise wrote:[/b]

Hmm...

From what I know, John played MOST of the guitars on Misfire, but not the lead harmony parts and the such. [/QUOTE]

This isn't quite correct. John plays all the lead guitar harmonies up to a certain point, including the first guitar solo. It's at about 1:18 - John's lead guitar continues in the right channel, and Brian's fades in on the left. Anyone familiar with Brian's tone and playing style should be able to discern this point where Brian comes in. Then, at 1:32, it becomes Brian in the right channel too, and both sides play in counterpoint.

[QUOTE] [b]Rick wrote:[/b]

John played guitar on many of their albums, actually. Tenement Funster is a nice example (where he plays acoustic guitar).[/QUOTE]

Interesting. Is there a source for this? For some reason I've believed it was Roger on acoustic guitar.