JOHN DEACON

Mike Mills (R.E.M.) once said that whenever he wanted to create a supportive, understated, and tasteful bassline to add to a song, he’d ask himself “What would John McVie (Fleetwood Mac) do?”  If I ever find myself in a similar situation in the future, I think I’ll ask myself “What would John Deacon do?”  I used to want to play like Geddy Lee of Rush, but these days I think it’s more realistic – and perhaps better – for me to be like John Deacon instead.

John Deacon of Queen is definitely an overlooked and grossly underrated bass player.  His playing could be “busy” at times, which other bassists love to hear, but he was never one of those celebrated bassists who plays a million notes, like the heroic monsters Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, John Entwistle, Billy Sheehan, etc.  When Deacon was “busy” it was usually because the song was driven by the bassline, as with “Another One Bites the Dust” and “Dragon Attack.”  His regular playing had an R&B feel (backing rock songs), he was always rhythmic and in-the-pocket, and his parts were always perfect for the songs.  He added a minimal amount of “flash” (if you could even call it that) – just enough to make his parts interesting, without stepping on anyone else.  I’m talking about a few tasteful notes in the empty spaces, a handful of well-chosen “extra” notes beyond the root chords, and seldom more.  He played in and around the pocket in a way which fully supported the song and yet gave it just a little something more, a bit of groove.  Every bass player could learn something by studying John Deacon's basslines.