How do you do this

[Sigge]

I've always admired John Deacons bassplaying, there's something he does in a few of Queen's songs I often find myself wanting to do when creating a bassline for the songs my band have written. We haven't hit the studio yet but we will this summer and I'd really like to add this to atleast one of the songs



He does it from 1:13 - 1:15, what is this called?
Is it just playing the selected notes really fast down the neck or is there a technique?

 

[Clef_de_fa]

it is a simple descending scale

 

[Schmorgy]

John Deacon does a lot of that. Ascending and descending scales for fills, as well as rapid triad fills. Nothing overly complicated when you break them down, but they still sound wicked.

 

[tangentmusic]

A little descending flourish.
Simple yet effective.

 

[Sigge]

John Deacon does a lot of that. Ascending and descending scales for fills, as well as rapid triad fills. Nothing overly complicated when you break them down, but they still sound wicked.

Sorry, english is my second language, what does ascending, descending and rapid triad mean?
Is there a trick how to do this or do you just have to play really fast?

 

[smeet]

ascending: Going from lower to higher notes
descending: Going from higher to lower notes
rapid: fast
triad: basic 1-3-5 chords (no 7th)

There is no trick, and it's not really that fast. He is playing a descending scale in triplets (three notes per quarter note).
Sounds like these notes:
Gb F Eb Db C B G

Fingering:
G string: 11 10 8 (Gb F Eb)
D string: 11 10 8 (Db C B)
A string: 10 (G)

To my ear, it's not even in a formally "correct" scale, but it works because it leads nicely to the final G.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Little diatonic (notes of the scale) or chromatic (notes in fret order) as fills do sound good if used correctly.

To pull this off we need to see how much space will the song let us have for our run? Two beats, three beats, four beats, etc. Fill it with a diatonic or chromatic run.

Country uses this to call attention to the next chord change. When the guys hear the run they know a new chord is coming up. The Country bassist will leave early and time their run so they land on the next root at the chord change. Check out 1:02 to 1:30 of this video: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=scott groves, country bass

I have good luck using a run at the end of a verse, using it as a walk to the next verse. You have to have some space and if the song gives you that space, fill it with a run. Be aware nothing worst than being half way in your run and someone else takes off on his run or the vocalist starts the new verse in the middle of your run to that verse. Best to work all this out before hand.

Good luck.

Just found this, probably worth your time. Takes Scott till about 5:00 in the video to get into what I'd like you to hear.



Target (find) where you want to be next, then walk to it in the space (time) allowed, they all will be passing notes so just about anything you use will sound good. IMO your ear will tell you what is needed. Willie's walk on this video is E, F, F#, G# then A that's not diatonic or chromatic it's just a walk that sounds good. Point of interest; song in 4/4 time and his walk is 4 notes then lands on the next chord for the first beat of the new chord. Any walk is dictated by the time the song gives for that walk. Got two beats; use a two beat walk.