The evolution of Queen Organology during their career
Across their career from 1970 to 1995, Queen released fifteen studio albums and performed at least 704 concerts. According to data compiled by Queen archivist Greg Brooks, their live repertoire included approximately 58% of the songs in their album catalogue.
The original line-up comprised Freddie Mercury (vocals and keyboards), Brian May (guitars), John Deacon (bass guitars) and Roger Taylor (drums and percussion). All four contributed as songwriters and played more than one instrument.
Queen’s recordings can be considered across four broad periods, each with characteristic approaches to instrumentation and musical form:
• Period I (1973–1976); including “QUEEN”, “QUEEN II”, “SHEER HEART ATTACK”, “A NIGHT AT THE OPERA” and “A DAY AT THE RACES”. During these years, the band developed an increasingly distinctive sound. The albums encompass stylistic experimentation, elaborate arrangements and, in some cases, conceptual links among songs.
The core instrumentation was that of a rock group, centred on May’s handmade “Red Special”, but studio arrangements incorporated less conventional instruments. Across the early albums, the band employed Hairfred, Ovation and Martin acoustic guitars, a Bechstein piano, Goff harpsichord, Hammond C-3 organ and honky-tonk piano. Practical constraints meant that much of this studio equipment did not appear on stage.
At the end of Seven Seas Of Rhye, producer Roy Baker played the “I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside” fragment on a Dubreq Stylophone. Although technically an electronic synthesizer, it differs from larger instruments of the period and represents an early use of such technology on a Queen recording.
Acoustic pianos were prominent in these sessions. Models varied by studio and included the Yamaha C-7, Bösendorfer 225, Bechstein III and Bechstein D. Mercury used a white Bechstein IV for rehearsals and possibly for much of “A NIGHT AT THE OPERA”. Deacon played a Wurlitzer EP-200 electric piano on You’re My Best Friend and may have used a celesta for its bell-like overdubs.
May may have used a Birch guitar on The Prophet’s Song, alongside a Tokai Hummingbird six-string acoustic; the twelve-string heard on ‘39 was probably an Ovation Pacemaker 1615. A Vox electric piano appears on Teo Torriatte. The albums’ notes asserted that “Nobody played synthesizers”, emphasizing the role of guitar arrangements and analogue studio techniques in producing their unusual timbres.
A recording of Queen’s 13 September 1973 concert at Golders Green Hippodrome in London was later broadcast by the BBC. Its announcer described the band’s distinctive sound:
The Record reviewers remarked on the tasteful synthesizers sound on Queen recordings. But thet got it wrong, because Queen never used synthesizers in the studio or on stage: the answer [for that peculiar sound] is a very special guitar that was built entirely by hand by Brian May […] and that gives Queen a very distictive sound.
(Queen. “On Air”. CD 3. Virgin Records, 2016)
Taylor made a related point in a later interview, attributing effects often mistaken for synthesizers to May’s layered guitars:
On the first album, Brian [May] did a lot of stuff on guitar featuring specific harmony guitars, which was a fairly new thing at the time. And a lot of reviewers in England […] said “Great use of synthesizers here!” and of course it was all guitar, and that got up our noses quite a lot… We were a bit put off by the early synthesizers and decided we would actually say from then on – for the next 4 albums or so – that we had no synthesizers on them.
(Queen. The Making Of Plus 30th Anniversary DVD Edition of “A Night At The Opera”. DVD 2. Eagle Vision Classic Albums, 2005)
The band’s early reluctance to use synthesizers contrasts with the more conspicuous electronic experimentation of contemporaries such as Pink Floyd.
• Period II (1977–1980); including “NEWS OF THE WORLD”, “JAZZ”, “THE GAME” and “FLASH GORDON”. Queen changed direction amid the rise of punk and introduced the Oberheim OB-X on “THE GAME”. The decision marked a significant change from the explicit no-synthesizers statements accompanying the earlier records.
Those statements foregrounded the guitar as the source of the band’s unusual textures. Early synthesizers also offered limited possibilities compared with later models. By the end of the decade, improved programming and greater polyphony made layered electronic sounds more practical.
Synthesizers subsequently became part of Queen’s studio and live equipment. Their role evolved from occasional effects to a more prominent contribution to arrangements. Greater polyphony enabled richer textures; subsequent developments in electronic percussion likewise expanded the band’s options.
Studio pianos in this period included Steinway and Bösendorfer instruments, a Bechstein B for “JAZZ”, and a Yamaha C-7B for “THE GAME”. Deacon used a Music Man bass. Compared with earlier recordings, the arrangements often employed fewer overdubs and more direct song structures.
On “THE GAME”, Martin D-18 acoustic guitars largely replaced Ovation instruments. Deacon also played rhythm guitar on that album and “FLASH GORDON”, using a Fender Telecaster Black and Gold limited edition and a Fender Stratocaster. Live production became more elaborate, with larger stages, costumes and lighting.
• Period III (1981–1986); including “HOT SPACE”, “THE WORKS” and “A KIND OF MAGIC”. Rhythmic instruments and electronic textures became more prominent, while piano was less central. “HOT SPACE” made substantial use of drum machines, although live performances retained acoustic drums. Arpeggiators appeared on Las Palabras De Amor and Action This Day.
Equipment included a Linn LM-1 drum machine and a Roland Jupiter 8 for bass sounds. Studio instruments also included a Hohner clavinet on Cool Cat, a Baldwin Double-Six guitar on Under Pressure and a Schecter guitar played by Taylor on Calling All Girls. Saxophone appears on Action This Day, while brass is prominent in Staying Power.
The instrumentation of “THE WORKS” differed considerably between recording and performance. Studio sessions used a LinnDrum on songs including I Want To Break Free, a Yamaha C-7 piano, and Deacon’s 1981 Fender Special bass. Deacon also played Gibson Chet Atkins CE, Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars on I Want To Break Free; the vocoder on Radio Ga Ga was an EMS-2000. May recorded Is This the World We Created…? with a twelve-string Ovation rather than the Gibson Chet Atkins used on stage. He played a Gibson Firebird on Hammer to Fall and Tear It Up.
The Oberheim OB-Xa and Roland Jupiter 8 featured in these recordings. Their use reflects the band’s continued interest in contemporary instruments and the changing sound of popular music.
Keyboardist Fred Mandel later joked that his synthesizer solo on I Want To Break Free seemed to contradict the band’s earlier no-synthesizers policy:
All the old records used to say prominently “no synthesizers”… then I come in like another schmuck and put synthesizers on everything!
For “A KIND OF MAGIC”, studio instrumentation again differed from the live set-up. Ludwig drums were supplemented by Yamaha DX7, Fairlight CMI-III and Kurzweil K-250 sounds, while a Yamaha C-7B piano was used in Munich for Friends Will Be Friends. A LinnDrum sometimes replaced Taylor’s performance altogether, as on One Year of Love. Deacon also played rhythm guitar on a 1981 Telecaster.
The members’ solo projects and a more explicitly pop-oriented direction shaped this period. Its arrangements were often streamlined, although the recordings continued to contain ambitious work.
Morgan Fisher, Fred Mandel and Spike Edney joined Queen’s live performances at various points, helping to reproduce arrangements that had relied on studio overdubs. AKG 414 condenser microphones were used for vocal parts.
• Period IV (1989–1995); including “THE MIRACLE”, “INNUENDO” and “MADE IN HEAVEN”. These later studio projects involved extended development and increasingly complex production. Queen did not perform songs from this period live with the original four-member line-up.
Electronic instruments, including the Korg M1, became especially prominent on “MADE IN HEAVEN”. Polyphonic synthesizers supported layered textures and sustained pads, audible in Untitled; arpeggiators also appear in The Miracle.
Differences between studio recordings and live performances
On stage, the band generally worked from drums, bass, piano and electric guitar, with additional instruments reserved for selected passages. Their concerts placed substantial emphasis on lighting, costumes and sets. Rather than reproduce every studio arrangement, they adapted songs to the demands of live performance; Mercury sang lead on some numbers recorded by other members.
Drums
Taylor’s drum sets are difficult to document precisely because the configuration changed with tours, venues and individual performances. His technician assembled components to his specifications, and the snare in particular could vary.
Ludwig was Taylor’s principal drum brand for many tours and recordings. Between late 1974 and early 1976 he added an Italian Hollywood Meazzi tom with two finishes. Hardware from several manufacturers appeared together: the bass-drum tom holder changed from Ludwig to Premier in October 1974, then Rogers in 1976, before returning to Ludwig in 1981. Rogers hardware also included the hi-hat stand until 1986.
In 1986 Taylor adopted Yamaha drums and hardware. He had added a left-side tom in 1976, mounted with Rogers components through 1984. From 1978 he sometimes used a Slingerland set with a Ludwig bass drum at the front of the stage for selected songs. After the Yamaha kit of the Magic
Tour he returned to Ludwig for “INNUENDO”; “MADE IN HEAVEN” used a Sleishman drum kit. His cymbals combined Zildjian and Paiste through 1982, with Zildjian used exclusively from 1984 onward. Timpani stood beside the kit from late 1978 to late 1982, while a gong was available from late 1975 to late 1982 for songs including Bohemian Rhapsody, White Man and Ogre Battle.
Taylor began using electronic percussion both live and in the studio in the late 1970s. During the 1977 tour he played a Pollard Syndrum Quad, extending the band’s experiments with electronic timbre.
In 1982 he moved to Simmons SDS 5 pads, followed by the SDS 7. On Queen’s final tour he used the smaller Roland Pad 8 Octapad.
Queen also used the Linn LM-1 drum machine for particular studio sounds in 1982.
Guitars
May’s handmade “Red Special” is central to his sound. Studio overdubbing and the simultaneous use of three amplifiers created distinct layers and a broad stereo image. Delay units, initially an analogue Echoplex and later digital models, enabled contrapuntal effects in live performance.
May favoured Vox AC-30 valve amplifiers, influenced in part by Rory Gallagher, and used a treble booster to create layered, sometimes orchestral textures, as in Good Company and Procession. The “Red Special” remained his principal concert and studio guitar, with spare instruments available when needed.
During the years, his main electric spares have been:
• Late 1973 – Early 1974: Fender Pre-CBS Stratocaster, black
• Late 1974 – Early 1975: Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, orange sunburst
• Late 1975 – Summer 1982: Birch Bespoke, a natural finish replica of the Red Special
• Late 1982: Gibson Flying V, orange sunburst
• 1984 – 1993: Guild BHM, which was an almost identical replica of the Red Special
• 1998 – 2006: Fryer bespoke replicas of the Red Special
• 2008 onwards: BM (Brian May’s own company) replicas of the Red Special
May also used other electric guitars for particular songs, notably a 1978 Fender Telecaster for live performances of Crazy Little Thing Called Love between 1979 and 1986.
Queen often placed a short acoustic sequence in the middle of a concert. This change in texture divided the show and helped shape its dramatic progression from the opening numbers toward the finale.
Introduced in summer 1976 with ‘39, the acoustic set later included Dreamer’s Ball, occasional performances of Imagine, Life Is Real and Love of My Life. On the latter, acoustic guitar replaced the studio arrangement’s piano and harp. For Crazy Little Thing Called Love, May moved from acoustic guitar to Telecaster and then to the Red Special. He used a classical-style electric guitar on Is This the World We Created…? and other 1986 covers.
May’s main acoustic guitars on stage have been:
• 1976: Martin D-18 six-string
• 1977 – 1993: Ovation Pacemaker 1615 twelve-string
• 1998: Collings six-string
• 2005 onwards: Guild F-512 twelve-string
Freddie Mercury’s Martin D-35, serial number 357736, has a natural finish, spruce top, three-piece rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard. Its fittings include Grover Rotomatic tuners, an ebony pin bridge, black pickguard and endpin socket. An internal pickup system was installed; two added bridge inlays appear to align with the pickups.
Peter Hince is believed to have purchased the guitar for Mercury in 1977 after Mercury asked for a “good guitar” for home use. May was photographed with a similar Martin D-35 at Queen’s Hyde Park concert on 28 September 1976 and during the North American “News Of The World tour” later that year.
The installed pickup system suggests that Mercury’s Martin D-35 may also have been used on stage.
Electric bass guitars
The electric bass links rhythm and melody in Queen’s arrangements. Deacon relied chiefly on Fender Precision models. He had obtained one by his second year at university in 1970; accounts differ over when a second instrument was acquired, citing either a 1965 sunburst model supplied in 1972 or another purchase by the record company in 1974. A 1968 model was also in use by late 1974.
The 1965 instrument has a grey logo and the 1968 model a black one. Deacon used both during much of the 1970s and increasingly favoured the latter thereafter.
The instruments’ finishes changed over time. Deacon stripped the 1965 bass to a natural finish in summer 1975 and did the same to the 1968 model the following year. Before the Magic tour began in June 1986, the latter was refurbished and painted black. He took both Precision basses on tour between 1972 and early 1977.
Other Fender Precision basses included:
• A fretless model used for one or two songs between 1977 and 1979
• A 1950s Precision acquired during a late-1978 US tour, as Deacon recalled in an interview with David Lawrenson published in the September 1979 issue of International Musician and Recording World:
Also on the last American tour I picked up a very old Fender, one of the really early ones with the small straight pickup which is quite nice and I’m just getting used to it. I used it when we were doing some recording in Germany on one track, but I still ended up coming back to my other Precisions.
• Special 1981: used for Under Pressure between 1981 and 1985
• Elite (either 1983 or 1984): used as spare in 1984-1986 and Freddie Mercury Tribute
Non-Fender basses included:
• Rickenbacker 4001: used in 1971-1972 (before he got his first Fender)
• Music Man Stingray: main bass for most of early 1977, then used on Another One Bites The Dust
• Kramer DMZ: spare in 1980-1982
• Giffin Bespoke: spare at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert in 1992
Piano, Keyboards and Synths
Although Mercury became a prominent rock pianist, piano was initially expected to play only an occasional studio role. The success of Seven Seas of Rhye, a piano-based song, encouraged its inclusion in live performances from 1974. At first the band depended on a venue providing an instrument; by the 1974 tour, performances of Killer Queen, Flick of the Wrist and White Queen made a piano essential.
Queen initially asked local promoters to provide a grand piano. For major events, including the Hammersmith Odeon concert on Christmas Eve 1975 and Hyde Park on 18 September 1976, Mercury hired a white seven-foot-two-inch Bechstein, possibly a late-nineteenth-century model IV.
Mercury later acquired a Steinway concert grand, made in New York in 1972, which he used consistently in concert. It was tuned around soundcheck and amplified through Helpinstill pickups. These detected the strings’ vibrations directly and reduced the risk of feedback compared with microphones placed over the piano.
At Garden Lodge in London, Mercury kept two grand pianos: a black lacquered and chinoiserie John Broadwood & Sons instrument, no. 253218 (about 1934), and a 1973 black Yamaha G2. Both were sold by Sotheby’s in 2023 in connection with Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own. Although they were not used for Queen studio recordings, they formed part of his musical life at home.
Mercury acquired the Broadwood in New York in spring 1977. Its Japanned finish reflects the firm’s history of decorative pianos and the twentieth-century revival of earlier furniture styles, including eighteenth-century neoclassical motifs associated with Robert Adam.
The piano’s Japanned decoration imitates East Asian lacquer techniques that European craftspeople adapted during the eighteenth-century fashion for Chinoiserie .
This finish is unusual for a Broadwood piano of the period. Its decorative character may have appealed to Mercury alongside his furniture by S. Hille & Co.
A 1973 Yamaha G2 was the other principal piano in Mercury’s personal collection sold by Sotheby’s in 2023. It was a compact baby grand at a time when Yamaha had relatively few instruments in this market.
With its bright, ebonised polyester case, square tapered legs, brass castors and faux-ivory keys, the G2 was built at Yamaha’s flagship factory in Hamamatsu, Japan. “Yamaha had designed this piano as direct competition to a Steinway, but at a lower price point,” says classical pianist Joseph Fleetwood. “And because of their modern production techniques, they built a really good instrument.”
Mercury valued the piano’s responsive action, resonant sound and appearance. He kept it nearby during the years in which he developed Bohemian Rhapsody and continued to use it throughout his life.
The piano moved with Mercury and Mary Austin to Stafford Terrace, Kensington, after the song’s release. It later stood in her Phillimore Gardens flat, returned briefly to Stafford Terrace and was finally moved to Garden Lodge in 1986 or 1987, where it remained until March 2023.
At Garden Lodge, the instrument was a focus for informal singing and more formal performances. Producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Moran, whom Mercury met in 1986, played it frequently; he later co-produced The Great Pretender with David Richards.
Mercury subsequently invited Moran to co-produce “Barcelona”. The project with soprano Montserrat Caballé followed an evening at Garden Lodge in March 1987, when Caballé and Mercury performed together at the Yamaha piano until 2:30 a.m.
Queen introduced keyboards beyond the piano into concerts when Flash’s Theme entered the set on 6 December 1980. May played the first performance entirely on guitar; from the following show, he played piano for the opening section and synthesizer for the main motif.
The studio harpsichord on The Fairy Feller’s Master Stroke was replaced by grand piano in concert. Songs such as Save me and Teo Torriatte, which used layered pianos in the studio, were adapted for a single keyboard; the Wurlitzer on You’re My Best Friend likewise gave way to acoustic piano. Organ parts in Liar and Now I’m Here were generally omitted live.
The orchestral passages of Who Wants To Live Forever were recreated in concert with a Yamaha DX7 for organ sounds and a Kurzweil K-250 for strings.
The main keyboards used on tour were:
• Oberheim OB-X synthesiser (late 1980 to early 1981)
• Oberheim OB-Xa synthesiser (1982 – 1985)
• Roland Jupiter 8 synthesiser (late 1981 to 1992)
• Roland VP-330 vocoder (1984 – 1986)
• Yamaha CP-80 electric grand piano (1984-1985)
• Yamaha DX-7 synthesiser (1986 – 1992)
• E-MU Emulator II+ (1986)
Conclusions
This survey considers both the instruments Queen used and the musical purposes they served. Their varied choices helped give individual songs distinctive timbres, whether through acoustic combinations, studio layering or live adaptations.
Electronic instruments expanded Queen’s options for arrangement and recording. Across successive periods, the band continued to explore new sounds while adapting its established approach to changing technologies.
List of particular instruments used in songs and “Albums”
Percussions, drum machines and specific drums
– Tambourine: Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, Seven Seas Of Rhye, ‘39, Teo Torriatte, Don’t Stop Me Now, Dragon Attack, One Year Of Love, My Baby Does Me
– Cowbell: Liar, Great King Rat, Who Needs You, Stealin’
– Castanets: The Fairy Feller’s Master Stroke
– Bells: The March Of The Black Queen
– Marimba: The Loser In The End
– Maracas: Who Needs You, More Of That Jazz, Put Out The Fire
– Triangle: Killer Queen, Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, Don’t Stop Me Now
– Gong: Ogre Battle, Bohemian Rhapsody, White Man, Teo Torriatte
– Timpani: Bohemian Rhapsody, God Save The Queen, Was It All Worth It, Who Wants To Live Forever, In The Death Cell, Escape From The Swamp, Crash Dive On Mingo City
– Woodblocks: Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
– Hawk-bell: Mustapha
– Vibraslap: Hijack My Heart, Scandal, Party
– Bongo: Mad The Swine
– Drum Machine Linn LM-1 & LinnDrum: “HOT SPACE”, “THE WORKS”
– Epad Simmons
– Pollard Syndrum
Guitars and bass guitars
– Gibson Chet Atkins CE: I Want It All, Innuendo (played by Stewe Howe), Is this The World We Created…? (Live), Who Wants To Live Forever (Live)
– Nylon-String Acoustic Guitar: Who Needs You
– 12 String Electric Guitar: Under Pressure
– Shletone Banjo Ukulele: Bring Back That Leroy Brown
– Ukulele: Good Company
– Fretless Bass: ‘39 (Live), My Melancholy Blues (Live)
– Burns Double Six 12-String: Long Away
– Skull & Bones custom guitar: It’s A Hard Life (videoclip)
– Ovation guitar: Is This The World We Created…?
Strings
– Double-Bass: Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To…), ‘39
– Toy Koto: The Prophet’s Song
– Orchestral Harp: Love Of My Life
– Full orchestra: “FLASH GORDON”, Who Wants To Live Forever
Keyboards
– Organ: Liar, Now I’m Here, Under Pressure, The Wedding March, Breakthru
– Goff Harpsichord: The Fairy Feller’s Master Stroke
– Mellotron: Nevermore (take 6), Funny How Love Is (take 4)
– Electric Piano: You’re my Best Friend, Sail Away Sweet Sister, Cool Cat
– Kawai EP 308 Electric Grand Piano: Radio Ga Ga (Live), A Kind Of Magic (Live)
– Upright Piano: Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Killer Queen, Seaside Rendezvous
– Plastic Piano: Teo Torriatte
– Harmonium: Teo Torriatte
– Jangle Piano: Killer Queen
– Hohner Clavinet: Cool Cat
Other instruments
– Saxophone: Action This Day (played by Dino Solera), One Year Of Love (played by Steve Gregory)
– Horns: Staying Power (played by Arif Mardin)
– Vocoder Roland VP-330: Radio Ga Ga, Machines
Synthesizers
– Dubreq Stylophone: The Seven Seas Of Rhye
– Oberheim OB-X & OB-Xa: “THE GAME”, “FLASH GORDON”
– Oberheim OB-8: Radio Ga Ga, Machines
– Roland Jupiter 8: “HOT SPACE”, I Want To Break Free, Radio Ga Ga
– Roland JD-800: “MADE IN HEAVEN”
– Roland D50: Breakthru, Was It All Worth It, The Miracle, I Want It All, The Invisible Man
– Yamaha DX7, DX7 IID: Who Wants To Live Forever, Princes Of The Universe, One Year Of Love, My Baby Does Me
– Fairlight CMI-II: I Want To Break Free, Machines (Queen were one of only two artists to own a Series IIx Fairlight CMI that had a hard disk drive installed. It was a very rare upgrade and the other one was owned by Andy Richards, legendary Fairlight programmer and session keyboardist)
– Kurzweil K-250: Who Wants To Live Forever
– Korg M1: Innuendo, The Show Must Go On, I’m Going Slightly Mad, Don’t Try So Hard, Bijou
– E-mu Morpheus Z-Plane: Untitled
– Ensoniq ASR10: “MADE IN HEAVEN”
– EMU Emulator II: Who Wants To Live Forever
© Nicola Bizzo
This article took inspiration and infos from the article “Instruments on Queen and solo tours” at this address:
http://www.queenconcerts.com/instruments.html
For the Drum section may info were submitted by Di Nardo, Dario. “The Roger Meddow’s Taylor Drum Kits Book”. Torino Di Sangro: (Self-published), 2016
For the instuments list, the original (incomplete) can be found in the section “Special Instruments – Revisited” at the address:
http://forum.queensongs.info/forum.php?mt=4&topicid=265
For the synth part some infos can be found in:
http://www.ageofaudio.com/sotto-la-gonna-dei-queen-i-retroscena-del-gruppo-piu-famoso-del-mondo/
https://www.queenconcerts.com/queenzone/1256324.html
https://gearspace.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/536247-recording-queen-2.html
For the non Red Special guitars futher details can be found here:
https://www.musicradar.com/news/brian-may-talks-nine-queen-guitars-that-are-not-the-Red-Special
For the personal instruments from Freddie’s collection more details can be found at Sotheby’s:
More details regarding the bass guitars:
http://www.deaky.net/rain/musician-e.html
Related collections: For the performances discussed here, consult the Queen concertography from 1970 to 1992 and concert tickets held in the collection.
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