Mr Brightside - what is so difficult about it?

stickyfiddle

Grunfeld said:

nickp said:

I know I should be working, but the internet videos don't look too horrible - kind of stuff that classical guitarists have to put up with all the time

Well that’s cos they have been at the classical academy for clever bleedin’ classical guitarists playing Pagani Paganniii Paggann,  Mr Brightside, while we’ve been out being tarts, wearing the proverbial Spandex, and throwing shapes and avoiding putting our fingers into anything more awkward than pentatonic box 1 and the odd groupie called Rupert.  What I’ve heard, can’t attest to the veracity, is that Mr B was originally written on keyboard and that’s why it’s such a sod to play.  We can play it, but it’s fiddly.

EDIT:  just seen @benmurray85 's observation that the Killers' guitarist is a jazz dude.  Well they're worse than keyboard players.  Case solved.

Possible, but unlikely. The bulk of it was actually written by Keuning before he and Flowers even met. Loads of his songs are stretchy dickbiscuits to play. He has massive hands a great ear for non-pentatonic riffs and motifs.

Human is a cracking little bit, very simple and goes through the whole song almost. And does anyone on earth know the opening chord to When You Were Young?

benmurray85

@stickyfiddle stretchy dick biscuits is possibly the best phrase I've ever heard.

Danny1969

stickyfiddle said:

 And does anyone on earth know the opening chord to When You Were Young?

No .... and we're not supposed to ask

I don't understand the change key thing. It's obvious it's played in D when you hear the record so why wouldn't you just play it in D in concert and ignore the fact it's now a semi up  ..... I mean it's not as if Flowers has a big vocal range and you need the help to hit the notes. Do people play Sweet child of mine in Db and Hey Joe in Eb ?

The only dog stretch in Brightside is the G as your then spanning about 5 frets but you can cheat that easy enough. 

stickyfiddle

I'm actually not sure why we played it in C - that was already decided when I joined that band. A bit easier on the singer go one down than one up, but I never thought about it tbh.

As for WYWY, I've googled and it's as follows, tuned E flat again. Sounds right actually. Easier on the fingers than MrB

10

10

0

7

8

x

nickp

these sort of chords are probably invented by dicking around on the guitar until your arse puckers at the sound and you then slip it into the song you are writing

Grunfeld

Danny1969 said:

The only dog stretch in Brightside is the G as your then spanning about 5 frets but you can cheat that easy enough. 

Yep, I swap the stretch for the cramp & skip:

E---------------0----------------------
B--------15-------17-15----------------
G--------------------------------------
D-----16----16----------16-------------
A--------------------------------------
E--15----------------------------------

IvisonGuitars

Worst fucking song in the history of worst songs ever. I'd rather do a Jazz Odyssey 50 minute version of Brown Eyed Girl than play it. Yet punter seems OBSESSED by the bloody song. 

EricTheWeary

Grunfeld said:

nickp said:

I know I should be working, but the internet videos don't look too horrible - kind of stuff that classical guitarists have to put up with all the time

Well that’s cos they have been at the classical academy for clever bleedin’ classical guitarists playing Pagani Paganniii Paggann,  Mr Brightside, while we’ve been out being tarts, wearing the proverbial Spandex, and throwing shapes and avoiding putting our fingers into anything more awkward than pentatonic box 1 and the odd groupie called Rupert.  What I’ve heard, can’t attest to the veracity, is that Mr B was originally written on keyboard and that’s why it’s such a sod to play.  We can play it, but it’s fiddly.

EDIT:  just seen @benmurray85 's observation that the Killers' guitarist is a jazz dude.  Well they're worse than keyboard players.  Case solved.

I'd not long read an interview with Dave Keuning, massive ACDC fan , if he's a jazzer he keeps secret about it. I think he just has big hands and is a bit obsessive.

monquixote

I think a lot of the reason people have problems is that they don't twig that the song is in Eb tuning.

I played it with a band I deped with recently and they did it in the original key in standard tuning. I asked how their usual guitarist did it as it's not possible to play it properly like that and they said they didn't think he played it properly. I didn't have time to tune down and back up again for one song so I just played something close, but with a fretted note. Apparently it was closer than what the usual bloke did so they were happy.

John_P

monquixote said:

I think a lot of the reason people have problems is that they don't twig that the song is in Eb tuning.

I played it with a band I deped with recently and they did it in the original key in standard tuning. I asked how their usual guitarist did it as it's not possible to play it properly like that and they said they didn't think he played it properly. I didn't have time to tune down and back up again for one song so I just played something close, but with a fretted note. Apparently it was closer than what the usual bloke did so they were happy.

snap!   I've had exactly the same with a band I dep with once in a while - having learnt it assuming they changed the key it hurt my head trying to transpose it live.      Some people like to make things harder than they need to be.

thecolourbox

Aside from the guitar bits, has anybody heard a band do this and the vocals be even half acceptable? I can't say I ever have

mike257

I've usually bumped it up a semitone when doing it with bands so that, like Danny said, it's in the same fingering as the original with no detuning silliness. I actually find the hardest stretch (if you're playing it properly!) to be the G chord in the pre chorus section. That's across five frets and needs you to cleanly hit third fret G on the fat string whilst shimmying round an arpeggio on the top four. I cop out and leave the low G out, although most guitarists I've seen just bash the chords out in that section. Dude must have GIANT hands!

ICBM

mike257 said:

Dude must have GIANT hands!

http://nme.assets.ipccdn.co.uk/images/gallery/2012Killers_PMVH0060231112.jpg

Bear in mind that's a full-size 335.

Both he and the bassist Mike Stoermer are well over 6 foot. A Jazz Bass looks like a guitar on Stoermer…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Stoermer#/media/File:Mark_Stoermer_Live.jpg

paul_xt

I used to play and still dep for a Killers tribute. This is indeed a bastard to play correctly. The whole Hot Fuss album is tuned down to Eb so it helps being in that tuning to play it. It also helps playing it on an Explorer, as you can get right up the neck comfortably.

PolarityMan

ICBM said:

mike257 said:

Dude must have GIANT hands!

http://nme.assets.ipccdn.co.uk/images/gallery/2012Killers_PMVH0060231112.jpg

Bear in mind that's a full-size 335.

Both he and the bassist Mike Stoermer are well over 6 foot. A Jazz Bass looks like a guitar on Stoermer…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Stoermer#/media/File:Mark_Stoermer_Live.jpg

Dunno if you guys have noticed but you can play the chord from that picture more easily by moving position.

Beexter

paul_xt said:

I used to play and still dep for a Killers tribute. This is indeed a bastard to play correctly.

Thank goodness it's not just me. We keep wanting to include this in our set but it's a tricky little bugger....I'm sure I'll get there eventually...

lloyd

A few years ago I went for an informal audition with a couple guys and they asked me to learn this a few days before, thought it would be easy....it wasn't!

I think I messed around with tunings before getting it half right....What a pair of idiots they turned out to be, I should have know from that song choice....

It is indeed a weird one to play, I think if I was doing it live it would be a loose approximation of the song....

Parker

Its one of those riffs that is impossible to learn off the cuff. But I fiddled with it every so often for fun and can now play it pretty well to the point we'll probably have a practise with it. Its more the other bits in the song i'm now worried about. 

d8m

I learnt it once a few years ago before I stopped playing.

I then realised a couple of years after I'd learnt the "wrong" version so told myself I was going to learn it proper.

Now I can't even remember the "wrong" version.

EdGrip

It's a cracking song, one of the best things to come out of what was a fairly dark time for pop music. 

I used to know how to do the stretchy bit in the "I just can't look..." bridge section, but I could never actually do it properly. Long since forgotten the theory now. These days when I play it, I just play that bit with, er, variations on an open G chord. (B root, A root, G root.)

I love playing the chorus. 

Funny that piano should be mentioned - ages ago I worked it out note-for-note on piano, just for fun, and it's much easier and more suited to that instrument, so the same thing occurred to me then - maybe that's where the rumour came from.