Cover band folk, got any Mr Brightside cheats?

Danny1969 · January 2016

That was Boulevard of broken dreams, that effect was created by drawing the amplitude in Protools ......... when I saw them live that part was indeed just played from a BT :~)

vasselmeyer · January 2016

Although you can get very close to the Boulevard of Broken Dreams effect with a tap-tempo tremolo. I've done it with my Diamond Tremolo and the audience recognised it pretty much straight away.

EricTheWeary · January 2016

Danny1969 said:

That was Boulevard of broken dreams, that effect was created by drawing the amplitude in Protools ......... when I saw them live that part was indeed just played from a BT :~)

That's the one.

citizen68 · January 2016

thecolourbox said:

Danny1969;950080" said:
, and vocally it's an easy song to do as well
The number of god awful vocal performances of this song would suggest otherwise

Visions of Vic Reeves doing it in the 'club' style... As has been said easier with the guitar higher on strap or go mad altogether & get that foot up on the monitor

thecolourbox · January 2016

What key are toy playing it in? I've just done it in D, starring on the D string at twelfth fret, using 5ths instead and is much easier

So instead of D F# Higher D for the first bit, I'm literally just going D A higher D and back down again, using the open high e string open for the same kind of effect.

Middle and ring fingers stay on G string 14th fret and B string 15th fret respectively. Then your index finger just goes D string 12th (note D), D string 11th fret (note C#), A string 14th fret (note

, E string 15th fret (note G). Changing each time the chord does,

Hope that helps and makes sense

Danny1969 · January 2016

You can do it that way but the signature sound of the riff comes from hearing an E, another E and a D all ringing out at the same time. That little trick is used on the end of every inversion of the riff

thecolourbox · January 2016

apologies for the ropey playing and awful phone mic sound, I've only been trying it for about fifteen mins

supes · January 2016

I've played it in various bands, and the easiest way to play it, which sounds most authentic, is as Danny is demonstrating earlier in the thread.
I play a Les Paul, and rather than sit down I adopt the "Slash solo pose" and hold the guitar upright! It's so much easier plus the crowd think it's harder to do when actually its so much easier!
I also don't play the wide stretch in the bridge, I'm picking right notes around the chords but don't think that part of the song is as recognisable as the main riff. Chorus I'm playing same riff as Danny but down around 2nd, 3rd, 5th frets on high E and B strings for first part then up around 10th/12th frets area for synth bits.
So I'd play Dannys intro and work something comfortable for the bridge, that'll do you unless Brandon Flowers actually shows up. Bet he can't even play it

supes · January 2016

@tbm I can try and record roughly what I play if you think it will help, but Dannys vid should have you sorted, mine is just a variation for bridge and chorus!

John_P · January 2016

^ I play it the same - I'm usually one for getting parts bang on unless I want to be creative and take a few liberties but bright side is usually near the end of the night and I only really play it at dep gigs. Get the intro as right as you can and the chorus melody and you can simplify the rest of it ( especially the hideous stretch!)

stemill · 9:55AM

Bit late to the party here! I discovered this page looking for some tips on how to make this riff easier to play. I managed to get it sounding nice and smooth sat down but then discovered as soon as i stood up it became almost impossible to play at a consistent standard i'd be comfortable performing. After a big of digging into what was causing the biggest fingering problems i realised that tuning the g-string up a semitone (so back to g if you're down tuned) makes all of the problems go away. The third shape in the intro riff becomes much more comfortable and the big stretch in the pre chorus disappears, the chorus also no longer has stacked fingers on the same fret which feels a bit easier to me. There seems to be no downside at all (apart from relearning the new fingering obvs), the open g is never used and the riff sounds identical. I've not seen this approach mentioned anywhere else so thought I'd share

stickyfiddle · 10:09AM

I’m back in a band since this first popped up, and am playing this regularly.

We play it standard tuning (up a semitone, which makes it D). Don’t play it in Eb tuning - that’s madness unless you’re already tuning a guitar to Eb for other material as well. Down a semitone to C also works if you tune the top e down to D because that top one is really the only one you need

But in standard, I don’t play the big pre-chorus stretch at all.

Those chord shapes for me (in E) become arpeggios around the following:

7997x0
5x77x0
355x30

That gives you that D against the open E in every position.

JMS96 · 10:20AM

I get the problems standing up with this. Ergonomics of the guitar are key to me and it’s restricted my choice of guitar for covers gigs. Has to be a Gibson - ideally Firebird/Explorer. I can just about get there with an SG, but I cannot play this on a Fender.

stemill · 10:29AM

We are retuning for some other stuff (at request of singer obvs!). If you're playing it in D you could just tune the G up to G#. Sounds like you already have a work around but this little trick has made it possible for me to comfortably play the original riff with no changes to string/note choice.