Why The Mr. Brightside Riff Is Cool (Analysis)

Hey everyone, something a little different for today - I've been hearing the song Mr. Brightside by the Killers a ton on the radio while driving. It's gotten me pretty curious about some of the guitar parts and how they work. There are definitely some very pretty guitar shapes in this song. Attached / below is my analysis of the main riff and the verse riff. Expect a video on this to come out tomorrow too.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Db Major, Standard Tuning (tuned 1/2 down to Eb standard)

Main Riff

• The main riff is built around a beautiful Dbadd9 voicing (the I chord in the key)
• My guess is that the guitarist found a great add9 shape and then built a riff around it by changing the bass notes around the core chord shape. This effect creates movement around the riff and gives us the “feel” of moving harmony. I call this “pivoting”
• If we wanted to chalk it up as chords, the riff goes Dbadd9-Dbmaj9/C-Gbmaj13…or I-IV
• Easier to just think about it as Dbadd9 with changing bass notes

Why does the riff sound so good?

• Lots of very nice intervals in the add9 voicing. 6th between F and Db, 2nd between Db and Eb. 2nds and 6ths in voicings make for the coolest chords
• melodic arpeggio pattern, note to note, it sounds like a melody. Very twinkly move to have descending pattern in an arpeggio of a chord
• Very cool bass movement. On the last 16th note of each chord, there’s a pick up note in the bass leading into the next bass note. Creates some great rhythm
• Descending bass movement; this always sounds very emo

Verse Riff

• Same picking pattern as the main riff, basically just development in the main idea
• Bbm(11)-Absus4-Gb6. iv-V-IV bass line movement. Descending again
• I’d think about this riff in the same way as the main riff, there’s a core shape structure with moving bass notes around it.
• Cool cluster voicing with a 2nd against the Db and Eb.

Main Takeaways

• A great way to write an interesting twinkly riff is to find a great chord shape and build around it. It sounds really nice to have a fix sound in place with movement happening around it.
• If you can put a descending bass line around your chord, that’s going to sound good
• Add9 is a really nice aesthetic