Learn to play Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by Green Day on JustinGuitar!
View the full lesson at Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by Green Day | JustinGuitar
Hi, Iām really interested in pick and strum at the same time but Iām kind of a beginner and that is really difficult for me, so I would like if you gave me some advice on that, thank you so much
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Hello @valeherr_10 welcome to the Community.
When you say ākind of a beginnerā can you let us know what grade / module etc, you are working at and what consolidation you have done?
It may be we could offer help and guidance and direct you to lessons relevant to your question but it be too far down the line from your current level.
Hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide
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Waiting for the question @Richard_close2u asked, but for now the biggest advice Iād give is: go as slow as you need to to make it sound good and get the vibe of the pick and strum, and then think about speeding it up.
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Before I found this lesson I spent hours trying to get this intro right. After five minutes of watching this and I made tremendous improvement. But I am having trouble with the pinky muting of the high E string. I couldnāt find any lessons With that pinky muting technique only what is quickly mentioned in this lesson. Any tips or advice that will help me to get this correct
Hi Jason, I learnt from Justin this song and itās a great one and not so straight forward, especially the picking bit at the start. So how I handle muting high E string while playing Em, D, Cadd9 and G is I just donāt push the string strong enough to let it ring out. Itās like you learn your chords for the first time and strings sometimes donāt ring out that is what I do, just gently resting my fretting pinky on e string. Hope this makes sense but you can have a look at my own cover if you want:
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Thanks that worked better donāt know why didnāt think of using the pinky on my fretting hand. Then I tried muting with my index finger from the B string. That worked out even better if Anybody else ever has this problem. thanks for helping getting my brain thinking, very helpful.
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Great video as always.
My question is about the timing in the play along appā¦.what strum pattern do people use? The app bpm seems about half of that on the tab, and chord changes come halfway through the bar.
Also the c chord is different in the appā¦is it on purpose, and if so is there likely to be a good reason (e.g. ease) or perhaps just a mistake?
I noticed it doesnāt really make that much of a difference, or atleast I canāt tell if it has a difference or not, especially since e string just cancels out most of the lower string anyways. It could be different on the app for convenience? like just getting that index finger prepared? or maybe faster chord changes. Regardless it doesnāt really affect the song that much so you should be okay 
The strumming pattern is supposed to be the Ol Faithful strumming patter [ down. down. up, up. down ] For the BPM i donāt really know? I just try to play along with the actual recording and seems to help me understand how fast I need to go.
soggyboggard:
what strum pattern do people use?
I donāt use the app, but hereās what Iām doing in case itās helpful. I was initially using Justinās picking pattern and then going to Old Faithful, but after listening more carefully, sounds like itās not quite either of those.
This is what Billie Joe Armstrong seems to be doing:
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
p D U D U
Where that p on 1 is just picking the root with the rest being strums, and with a heavy accent on the downstrum on beat 2.
It seems to me that he starts out during the first verse doing the picking that Justin details later in the video (but no strum on the first beat, just the root), and then transitions to the above during the chorus.
However, it doesnāt sound right to me when I do that, maybe because Iām just on a guitar without all the violins, so Iām trying out just using the above after the chorus to change things up (and also no longer muting the thinnest string) and then transitioning to Old Faithful.
Okay, I think I have a full map of the song Iām pretty happy with. Hopefully will get it good enough to record in a few weeks. In the meantime, hereās the map Iām going by:
The different parts to use throughout the map
Note, Iāve only put in the tab for the E chords. Just use a similar pattern for the other chords.
āpickingā
ex--------------x
B|-----3--------|
G|--------0---0-|
D|--------------|
A|--------------|
E|-3--------3---|
That x means keep your right pinky on the e string.
āchord pickingā
ex--------------x
B|-3---3--------|
G|-0------0---0-|
D|-0------------|
A|--------------|
E|-3--------3---|
ābig strum on 2ā
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
p D U D U
where that p on 1 is picking just the bass note, and the D on 2 is heavily accented.
āOld Faithfulā
D-DU-UDU
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D D U U D U
Another possible variation on ābig strum on 2ā
D-DU-UD--
The full song mapped out
Note, I only specify when to pinky-mute and unmute the thinnest string with the right hand. So, if a part doesnāt say anything about that, continue to mute or unmute based on what you did in the previous part.
<intro, picking, pinky mute thinnest string>
G C9 D x2
<verse 1, picking>
G C9 D x2
Em D C G x2
<chorus, picking>
Em G x2
Em D
<instrumental break, big strum on 2, unmute thinnest string>
G C9 D x2
<verse 2, chord picking, mute thinnest>
G C9 D x2
Em D C G x2
<chorus, chord picking>
Em G x2
Em D
<instrumental break 2, big strum on 2, unmute thinnest>
G C9 D x4
<chorus, chord picking, mute thinnest>
Em G x2
Em D
<instrumental break, big strum on 2, unmute thinnest>
G C9 D x2
<chorus, very quiet, picking, mute thinnest string>
Em G x2
Em D G
<outro, slow down, picking, last D, pick the high D and A twice each>
G C9 D x2
G (strummed slowly and quietly)
Oops, I left out that the Em D C G x2 after āinstrumental break 2ā should use āOld Faithful.ā Sorry about that! I canāt seem to edit the above post any more, probably because it was too long ago.
Anyway, I finally made a recording here following the above picking/strumming, so hopefully thatāll make it even clearer.
What do you think of the picking/strumming pattern?
For any comments and feedback on other aspects of the performance, please put them in my AVOYP thread here. Thanks!
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Learning this song is so much fun, and kinda challenging in the same time but i enjoyed it. Iām trying to learn this song and still canāt get the hang of it, itās been a week since I started learning this, is it really taking so long or is there something wrong with my practice technique?
Justin has the initial picking as base, strum, B string, G string, base, G string with the high E muted. Then he mentions that, after the first chorus, heāll often unmute the high E string, but I canāt tell if heās still picking the B string or if he shifts to the high E so that itās base, strum, high E, G, base, G.
OK so I`m learning mod 8 songs and have arrived at good riddance by green day has anyone managed to learn this playing arpeggio if so how long did it take I can do all the other things such as the minor e scale stuck 3/4 chords and play the songs up to this one I seem to be stuck on mod 8 for ages do I have to learn this to move on.
Hi John @Guitarman63 , Iām in Grade 2 as well, consolidating. At our level, I think playing around with more advanced techniques like arpeggio is great, but we (well, I) havenāt yet developed the skills (and are not expected) to do them well. Itās definitely time for you to move on! The great thing is, when you come back and revisit the song and the arpeggio later (say, when consolidating Grade 2 - or even before), youāll probably find youāre much better at it than when you decided to move on. FWIW - I never did get Happy Birthday down. (Thatās coming in Module 11.)
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Hi John,
I tackled that one a while ago. Even though I have a longer background in guitar, it took my 3-4 months to get the arpeggios under my finger while singing, still not up to speed of the original (and probably will never be 
). So it is a tough one that needs a certain amount of patience, practice and perseverance, I would say, if you want to play it like the Original.
So, if anything else from module 8 works fine for you, please move on. Itās not required to play it perfectly before doing so. Applying easy strumming is perfectly fine and enough at your current grade.
What Iād recommend - in case you like the song - come back to it every now an then and give it a try. But itās definitely not blocking you from progressing further.
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Thanks Judi I don`t plan to play arpeggios in the type of music I am interested in but if i am to learn guitar makes sense to at least have a go and try to understand the theory not going to spend a lot of time on it though
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Thanks Lisa not my type of music but worth having a go at just to understand it.
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I did this as fingerstyle arpeggiated which worked well. Give it a go but be prepared to change and get the song right strumming first and keep it in your practice list to adapt over time with your learning.