Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by Green Day Lesson

Song Lessons Grade 2 Songs
6

Hi Jason, I learnt from Justin this song and it’s 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 don’t push the string strong enough to let it ring out. It’s like you learn your chords for the first time and strings sometimes don’t 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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7

Thanks that worked better don’t know why didn’t 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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8

Great video as always.

My question is about the timing in the play along app….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 app…is it on purpose, and if so is there likely to be a good reason (e.g. ease) or perhaps just a mistake?

10

I noticed it doesn’t really make that much of a difference, or atleast I can’t 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 doesn’t really affect the song that much so you should be okay :slight_smile:

The strumming pattern is supposed to be the Ol Faithful strumming patter [ down. down. up, up. down ] For the BPM i don’t really know? I just try to play along with the actual recording and seems to help me understand how fast I need to go.

11

soggyboggard:

what strum pattern do people use?

I don’t use the app, but here’s what I’m doing in case it’s helpful. I was initially using Justin’s picking pattern and then going to Old Faithful, but after listening more carefully, sounds like it’s 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 doesn’t sound right to me when I do that, maybe because I’m just on a guitar without all the violins, so I’m 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.

12

Okay, I think I have a full map of the song I’m pretty happy with. Hopefully will get it good enough to record in a few weeks. In the meantime, here’s the map I’m going by:

The different parts to use throughout the map

Note, I’ve only put in the tab for the E chords. Just use a similar pattern for the other chords.

“picking”

ex--------------x
B|-----3--------|
G|--------0---0-|
D|--------------|
A|--------------|
E|-3--------3---|

That x means keep your right pinky on the e string.

“chord picking”

ex--------------x
B|-3---3--------|
G|-0------0---0-|
D|-0------------|
A|--------------|
E|-3--------3---|

“big strum on 2”

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.

“Old Faithful”
D-DU-UDU

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D   D U   U D U

Another possible variation on “big strum on 2”
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 doesn’t 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

Em D C G x2

<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)

13

Oops, I left out that the Em D C G x2 after “instrumental break 2” should use “Old Faithful.” Sorry about that! I can’t 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 that’ll 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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14

Learning this song is so much fun, and kinda challenging in the same time but i enjoyed it. I’m trying to learn this song and still can’t get the hang of it, it’s been a week since I started learning this, is it really taking so long or is there something wrong with my practice technique?

15

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, he’ll often unmute the high E string, but I can’t tell if he’s still picking the B string or if he shifts to the high E so that it’s base, strum, high E, G, base, G.

16

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.

17

Hi John @Guitarman63 , I’m 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) haven’t yet developed the skills (and are not expected) to do them well. It’s 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), you’ll probably find you’re much better at it than when you decided to move on. FWIW - I never did get Happy Birthday down. (That’s coming in Module 11.)

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18

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 :sweat_smile:). 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. :slight_smile: It’s not required to play it perfectly before doing so. Applying easy strumming is perfectly fine and enough at your current grade.

What I’d recommend - in case you like the song - come back to it every now an then and give it a try. But it’s definitely not blocking you from progressing further. :slight_smile:

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19

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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20

Thanks Lisa not my type of music but worth having a go at just to understand it.

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21

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.

22

I’ve been working on Good Riddance for 2 months. I’ve seen the word arpeggio tossed around in the forum but haven’t a clue what they are and am not worrying about them in Module s 8, 9, or 10 as they haven’t come up in the lessons (at least not that I remember). I’ve having a hard enough time learning this in the App with the band track as I cannot get the tempo correct with what sounds like an orchestra playing all over the place.

I’m guessing the song would be easier to learn without arpeggios but either way you do not have to learn the recommended songs. However, it is recommended that whatever songs you do learn use the 3/4 stuck chords so you can get used to them. I’m still having trouble with Em7 and A7sus4. My 3/4 fingers keep sliding away from the fret!

Incidentally, I have not learned to play any of the module 8 songs well yet (though I keep trying) and have moved on to Modules 9 and 10. I did not want to stagnate my learning by being stuck on the songs. I will have these or other pertinent songs learned by the time I have to consolidate Grade 2, however.

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23

All it means is Broken Chord or playing individual notes of a chord one at time. Justin isn’t really playing arpeggios in the song he’s picking notes out while strumming. But in reality it doesn’t matter what you call it. It is a good skill to get under your fingers and Justin does a really good job of explaining it at the 4:49 mark Tagged as Picking Pattern on the web site video.

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24

Thanks, @stitch , I’ll check that out. Maybe it will be something for me to play around with on my vacation next week!

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25

thanks for that i do not want to get stuck on one module i will have a go but move on

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26

Hmm, I don’t think you are expected to be able to play the more complex strumming pattern with the individual picked strings at module 8, picking individual strings whilst strumming isn’t taught until module 17.

I think just being able to play it with the ‘old faithful’ strumming pattern is fine for module 8, it’s a good practice of stuck 3/4 chords too.

In fact I have just had a look at what Justin says about it and it’s only there for the stuck 3/4 not the fancy strumming pattern, you aren’t expected to do that. You don’t have to play all the suggested songs, just pick the ones you like to practice the stuck 3/4 chords.

Good Riddance by Green Day is a pop-rock classic! It uses the 3&4 stuck chords, in combination with picking out notes one at a time while strumming. You’ll learn more about that guitar technique later on.

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