How to Play Good Riddance on Guitar Like a Pro!

Hey, guitar enthusiast, Lauren Bateman here, and I'm going to be showing you a fantastic song by Green Day called Good Riddance time of your life. This was a big song when I was younger, so if you are my age, in your 40s, you're gonna really enjoy this one. It's a great song that has some strumming, it has some picking, and that's where we're gonna start off. But before we get into that, let's just talk about the chords we're gonna be using. We're gonna be using what I call my stuck like glue chords. It's because we're going to have the third and pinky fingers locked to the B string and the E string. So these two fingers are always going to stay here and it's going to give the guitar a very bright sound to these chords. We're going to make our G chord by just placing our first and second fingers to slide down to CAD 9. We're just going to adjust those two fingers down to do our DSUS 4 4. We're going to move our first finger down, second fret on the third string. And then an E minor. I mean, this is more like an E minor 7 chord. But for E minor, we're just going to put our first and second fingers here and three and four on the bottom. So again, we got G, C9, D and E. Okay, now there's four different chords, so we're going to pick them four different ways, and I'm going to show you that next.

So our G chord and our E minor chord are six string chords, meaning we're going to strum all six strings to play them. So we would pick these two the same. Now, the key here is we're going to be playing the base note of the chord, the lowest string. So for the E minor in the G chord, it's going to be this low E string here. Now we're going to be doing some string skipping, which might be difficult for some of you. You might have to look at your strings to do this. So from here we're going to be going 3, then 1, 2, 3. Okay. And I do strings 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Okay. So 6, 3, 1, 2, 3. Okay. And the timing of that is going to be.

So it's kind of 1, 2, and, and 4. 1, 2, and, and four. 1, 1, 2, and, and Four. And this is good because it's going to mimic what we're doing on the strumming pattern in a little bit. So let's try that again. So I've got 6, 3, 1, 2, 3, 6, 3, 1, 2- 3.

And again you can say I'm not looking at the strings, but if you need to look at the strings, for now that's totally fine. What I recommend doing is start by looking at the strings and then eventually you can take your eyes off off of it. Okay, this is a great exercise in learning your strings. So that is our G and E minor chords. Now our CAD9 chord is going to be basically the same thing except we're starting on the fifth string. So now it's going to be 5, 3, 1, 2, 3.

Okay. So you can hear slightly different sound. All right, and then the D chord is going to be 4, 3, 1, 2, 3. So that one doesn't have any string skipping. So it's 4, 3, 1, 2, 3. So if I go through this for us to practice a little bit, I'm gonna do G chord, C chord, D chord. Right. And we'll go to the close up view so that you guys can watch my hands. And it's gonna be 1, 2, ready and 6, 3, 1, 2, 3, 6, 3. 1, 2, 3.

Okay, let's go to the C chord.

5, 3, 3. 1, 2, three, five, three. 1, 2, 3, 5, 3. 1, 2, Three. And now D.

You see on that last one, even I screwed up. I make mistakes sometimes too, but sometimes I like to leave the mistakes in so that you know, I'm not perfect. And if you are playing this song and you accidentally hit the wrong string, it's not really like a huge deal because as long as you're playing a chord, it's going to sound right. So don't stop playing, keep playing and correct yourself on the next picking pattern. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take the chord first part of the chord progression for the verse which is going to be a double G, the C and then the D. And we're just going to try that. Okay, I'll go at a slow play. This song is very fast, but we'll try going at a slower pace so it's double G. CD ready? One, two, here we go.

So I pick up the speed a little bit more in tempo with the song. This is what it's going to sound like. Ready? Here we go. One, two, here we go.

Now people ask me all the time, Lauren, could I finger pick this? And you absolutely could. I like doing this better with a pick because I think you get a better sound out of the guitar car and you get a better attack. Okay, so you're going to more clearly hear those notes. Using your flesh gives you a little bit of a warmer tone. It also does hide mistakes a little bit better. But for this song in particular, I do. I love finger picking, but I love using a pick. Okay, so now what we're going to do with this picking pattern, just so you guys can see it in action, I'm going to do the whole verse. So basically, halfway through the verse, we're going to switch chord progressions. And if you need the notes for this, I do have notes over on my website, laurenbatement.com and we're gonna go to an E minor, D, C, G. Okay, so the first two lines are the same chord progression, and then the next two lines are a different chord progression. And for this first verse, it is all picked. And then when we get to the chorus, we're gonna strum and I'll show you that very shortly. But let's take it from the top of the verse. I'll go a little bit slower. I won't go full speed. I'll save that for the playthrough at the end. So I'll kind of go this speed. Okay, so we got 1, 2, 1, 2. Here we go, G. Just hang out on the G for now. Get your timing.

Ready. Here we go.

Another turning point A fork stuck in the road.

Time grabs you by the wrist and directs you where to go.

So make the best of this and don't ask why.

It'S not a question but a lesson learned in time and.

I lied the chorus is picked the first time through.

It's something unpredictable. In the end it's right I hope you had the time of your life.

So it's the G on the chorus where we start strumming. So let's talk about that strumming pattern, and I'm going to put it all together. So the strumming pattern, we call this a syncopated strumming pattern, very much like the picking pattern, because we have in music, we have downbeats and we have upbeats, and usually 1, 2, 3, 4. It's the part where you tap down with your foot, and then the upbeat is where your foot lifts up. All right, so if you were tapping your foot like this. 1, 2, 3, 4. So the ands are the upbeat 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And okay, so downbeat upbeat. So what we're going to have is we're going to be missing one of these downbeats. So it's going to be down, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up. One, two, and, and four. And one, two and, and four. And down, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up. Now, that syncopation is hard, hard for you. You can start by just going 1, 2 and 3 and 4, and 1, 2 and 3 and 4. And then slowly work on getting that three out of the strum. You're still strumming down as if the three is there. You're just not hitting the string. So it's 1, 2 and 3, and 4, and 1, 2 and 3. Now switch.

Okay, nothing's. Just watch my wrist. Nothing's going to change with my strumming hand.

Now here's the real strumming pattern.

You still see my hand is just doing this. Your hand is the timekeeper. Okay? So you can practice that, but it's going to be down, down, up, up, down, up. And again, this song is very peppy.

Okay, so that is the, what, the strumming pattern we're going to use on the next verse. Now, it might be tricky for you to go from picking to strumming, so it'd be.

Hope you had the time of your life.

So you'll have to go right from the chorus into the picking. And then again on the final chorus, you're going to have to go from strumming, you know.

Something unpredictable. And in the end, it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.

So you're gonna have to go from picking back into strumming. Now, if you've never done that before, it can be a tricky transition. So again, I would just go slow. So I would take, you know, the last part of this instrumental verse, and I have a C and a G. And I would do my strumming pattern. Down, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up.

And I would just try and play the first chord. All right, so the hardest part is the transition between the two parts. So if you can smooth out the transition, the rest of it should come out easy enough. So again, I'm just taking the last two chords, C.

G and then E minor.

Because if I can get into that E minor, you know, going to the G.

Going to the G and E minor after that is easy. Okay, so that is how you work on those transition points. So that's the verse, that's the chorus. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to do a full playthrough, a little bit more in speed and time with the song. So it's something to practice with. So I'm going to do the first verse and chorus picked. Okay. And then I'm going to do the second verse in chorus as strumming. All right. And then I will do. We won't do the instrumental verse, but I do. We'll do one chorus where I kind of hop into picking so that you can practice that transition. All right, so let's take it from the top. Ready? One, two, one, two. Here we go.

Another turning point A f. Stuck in the road time grabs you by the wrist and directs you where to go so make the best of this task and don't ask why it's not a question but a lesson learned in time it's something and unpredictable in the end it's right I hope you have the time of your life.

So take the photographs and still frames in your mind Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time tattoos and memories of dead skin on trial for when it's the world it was worth overwhel it's something unpredictable in the end it's right I hope you have the time of your life now Ready?

Picking.

It's something unpredictable and in the end it's right I hope you had the time of your life now if you.

Enjoyed the picking in this song, that I think you'll really like learning. So the intro to sweet home alabama right over there, it's the same exact chords. It's a slightly different pattern, but it's going to help you work on memorizing where your strings are. So go check out that lesson right over there.