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Welcome to Paradise
by Green Day • Lesson #322 • Sep 17, 2020
Video lesson
Print-Friendly Song Sheet 2 pages
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Buy at Musicnotes.comEditor’s notes
Hey friends! Here’s a new lesson where I’ll show you a Tyler Childers-inspired arrangement of Green Day’s 1990s classic Welcome to Paradise (via their album “Dookie”). This one takes the raw, backwoods-style acoustic country sound (of Tyler Childers, but also artists like Steve Earle via Copperhead Road) and imagines how that type of guitar playing might be applied to a pop-punk song. The result is what’s in this lesson, and I hope you enjoy!
From a guitar POV, the heart of this arrangement is based on a D-riff (which can be played in Drop-D tuning), similar to that used in Tyler Childers’ Feathered Indians and Whitehouse Road – and also Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road. This results in a droning, raw sound (lots of open D-string) with occasional flourish via reaching your pinky. I also use an occasional A-riff (via hammering-on the 5th string) for added acoustic flourish. I show it all in my video lesson, with tabs!
Timestamps for this video:
- 0:00 Playthrough & lesson overview
- 2:38 Intro D-riff (4 measures w/ tab)
- 11:05 Chord & strumming (verse & chorus)
- 13:41 A-riff during the verse
- 14:39 D-riff during the verse
- 15:22 Chorus melody riff (w/ tab)
Related lessons I’ve made
If you dig this style of playing, here’s related lessons I’ve made – all of these being in the key of D and having a similar outlaw country-ish sound. PDFs for each of these are available via the links below:
- Feathered Indians by Tyler Childers
- White House Road by Tyler Childers
- Copperhead Road by Steve Earle
- Rocky Mountain High by John Denver
- Where Rainbows Never Die by The Steeldrivers
- Honky Tonk Heroes by Waylon Jennings
There’s also these technique videos I’ve made, which may be helpful for this particular song:
Audio of me playing this song
Here’s audio of me playing it:
Lyrics and chords
Again, note this is all one whole-step lower than one Green Day plays. I’m playing it in this key because it fits the country arrangement I’m doing better. See my video for more context here.
INTRO
D-riff
VERSE
D C D
...Dear mama, can you hear me whining
D C F A
...It's been three whole weeks since that I have left your home
D C D
...This sudden fear has left me trembling
D C F A
...'Cause now it seems that I am out here on my own
F A
And I'm feeling so alone
VERSE
D F/C G/B Bb
Pay attention to the cracked streets and the broken homes
D F/C A A
Some call it slums, some call it nice
D F/C G/B Bb
I want to take you through a wasteland, I like to call my home
D A (let ring) D [with D-riff]
..............Welcome to Paradise
D C D D C F A
...A gunshot rings out at the station... another urchin snaps and left dead on his own
D C D
...It makes me wonder why I'm still here
D C F A F A
...For some strange reason, it's now feeling like my home, and I'm never gonna go
[D] Pay attention to the [F] cracked streets [G] and the broken [Bb] homes
[D] Some call it [F] slums, some call it [A] nice... [A]...
I [D] want to take you [F] through a wasteland, I [G] like to call my [Bb] home
[D].... [A]... Welcome to [D] Paradise [with D-riff]
[ instrumental chorus w/ breakdown & build-up ]
D C D
...Dear mother, can you hear me laughing?
D C F A
...It's been six whole months since that I have left your home
D C D
...It makes me wonder why I'm still here
D C F A F A
...For some strange reason it's now feeling like my home, and I'm never gonna go
[D] Pay attention to the [F] cracked streets [G] and the broken [Bb] homes
[D] Some call it [F] slums, some call it [A] nice... [A]...
I [D] want to take you [F] through a wasteland, I [G] like to call my [Bb] home
[D].... [A]... Welcome to [D] Paradise [with D-riff]
Green Day’s version of this song
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