Welcome to Paradise

by Green Day • Lesson #322 • Sep 17, 2020

Video lesson

Licensed Song Sheet 2 pages

Follow along with my print-friendly guide for this song! It’s available for purchase at Musicnotes.com, the web’s leading provider of licensed sheet music.

On the fence? Here's a guide I made showing the purchase & print process, including answers to common questions about my song sheets.

Buy at Musicnotes.com

Editor’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)

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:

Green Day’s version of this song

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Welcome to Paradise

Video lesson

Licensed Song Sheet 2 pages

Editor’s notes

Related lessons I’ve made

Audio of me playing this song

Green Day’s version of this song

Unlock My Secret Stash!

Browse Related Lessons

Enjoy My Lessons? Show Your Support!

Looking for More Song Lessons?

Featured Courses

Strumming & Rhythm

Fingerstyle & Travis Picking

Blues Starter Kit

Reading Music for Guitarists

Learning Lead Guitar

Beginner Chord Guide

Practical Music Theory

Using a Capo

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Capo Captain

Key Master

Blank Tabs

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Recent Lessons