Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

Hey guys. Special thanks to Donner for sending me the guitar displayed in this video. It is made of carbon fiber and I am very impressed with it’s quality given the affordable price tag. This guitar felt great to play and resonated beautifully coming equipped with a pack of Elixirs. I have links in the description if you are interested in checking this out. As well, they have some great Black Friday deals happening. I have to point out some very important notes below.

Most transcriptions of this song: In double time, written with eighth notes, and are simplified

This Transcription: In half time, written with 16th notes, and more true to what Billy Joe is playing.

I wrote this in half time based on where I would picture the snare drum if I were to visualize drums to this tune. Also, I find that following 2 measure strum patterns (if this were written in half time) can be quite tedious. This is an interpretation thing on my part. I basically listened to what Billy Joe was playing every step of the way and tabbed out every note and strum pattern I heard. Then I played it for you in the video. To the best of my abilities of course.

This tab might look a little much at first, but the point is not to get everything completely note for note 100% perfect. Just hit the ballpark of what’s indicated there. For instance, if I’m indicating to strum the top 4 strings and you only hit 3, you’re still doing just fine. Because both sound completely right given that you are playing a G chord. The only difference is that I heard 4 strings when I was listening to Billy Joe playing in the track and tabbed it out.

And also, if the strum pattern in a measure is D, D, DUDU, UD , DUDU and you actually play D, DU, DUDU, UD , DUDU, it’s not really wrong if you are still playing on beat and playing the correct chords. It’s just that I specifically heard Billy Joe play the first strum pattern.

Did I over explain the song? Or is a note for note transcription of this tune useful? Did my vocals sounds a little like Ozzy again? Are there any more Green Day songs left for this page?