Learn the all-time Green Day classic "When I Come Around"!

In this lesson, we’ll learn how to play When I Come Around by Green Day. Punk is not dead, my friends. It’ll never be! This song was a hit in the 90s - and I’m pretty sure it still is!

It’s such a classic punk song. Simple, full of energy, and with a memorable solo - as it has to be! And I’ve got some good news for you: When I Come Around is actually pretty easy to play.

For this lesson, I’m using an electric guitar - but no drama! You can have loads of fun playing When I Come Around on acoustic guitar as well.

🚨 Before you start, make sure you’re hip with your power chords! Check out my Ultimate Power Chords Guide for Beginners to refresh your knowledge.

The Original Green Day Guitar Tuning

Green Day's record of When I Come Around is in E♭. This means you have to tune all strings down by one semitone.

I kept my guitar in regular tuning for this lesson. I recommend you do the same unless you’re a big Green Day fan and want to play along with the original record. :)

🎸 Keen to Retune? Check out my lesson on E♭ tuning.

When I Come Around: Intro & Verse Progression

The progression for the intro and verses is G5, C5, E5, D5. We play C, E, and D as root-5 power chords, so make sure the tip of finger 1 mutes string 6 when you play these.

If you’re hip with barre chords, switch this E5 for Em as an A-shape. This is almost the same grip as a root-5 E5, but we need to use finger 2 as well. And though we usually fret string 1 in this minor grip, it should be muted here.

When I Come Around by Green Day: Chorus

The second progression we need is A5 C5 A5 C5. We play A5 as an open chord: make sure you mute string 6 with the thumb.

The song structure is pretty simple! It goes intro, verse, chorus, intro riff, verse, solo, chorus, then chorus. :)

Perfect Your Guitar Cover With These Extra Details

If you want When I Come Around to sound real authentic, you’ll need these rhythm tricks.

The first is to use palm mute for some of the strums. In the G and D chords in the first verse, we play two downstrums with palm mute, then one without. Over E and C, we don’t use palm mute.

👂 Listen, Listen, Listen: You can take my advice on all these little details, but in the end the best way to nail the groove and absorb the nuances is to listen loads to the original song. :)

To be extra picky, add a little mute as you’re switching from E to C. ;) You can also play a muted down-up before the G, C and E chords! These happen as you transition from the previous chord, so make sure your fretting hand mutes the strings as you transition.

At the end of the chorus, there’s an awesome two-note riff: it’s a flick-off from C to B on string 5. And immediately after the chorus, we don’t play palm mute on the G - just two downstrums. :)

Even the solo is melodic - you can probably sing it in your musical imagination!

Accompany The Original When I Come Around & Listen

I suggest you play along with the original version of When I Come Around to help you cop the groove. :) Either use software to move the original up a semitone or tune your guitar down to E♭. It’s well worth it!

Try to absorb the feel - it’s very relaxed. Green Day are great for this. Their music is powerful, punky and energetic, yet relaxed and cool. You can even do this is as a beginner. Stick to power chords and pay attention to the music as you play along. :)

🤔 The Feel? The “feel” is what defines a song's uniqueness. It's the part of music you can’t describe, write down or learn it from a book - you need to absorb it and find a way to transmit it when you play.

One final thing: the guitar parts in the recording are hard-panned left and right: one is in the left ear and one is in the right. It’s interesting to listen to them separately - take one earbud out and listen to the other! Then, listen to both together and listen for how they weave together.

If you’re playing guitar in a band, it can be real fun if one guitarist plays the parts in the left speaker and the other plays the guitar in the right speaker. ;) It sounds deeper and fuller than one guitar playing a mixture of two parts.

🎵 Dig Green Day? Learn all their big guitar hits in my Green Day artist section.