Guitar Arpeggio: Wake Me Up When September Ends, Green Day
There once was much debate about what this song was about, one of the most common initial beliefs, and still a very prevalent one at that, being that it is about 9/11. However, Billie Joe has confirmed to the public that the song was written as a memorial anthem about his father, a jazz musician and minor league baseball catcher, who died of lung cancer when Billie Joe was only ten years old.
In this melancholy ballad, Billie Joe, backed by the support of the other members of Green Day, takes a trip back to his painful childhood and thinks about the day he lost his innocence when his father died. Like many faced with such a traumatic event, Billie Joe never truly recovered, and he can’t believe that twenty years have passed since the day. As Armstrong associates pain with the month September, the month his father died, he would rather not deal with anything related to the month prompting him to sing, “As my memory rests, but never forgets what I lost… Wake me up when September ends…”
This song is in the key of G major and is four minutes and forty five seconds long. The verses are an example of 32-bar AABA form.
Personally, I like this song coz it takes me out of my loneliness and the arpeggio feels soothing to the ear. Here, I will be posting only the arpeggio which is played on an acoustic guitar. If you want the electric part, search on the net… you will find many.
So here goes…
{e| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| {B| |----3-----3-----|----3-----3-----|----3-----3-----|----3-----3-----| {G| |--0-----0-------|--0-----0-------|--0-----0-------|--0-----0-------| {D| |5-----5---------|5-----5---------|5-----5---------|5-----5---------| {A| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| {E| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| {Verse 1 {e| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| {B| |----3-----3-----|----3-----3-----|----3-----3-----|----3-----3-----| {G| |--0-----0-------|--0-----0-------|--0-----0-------|--0-----0-------| {D| |5-----5---------|4-----4---------|2-----2---------|0-----0---------| {A| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| {E| |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| { { C Cm G G {e| |----0-----0-----|----------------|----------------|----------------| {B| |----1-1---1---1-|----4-----4-----|----3-----3-----|----3-----3-----| {G| |--0-------0-----|--5---5---5---0-|----0-0---0---0-|----0-0---0---0-| {D| |----------------|--------5-----0-|--0-------0-----|--0-------0-----| {A| |3-------3-------|3---------------|----------------|----------------| {E| |----------------|----------------|3-------3-------|3-------3-------| Repeat Verse 1 except final measure, then G G/Gb play |----3-----------| this > |----3-------3-0-| > |----0-0-----0---| > |--0-------------| |----------0-----| |3-------2-------| Bridge Em Bm C G G/Gb e| |----------------|----------------|----0-----0-----|----3-----------| B| |----0-----0-----|----3-----3-----|----1-1---1-----|----3-------3-0-| G| |----0-0---0-----|----4-----4-----|--0-------0---0-|----0-0-----0---| D| |--2-------2---0-|--4---4-------4-|--------------0-|--0-------------| A| |----------------|2-------2-------|3-------3-------|----------0-----| E| |0-------0-------|----------------|----------------|3-------2-------| Em Bm C D e| |----------------|----------------|----0-----0-----|----2-----2-----| B| |----0-----0-----|----3-----3-----|----1-1---1-----|----3-3---3-----| G| |----0-0---0-----|----4-----4-----|--0-------0---0-|--2---2---2---0-| D| |--2-------2---0-|--4---4-------4-|----------------|0-------0-------| A| |----------------|2-------2-------|3-------3-------|----------------| E| |0-------0-------|----------------|----------------|----------------|Please leave your comments and suggestions so that I am inspired to post more!
Gah!!!
This is hard!!!
Awesome…
Arpeggios are usually based on certain chords. I have mentioned those chords here. It helps a lot if you are good in barre chords.
Practice switching between strings first while watching the strings and later without seeing it… You should be able to play the strings in any random order. Then arpeggios won’t be a tough job! Best Luck!
dude! ure good man!! can u gimme the strumming and chord pattern for socha hai?? im trying it on the acoustic guitar… not getting the timings well…
This has been a lot of help. This is my first time playing really and it has been a real help to have something like this to go to. I have never been big on taking lessons but needed help to get started and this is the help I needed. This with a video lesson and in about an hour I had half the song down.
Mate, awesome one!!!! liked the most…..(Although liked your all other posts,but this one is special one!) keep it up, would like to have more such posts..
This is the first song (wake me up ) i learn to play on guitar… Dis song is miracle…. Green day rulzz…
woow great tabs