In this song lesson presented by Chris Buono, you’ll learn how to play “Basket Case” by Green Day on guitar with tab.

“Basket Case” by Green Day spent five weeks at the top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, becoming arguably Green Day’s signature song of the pre-American Idiot days.

It’s about Billie Joe Armstrong’s struggles with anxiety; before he was diagnosed with a panic disorder years afterward, he thought he was going crazy. Armstrong commented that at the time: “The only way I could know what the hell was going on was to write a song about it.”

Taught by our top educators, TrueFire’s Song Lesson System is a hands-on contextual music-making experience designed to accelerate the learning process and simulate a full-band setting. Whatever level of player you happen to be, from beginner to advanced, there’s a rhythm or lead guitar part you can learn to play that sounds great in a full band context.

How to Play “Basket Case” on Guitar – Lesson Overview

Click here to get the guitar tab for “Basket Case” by Green Day.

How to Play “Basket Case” on Guitar – Full Song Performance

Click here to get the guitar tab for “Basket Case” by Green Day.

“Basket Case” by Green Day – Lyrics

Do you have the time to listen to me whine
About nothing and everything all at once?
I am one of those
Melodramatic fools
Neurotic to the bone
No doubt about it

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid
Or am I just stoned?

I went to a shrink
To analyze my dreams
She says it’s lack of sex that’s bringing me down
I went to a whore
He said my life’s a bore
So quit my whining ’cause it’s bringing her down

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Grasping to control
So I better hold on

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Or am I just stoned?