Green Day's "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" Chords

Green Day is known for their ballads and "four chord bangers" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" isn't any different from their chord style. You don't need to know any really complex chords or riffs to pull this one off since most of the song is just power chords.

The only thing to watch out for is the coda (outro) that contains a set of chords that don't necessarily run in a 4/4 time signature. (For beginning guitarists, the only time signature you may have played in was 4/4)

I'm pretty sure that the whole song is tuned a half step down.

Intro.

This riff is the same as all the verses of the song. The only difference is the use of tremolo on the guitar.

This guitar tune opens with one strum for each chord of Em, G, D, and then A. You might hear more than one note sound, but that's the tremolo doing its job.

e---|-----|-----|-----|-----|
b---|-----|-----|-----|-----|
g---|--0--|-----|--7--|-----|
D---|--2--|--5--|--7--|--7--|
A---|--2--|--5--|--5--|--7--|
E---|--0--|--3--|-----|--5--|

Verse.

This one is easy enough. It's the same as the intro!

The only difference is its played on a clean guitar channel and there are about two strong strums per chord instead of one.

Oh, and the last time before the chorus, hold the A a little longer.

Last time:

e---|--------|--------|--------|-----------|
b---|--------|--------|--------|-----------|
g---|--0--0--|--------|--7--7--|-----------|
D---|--2--2--|--5--5--|--7--7--|--7-7-7-7--|
A---|--2--2--|--5--5--|--5--5--|--7-7-7-7--|
E---|--0--0--|--3--3--|--------|--5-5-5-5--|

Chorus.

Here's where the guitarist sings "My shadow's the only one...". It's simple just like every other part in the song, but with a change in the final chord the fourth time through. The chords are C, G, D, and then E.

On the last time through, switch to B.

e---|---------|---------|---------|---------|
b---|---------|---------|---------|---------|
g---|-5-5-5-5-|---------|-7-7-7-7-|---------|
D---|-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-|-7-7-7-7-|-2-2-2-2-|
A---|-3-3-3-3-|-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-|-2-2-2-2-|
E---|---------|-3-3-3-3-|---------|-0-0-0-0-|

Last time:

e---|---------|---------|-----------|
b---|---------|---------|-----------|
g---|-5-5-5-5-|---------|-----------|
D---|-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-|-9-9-9-9-9-|
A---|-3-3-3-3-|-5-5-5-5-|-9-9-9-9-9-|
E---|---------|-3-3-3-3-|-7-7-7-7-7-|

Chorus plus lead riff.

Ok, so after the second chorus, the same chords are repeated over and over and the guitarist goes into this nifty solo consisting of octave chords. Plus, there's some tiny variation in the rhythm section.

I didn't really want to go through all the trouble of typing out every single note for the solo, but the chords are correct for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." (yea, I'm lazy. Wanna fight about it?)

Lead riff:

e---|-------------|-------------|-------------|
b---|-------------|-------------|-------------|
g---|-11-11-13-14-|-14-14-18-16-|-16-16-13-14-|
D---|-x--x--x--x--|-x--x--x--x--|-x--x--x--x--|
A---|-9--9--11-12-|-12-12-16-14-|-14-14-11-12-|
E---|-------------|-------------|-------------|

e---|-------------|
b---|-------------|
g---|-14-14-14-14-|
D---|-x--x--x--x--|
A---|-12-12-12-12-|
E---|-------------|

Altered chorus:

e---|---------|---------|---------|---------|
b---|---------|---------|---------|---------|
g---|-5---5---|---------|-7-7-7-7-|---------|
D---|-5---5---|-5---5---|-7-7-7-7-|-2-2-2-2-|
A---|-3---3---|-5---5---|-5-5-5-5-|-2-2-2-2-|
E---|---------|-3---3---|---------|-0-0-0-0-|

Coda.

This is the final section of chords for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and it's kind of neat how they wrote it. Again, simple... but it doesn't involve 4 perfect measures this time.

Play the first riff 3 times and then the last one just once.

e---|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
b---|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
g---|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
D---|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
A---|--------|-3--3-3-|-5--5-5-|-4--4-4-|--------|-6--6-6-|
E---|-0--0-0-|--------|--------|--------|-4--4-4-|--------|

Last time:

e---|--------|--------|--------|--------|---------|
b---|--------|--------|--------|--------|---------|
g---|--------|--------|--------|--------|---------|
D---|--------|--------|--------|--------|-6-6-2-2-|
A---|--------|-3--3-3-|-5--5-5-|-4--4-4-|-6-6-2-2-|
E---|-0--0-0-|--------|--------|--------|-4-4-0-0-|

Not bad huh? Here's the order of the riffs to follow.

Order.

Intro x2
Verse x7
Chorus x4
Intro x2
Verse x7
Chorus x4
Verse x2
Bridge (Chorus riff) x4 (2 with pauses and last one played a tad longer)
Verse x3
Chorus x4
Coda x4