Welcome to the Black Parade

How to play Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance on guitar

This song is worth learning because it has a big, dramatic lift and feels powerful once you lock into the pulse. At about 151 BPM, it pushes you to stay steady and confident, and the opening progression gives you an immediate sense of movement and tension.

You can start with mostly open shapes, but the harder barre shapes will demand extra control when they appear. The change to watch out for is moving cleanly through the opening G - C - G - D without rushing, since that shift sets up the rest of the part and can throw off your timing if your fretting hand is late.

Practice it in small loops first, then connect the opening progression until the changes feel automatic. After that, add the barre shapes one at a time, keeping the tempo slower than full speed until your hands stay relaxed. Once the changes are smooth, bring it up to performance pace and focus on even, confident strums.

Use the play-along above to follow each chord change in time with the music, or learn the shapes first with the chord diagrams below.