Welcome to the Black Parade

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

Welcome to the Black Parade is a big, dramatic song that feels powerful to play from the first chord. At tempo, it has a driving march-like energy, so it rewards clean changes and a strong, steady feel.

You can lean on the open shapes G, Em, C, A, D, E, F, and Dm, but the harder barre shapes F#, B, F#m, C#m, Bm, Gm, Fm, A#, and D# will test your grip. The main change to watch is the opening G - F# - B - Em, since it moves quickly from an open shape into barre chords.

Start by looping that opening progression slowly until your fingers land cleanly. Then add the rest of the open shapes, and only after that bring in the barre chords at full tempo. Once the changes feel automatic, play along in short sections and build up to the whole song.

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.