Basket Case | Chords + Lyrics
Verse 1
| Eb5 | Bb5 | C5 | G5 | Ab5 | Eb5 | Bb5 | Bb5 |
Do you have the time, to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once?
| Eb5 | Bb5 | C5 | G5 | Ab5 | Eb5 | Bb5 | Bb5 |
I am one of those, melodramatic fools. Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it.
Chorus 1
| Ab5 | Bb5 | Eb5 | Eb5 |
Sometimes I give myself the creeps.
| Ab5 | Bb5 | Eb5 | Eb5 |
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.
| Ab5 | Bb5 | Eb5 D5 | C5 |
It all keeps adding up, I think I’m cracking up.
| Ab5 | Bb5 |
Am I just paranoid? Or am I just stoned?
Instrumental 1
||: Eb5 Bb5 C5 | C5 Bb5 Eb5 :||
Verse 2
| Eb5 | Bb5 | C5 | G5 | Ab5 | Eb5 | Bb5 | Bb5 |
I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams, she says it’s lack of sex that’s bringing me down.
| Eb5 | Bb5 | C5 | G5 | Ab5 | Eb5 | Bb5 | Bb5 |
I went to a whore, he said my life’s a bore, so quit my whining ’cause it’s bringing her down.
Chorus 2
| Ab5 | Bb5 | Eb5 | Eb5 |
Sometimes I give myself the creeps.
| Ab5 | Bb5 | Eb5 | Eb5 |
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.
| Ab5 | Bb5 | Eb5 D5 | C5 |
It all keeps adding up, I think I’m cracking up.
| Ab5 | Bb5 |
Am I just paranoid? Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Instrumental 2
||: Eb5 Bb5 C5 | C5 Bb5 Eb5 :|| x4
| Ab5 | Ab5 | Bb5 | Bb5 N.C |
Grasping to control, so I better hold on.
Instrumental 3
||: Eb5 | Bb5 | C5 | G5 | Ab5 | Eb5 | Bb5 | Bb5 :||
Chorus 3
| Ab5 | Bb5 | Eb5 | Eb5 |
Sometimes I give myself the creeps.
| Ab5 | Bb5 | Eb5 | Eb5 |
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.
| Ab5 | Bb5 | Eb5 D5 | C5 |
It all keeps adding up, I think I’m cracking up.
| Ab5 | Bb5 |
Am I just paranoid? Or am I just stoned?
Outro
||: Eb Ebsus4 Eb | Eb/C Ebsus4/C | Ab5 C5 | Bb5 :|| x4
| Ab5 Eb5 | Bb5 |
Basket Case | Chords + Lyrics (tune down 1/2 step)
Verse 1
| E5 | B5 | C#5 | G#5 | A5 | E5 | B5 | B5 |
Do you have the time, to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once?
| E5 | B5 | C#5 | G#5 | A5 | E5 | B5 | B5 |
I am one of those, melodramatic fools. Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it.
Chorus 1
| A5 | B5 | E5 | E5 |
Sometimes I give myself the creeps.
| A5 | B5 | E5 | E5 |
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.
| A5 | B5 | E5 D#5 | C#5 |
It all keeps adding up, I think I’m cracking up.
| A5 | B5 |
Am I just paranoid? Or am I just stoned?
Instrumental 1
||: E5 B5 C#5 | C#5 B5 E5 :||
Verse 2
| E5 | B5 | C#5 | G#5 | A5 | E5 | B5 | B5 |
I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams, she says it’s lack of sex that’s bringing me down.
| E5 | B5 | C#5 | G#5 | A5 | E5 | B5 | B5 |
I went to a whore, he said my life’s a bore, so quit my whining ’cause it’s bringing her down.
Chorus 2
| A5 | B5 | E5 | E5 |
Sometimes I give myself the creeps.
| A5 | B5 | E5 | E5 |
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.
| A5 | B5 | E5 D#5 | C#5 |
It all keeps adding up, I think I’m cracking up.
| A5 | B5 |
Am I just paranoid? Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Instrumental 2
||: E5 B5 C#5 | C#5 B5 E5 :|| x4
| A5 | A5 | B5 | B5 N.C |
Grasping to control, so I better hold on.
Instrumental 3
||: E5 | B5 | C#5 | G#5 | A5 | E5 | B5 | B5 :||
Chorus 3
| A5 | B5 | E5 | E5 |
Sometimes I give myself the creeps.
| A5 | B5 | E5 | E5 |
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.
| A5 | B5 | E5 D#5 | C#5 |
It all keeps adding up, I think I’m cracking up.
| A5 | B5 |
Am I just paranoid? Or am I just stoned?
Outro
||: E Esus4 E | E/C Esus4/C | A5 C#5 | B5 :|| x4
| A5 E5 | B5 |
Basket Case Chords: Learn the progressions
Using the classic I – V – VI movement, making all chords 5 chords for the verse, in combination with IV – V – I for the chorus, familiarity is firmly established in Basket Case’s chord movements.
The twist needed to not make it all too predictable lies in going to III – IV – I – V at the end of the verse. Here the verse chords are in the key of E.
Try to imagine them as a sound by thinking of the Roman Numerals – this is the best way to remember them.
| E5 (I) | B5 (V) | C#5 (VI) | G#5 (III) |
| A5 (IV) | E5 (I) | B5 (V) | B5 (V) |
For the chorus, there’s a chromatic chord in the bVIIx, leading us to VI. Looks like this in the key of E.
||: A5 (IV) | B5 (V) | E5 (I) | E5 (I) :||
| A5 (IV) | B5 (V) | E5 (V) D#5 (bVIIx) | C#5 (VI) |
| A5 (IV) | B5 (V) |
Basket Case is Green Day’s signature song!
Basket Case is a single from Green Day’s third album Dookie (1994). The album in general and Basket Case, in particular, brought Green Day worldwide fame.
Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the tune about his struggle with anxiety, he once commented: “The only way I knew how to deal with it was to write a song about it.”
Green Day may have had many hits since then that have kept them on top, such as American Idiot, Time Of Your Life, and When September Ends, but Basket Case will forever be their signature song.
To play along with the original, I would recommend you either use a guitar in Eb, tune your one and only guitar down to Eb temporarily (use my online guitar tuner), or, check out the Digitech drop pedal.
Basket Case Chords | Related Pages
Five similar tunes with chords and lyrics
- All The Small Things chords by Blink-182
- American Idiot chords by Basket Case
- I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor chords by Arctic Monkeys
- Monkey Wrench chords by Foo Fighters
- Summer Of ’69 chords by Bryan Adams
Green Day tunes
Green Day’s third album, Dookie (94), took the band to superstardom. With fifteen million copies sold, they became everyone’s favourite punk trio.
After a few more albums, Green Day released American Idiot (04). This firmly established them as one of the best-known bands in the world.
Green Day on the web
Indie & Heavy Rock
Riff-based Indie & Heavy Rock tunes must be studied in depth in order to understand why a tune in these styles works.
Learn songs by Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine, Green Day, Kings Of Leon, Jack White, Blink-182, and many more.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Basket Case chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
