Guitar chords are at the core of every song, making the “Happy Birthday” melody easy for beginners to learn and perform.
Learn these four simple chords and you’ll be ready to shine at any birthday party – just remember to practice your strumming pattern regularly.
1. G Major
As a child, birthday parties were one of the highlights of your day. Not only could you celebrate with friends but you could also snack on delicious sweets all day long!
Happy Birthday is an easy four chord song for beginners to learn, in G major key. Beginners will quickly grasp its complexities as it only contains one sharp (F).
Locating the key of a piece of music is easy with its key signature, which indicates any sharps or flats. All chords in G major are created from thirds of scale intervals that span three alphabet letters.
Start playing chords by starting with G using your pinky finger, followed by F# using your ring finger, E using your middle finger and finally D with your index (pointer) finger. Bring your thumb under and cross it over so that it becomes an additional chord player: B.
2. C Major
Mastering the ability to combine melodic chords with guitar chords requires practice – and this timeless song offers an ideal platform to do so!
Here we are playing Happy Birthday in the key of C major, using chords found here as well as melody notes to simulate what one would sing out loud when saying the lyrics.
As your initial chord, a B7 chord will serve you well. This voicing places each string’s second note at its respective fret with your index finger while its third note (on A string second fret) remains open.
This gives you a basic progression for this song that can be used with multiple singers. Strumming this pattern should use all downstrokes or combination of upstrokes and downstrokes; once comfortable with this pattern add more complex chord shapes as your abilities increase.
3. D Major
Continue with the same chords in a different key and use jazz chords, which add extra notes that mimic lyrics or melodic lines for greater expression and color.
Step one of D Major scale study involves learning its degrees (tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant leading note/tone and octave), followed by chord diagrams for D Major in its sixth position with printable pdf versions available below.
Once you’ve memorized these chords, try strumming them using an up-down strumming pattern – this can give an easy start and will pair nicely with melody lines. Or experiment with arpeggiating chords by breaking each note apart into individual notes that ascend or descend at random with your index, middle, and ring fingers to give an authentic classical sound to your song.
4. E Major
“Happy Birthday” is one of the easiest songs for beginner guitarists to learn, offering simple chords and an accessible melody with 3/4 beat and shuffle rhythm – ideal for learning quickly!
Add an extra flourish by replacing major chords in the third and seventh measures with open major (7 chords or open-major). This gives your song more of an upbeat blues sound.
One fun idea for beginning students is to play a chord progression as a duet: one plays the melody or Primo part and the other takes on chords or Secondo part.
Add depth and dimension to the song by playing it with a bass line (also referred to as a “lead”) that makes the tune sound full and gives it more of an orchestral vibe. Also try shifting D, A and E chord triads up the neck of your guitar for different results.