Peter Edvinsson
Ukulele lesson: Learn to play Happy Birthday To You
An ukulele can be used to play chords when you sing but you can also play melodies. It's fun and quite easy to learn melodies on your uke with ukulele tab. Let's learn to play Happy Birthday To You!
As many people know "Happy Birthday to You" is a song which is sung to celebrate a person's birth. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is the most popular song in the English language.
Here is the most common lyrics. "Peter" is to be replaced by the name of the celebrating person.
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear "Peter"
Happy birthday to you
We will only use the first three strings on your ukulele so the tab staff will only have three lines representing the first strings. The line with the number one is the first string with the highest pitch.
1. ----------------------------------
2. ----------------------------------
3. ----------------------------------
Here is the first line of lyrics and the ukulele tab:
Happy birthday to you
1. -----------------------
2. ----------------1--0--
3. --0--0--2--0---------
The ukulele tab doesn't indicate the length of the notes. I guess you hear that the first two notes are short and the last note long.
Let's play the next line:
Happy birthday to you
1. -----------------------
2. ----------------3--1--
3. --0--0--2--0---------
I haven't told you anything about which left hand finger to press down on the frets on your ukulele.
You can use your first finger for all the notes but a more professional approach is to play the notes on the first fret with your first finger, the notes on the second fret with your long finger and the notes on your third fret with your ring finger.
Maybe it's difficult at first but with practice it will be easier for you to find the right notes. You don't even have to look at your fingers to find the right fret if you get accustomed to this way of playing.
The next line comes now:
Happy birthday dear "Peter"
1. ---------3--0-------------
2. ----------------1--0------
3. --0--0----------------2--
The last line comes here:
Happy birthday to you
1. --1--1--0------------
2. ------------1--3--1--
3. ----------------------
Now you can play Happy Birthday To You on your ukulele and you are prepared for the next birthday party!
Actually you can play this melody with the use of the above ukulele tab notation on a guitar also. The first three strings are tuned the same way but not in the same pitch.
The ukulele tab notation I have used is good for finding the notes but I recommend you to learn the melody by heart so you can play it anytime and anywhere!
Free ukulele tabs
