A while back I posted a solo guitar arrangement of Happy Birthday.
I’ve since received a few requests for an easier accompaniment part suitable for basic strumming so here’s the version I teach my beginning/intermediate students. It’s in D major, uses only first-position chords, features a basic bass/chord strumming pattern, and best of all – it sounds really good! The optional introduction simply places the final few bars of the melody atop the chords and will help you set up the tempo and key for the big sing-along. Please leave a comment below if you enjoy the arrangement.
Happy Birthday Accompaniment for Guitar PDF
Looking for a solo fingerstyle guitar arrangement?
Try Happy Birthday for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar!
Here’s a lick that works well over both the I VI ii V section of rhythm changes and the ii V leading to the IV chord in bars five and six of the progression. Theres are a lot of reasons why this works but it’s more fun to play it than it is to dissect and analyze it. I was kind of surprised to see the relationships between the two sections. I sure hadn’t thought about it before! Maybe this will open up some new approaches to playing over rhythm changes in the future. Enjoy and let me know if you have any thoughts about it.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Until recently, I’ve never bothered to learn a respectable arrangement of “Happy Birthday.” Here’s a song that I never plan on performing, and yet receive more requests for than any other. When you consider that most folks go out to a bar or restaurant with friends and family to celebrate their special day, I guess it should come as no surprise that there’s a birthday in the room almost every night. So after faking my way through a few times, I finally sat down to create a solo guitar arrangement for myself. If you enjoy the arrangement or have any questions please leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
The Music
Below you can download my arrangement in PDF format and listen to a recording of it. Please leave a comment below if you enjoy the arrangement.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Looking for an easier version?
Try Easy Happy Birthday Accompaniment for Guitar!
Practice Notes
My goal was to create a simple, traditional sounding arrangement that would support vocals if anyone wanted to sing along. No fancy ornamentations or chord substitutions were used, although I am considering doing a jazz arrangement at some point.
Continue reading 'Happy Birthday for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar'
In part 2 of this series I outlined four methods for using the metronome to build speed. There’s nothing wrong with giving your technique a workout, but the metronome is much more than a musical speedometer! I’ve often heard students brag about how fast they could play their scales or a particularly challenging lick. To which I might reply: “That’s great! But can you play it in time?”
Continue reading 'Metronome Techniques Part 3'
