Pick A Key And Transpose
Now, lets use these numbers to transpose our song.
Say C Major is too high for you . Lets transpose everything down two steps to A Major.
Heres the A Major scale:
A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#
So, our I chord becomes a chord built on the first note of the scale. This is the A chord .
Our V chord becomes an E chord .
Next, our IV chord turns into a D chord .
Finally, the ii chord is now Bm .
Thats all there is to it! Try it yourself. Transpose everything in the opposite direction: up two steps to E Major. Then, scroll to the bottom of this article to see if you got the chords right!
Learn How To Play ‘happy Birthday’ On The Piano
Today we are going to learn to play “Happy Birthday”. It is a familiar song to very many people. We are going to learn to play it as an exercise on developing your ear. There are many cooler songs out there that I’m sure you’d like to play, but this is about developing your ear.
Let’s start on D and sing the song in our head. “Happy birthday to you”. Here is where we use intervals. It just goes up a bit. D D E D G F# are the notes of the fist verse. Now we want to try and figure out our key. The last note of that verse doesn’t really give us a resolved feeling. If we sing the song in our head, we’ll notice that the second time the line is sang, it ends differently. The second time the phrase ends with A G instead of G F#. The G at the end of the second line gives us that resolved feeling. That is a clue that we are singing the song in the G major scale. Another clue is that the song has an F# and so does the G major scale.
Since we started singing on D, we know that the first note of the song is the fifth note of the scale of the key that the song is in. Let’s finish picking out the melody using our ears. We end up with D D, then D an octave up, B, G, F#, E, then for the next line C, C, A, G, A, G. So, with the melody figured out let’s write some chords.
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6 free video lessons to teach you chords so you can play popular songs!
Assign Each Chord A Number
If you want to learn how to transpose, it helps to learn the number system.
Each chord gets a number. Our starting key is C Major, so recall that the C Major scale goes like this:
C-D-E-F-G-A-B
Since our C chord is built on the first note of the C Major scale , it gets the number 1 or I.
The chord is built on the fifth note of the C Major scale, so it gets the number 5 or V.
Our F chord is built on the fourth note of the C Major scale, so its name is IV.
Dm is built on the second note of the C Major scale, so it becomes our ii chord.
So, in number form, our lead sheet now looks like this:
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Top Songs By Same Actors
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Singer
About Happy Birthday to You
Listen to Happy Birthday to You online. Happy Birthday to You is an English language song and is sung by Happy Birthday and Geburtstag. Happy Birthday to You , from the album Happy Birthday Songs, was released in the year 2021. The duration of the song is 1:11. Download English songs online from JioSaavn.
1m 11s · English
Make Your Happy Birthday Even Fancier
So far, weve been playing all our chords in root position. But you can mix up the order of notes in your chords using inversions.
Youll notice I play a G7 chord in 2nd inversion at the end. That is, the G7 chord is ordered D-F-G-B. Can you see how I get to move less by using this inversion? Inversions can help us transition smoothly between chords!
You can learn more about inversions here and how to use them as shortcuts here.
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Take A Sneak Peek Of Our Lesson
Patty and Mildred Hill were born in Kentucky in 1868. Mildred wrote the music and Patty wrote the lyrics. They were both inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1996.
Happy Birthday is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the song that is sung the most in the world! Its easy for beginners and a really useful song to be able to play.
Happy Birthday Piano Notes
Happy Birthday is a great piece to learn to play on the piano because you can have lots of fun playing it at various different parties and leading people in singing it. I have put together 2 different arrangements. There is an easy piano sheet music version which you should be able to have a go at learning even if you are quite early on in your piano learning journey. I have also arranged a version of Happy Birthday for intermediate piano which is slightly more challenging. Hope you enjoy learning them!
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Take A Sneak Peek Of The Song Happy Birthday
Patty and Mildred Hill were born in Kentucky in 1868. Mildred wrote the music and Patty wrote the lyrics. They were both inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1996.
Happy Birthday is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the song that is sung the most in the world! Its easy for beginners and a really useful song to be able to play.
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Learn Happy Birthday Cocktail Jazz Piano Style
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Have you ever been at a friends birthday party with a piano nearby, and you thought, I wish I could play a nice jazz rendition of Happy Birthday?. Well, today Im going to teach you how to play Happy Birthday in a classy Cocktail Jazz Piano style. Youll learn how to color the chords, add chord extensions, alterations, use guide tones, rootless voicings, and more!
Lets dive in.
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Happy Birthday Piano Easy Version
I have kept the notes of the easy piano version as simple as possible. The key signature is in F major . This is a good key to learn to play Happy Birthday in because the melody will be at a pitch range that most people can sing. The choice of key is a really important thing to consider when learning to play any piece that people are going to sing along with you dont want to spend a long time learning a piece to find that it is far too high for anyone to be able to sing!!
The time signature is 3/4 so there are 3 quarter note beats in every bar. However, there is an upbeat as the melody starts on the last beat of the bar.
The right hand notes follow the melody line. The right hand can remain in its starting position for all of the 1st line. It is only when you get to the first note of the second line birth that you need to stretch to place your 5th finger on the top C note.
The left hand Happy Birthday notes in this arrangement are also very simple. You can keep your left hand in its starting position for the whole piece. Make sure you watch out for the B flat in Bar 6. There is a pause symbol on the second beat of bar 6. When performing the song remember to pause at this point to build up for a big finale this will certainly encourage people to sing loudly!
Happy Birthday Piano Tutorial
Being able to play any instrument is such a nice skill to have. Especially when it comes to songs like Happy Birthday or Christmas Carols. These songs really do the job on certain occasions. I remember when I first learned Happy Birthday on a keyboard and played it to my mother. She was very happy and it made me feel like Ive spent my time well by learning the song. Thats one of the reasons Ive decided to share my collection of piano notes on the Internet.
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Want To Get Fancy Add Chords
When you play chords underneath the melody with your left hand, youll be adding a significant amount of depth and punch to the song. These chords help to provide more context to the notes in the melody line, creating a heightened sense of emotional depth and impact.
Luckily, there are only three chords that you need to learn, all of them major: C, G, and F. Heres a breakdown of the notes in each chord:
C Major: C, E, G
G Major: G, B, D
F Major: F, A, C
All right stretch out your fingers and get ready for one more rendition of Happy Birthday, complete with chords:
GCG
CGCHappy birthday to you
Make sure to practice changing chords at the right time, and pay careful attention to which part of the word the chord change falls on. If you change chords too early or late, it will likely make the singers notes sound bad and might throw them off completely.
The song works best for names with two syllables, but there are obviously all kinds of names out there every one of them deserving of a happy birthday. We cant all be named Ludwig. Sometimes you just have to cram the name in there if its a long one , in which case its not always as easy to figure out where to go from the G chord to the F chord.
Can Piano Marvel Help Me Learn To Play Happy Happy Birthday
Piano Marvel has developed specific tools and techniques to help you learn to play Happy, Happy Birthday on the piano. In fact, we have created custom learning paths for thousands of popular piano songs! Most of the songs you will find in Piano Marvel are analyzed by a music teaching specialist to provide the most logical learning path for individuals of any skill level.
Hundreds of helpful video tutorials are at your fingertips showing specific instruction on individual songs in Piano Marvel.You can create a free account to explore all of the ways Piano Marvel will help you to learn to play piano faster.
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Add Jazz Chords Using The 2
The next step is to make your chord progression more interesting by adding chords to the arrangement. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to add the 2-5-1 chord progression throughout the arrangement. Here is a basic 2-5-1 in the key of C Major:
As you can see, we can target a C Major chord by adding a D minor 7 , and then a G7 . The 2-5-1 is one of the most common chord progressions in jazz, so it will automatically make the arrangement sound more jazzy.
What is a secondary Dominant chord? A secondary dominant chord is a chord that can be added in front of any chord, and it is the dominant 7 chord built on the note a perfect 5th above the target chord. For example, if we go back to our 2-5-1 chord progression, there is a chord we can add before the 2 chord, the D Minor 7 chord. If we follow our secondary dominant rule above and we play a dominant 7 chord built a perfect 5th above the D Minor 7, then this is an A7 chord. Therefore, here is how we could use a secondary dominant chord before the 2-5-1 chord progression:
Now, with these two concepts , here is our new chord progression:
As you can see, measures 2-4 is a big long 2-5-1 in the key of F . The Ab13 on beat 3 is a dominant 7 chord with an added 13. Why does this chord work? It is a substitute chord for the secondary dominant chord D7, which leads us to Gm13. Specifically, it is a tritone away from D7, and we call this a Tritone Substitute chord.
Happy Birthday Piano Basics
The first thing to understand is that Happy Birthday is in 3/4 time. That means there are three beats in each bar.
Most groups singing Happy Birthday sound like mooing cows have you ever noticed this? Unless all of your besties are in the New York City opera, then youll probably want to pitch the song on the lower side so you dont strain any voices! The key of C is the perfect key for people to sing in and is nice and easy to play!
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Gary Will Play While We Sing Happy Birthday Gulp
Ill never forget the party I attended, where several high-level classical pianists were unable to sit down and bash out Happy Birthday. They could play Rachminanoff, but were unable to play this simple song!
Im sure youve been in a similar situation. Someone says Hey! Gary plays piano hell play Happy Birthday while we sing! And you slink away, totally embaressed. Those days are over lets learn this sucker!
How To Play Happy Birthday On The Piano
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Playing this famous tune is fairly simple, but before we get started, you will need to know the basics of a piano. The notes of the piano are straight forward. They work from A-G, in alphabetical order. This piece of music uses the right and left hand, no sharps or flats to worry about. Once you get the basics, you are ready to start.
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Why Is Happy Birthday So Hard To Play On Piano
Okay, this is what you really want to know. Why is Happy Birthday so hard to play on piano??! Let alone, why is it so hard to sing Happy Birthday? Why does it sound sooooo bad when we sing Happy Birthday at work for a coworker?
My answer is not going to be some cop out about the state of arts funding and music education in the U.S. Although it could be
There is an actual musical reason that no one can seem to sing Happy Birthday together. Its also the reason that it is so hard to play Happy Birthday on piano, if youre just trying to pick the melody out by ear.
If you look at the music for Happy Birthday, it is pretty misleading.
Basically, Happy Birthday is kind of in two different keys. The melody starts somewhere unusual, and it goes somewhere unexpected. If our first note is on C, you half expect this song to be in the key of C, and to outline a C chord. But by the end of the song, we are moving down an F major chord, and resolve on- yep, you guessed it- F. So were really in F. There are some other unexpected leaps and twists and turns in here, too.
So yeah, its not your fault that Happy Birthday is difficult to play on piano. But thats why I made this freebie for you! You dont even have to try to figure it out on your own. You can learn how to play Happy Birthday on piano for free!
The Meaning Of Verse Two
Happy Birthday to you Only one will not do!
Born again means Salvation How many have you?
Below is a version for brave beginners who want to be able to play all of Happy Birthday themselves, even to the octave stretch and the chords.
It is pretty easy, but kids need a bit of background in chord-playing first, such as.
Happily for young players, this is one of those easy chords songs:
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
With these small chords, I like to tell my students This is a D pinch chord . This is a little C chord .
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Playing The Whole Song
With each individual section mastered, its time to put the whole thing together.
As always, I recommend fingering and saying the notes before playing it.
This lets you worry only about the fingers and not also about the air.
Once you have it down, congrats! You now know how to play Happy Birthday on recorder!
For those who prefer to learn by visuals, check out this video I made on it.
COMING SOON!
Happy Birthday Piano Chords The Jazzy Version
Playing Happy Birthday like this is fine and dandy, but a way to take it up a notch is to jazz it up!
Making something sound jazzy can be quite simple: use seventh chords.
What are seventh chords? Its when you add a fourth note after your triad that is seven notes away from the root chord.
Now, heres an important thing to remember: stay in your key. Were in C Major, which means no sharps or flats, so dont add a note that gets a sharp or flat onto your seventh. Here are the chords well use:
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Happy Birthday Tune On Piano
- .is used for mandra saptak swars eg-
- _under score is used for komal swars.eg
- here is used for showing teevra swar .
- is used for stretching the swars according to the song.
- Swars written in this manner means they are playing fast or two swars on one beat.
- here is kan swar or sparsh swar and is mool swar.
How to play Happy Birthday song on keyboard,Piano, Harmonium ,Flute,Violin, Guitar.
Happy / Birthday / to / you
May / God / Bless / You / Dear
/ / / / May / God / Bless / You / Dear
/ / / / -/ /May / God / Bless / You / Dear / One
/ / / / /
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