Happy Birthday is the most popular song in the world. It is incredibly easy to learn and play on the guitar, requiring only three basic chords. Learn how to strum it or play it on our virtual guitar online.
To sing along and strum Happy Birthday on the guitar, you only need to know three open chords in the key of C Major:
*Note: If F Major is too difficult to play as a barre chord, you can play a simplified F Major 7 chord (Fmaj7) which is much friendlier for beginners.*
If you want to pluck the individual melody notes instead of strumming chords, play these fret numbers on our online guitar simulator:
Numbers in parentheses represent fret positions. E.g., G(0) means playing the open G string. G(2) means pressing the 2nd fret of the G string.
Happy Birthday is in 3/4 time (waltz time). Strum: **Down, Down, Up, Down** (1, 2, & 3).
Open our virtual guitar simulator, expand the AI Song Player panel, and click "Happy Birthday" to watch and listen to the autopilot play it instantly.
Open Autopilot Simulator