The names of the chords we play presupposes that your ukulele is tuned in C. This means that your first string is an A.
Now you will learn the ukulele chord C-major:
C: 0/4 0/3 0/2 3/1
This ukulele tab notation will help you to find which frets and strings to use on your ukulele.
The first number tells you which fret to press down. The number after the slash indicate the string.
0/4 means that you play the open fourth string on your ukulele. Yes, an open string is a string we don't press down.
3/1 means that you press down the third fret on the first string.
You have to learn one more chord in order to play the first line of lyrics. It will be G7:
G7: 0/4 2/3 1/2 2/1
Time to try the ukulele chords for the first line. I will put the chord names in front of the words where you change chords:
Happy (C)Birthday To (G7)You
The next line has the same lyrics but a different chord combination.
Happy (G7)Birthday To (C)You
You will need to know one more ukulele chord. That is F:
F: 2/4 0/3 1/2 0/1
Time for the third line. We will put a name in the lyrics:
Happy (C)Birthday Dear (F)Martha
Now it's time for you to complete this song. The last line:
Happy (C)Birthday (G7)To (C)You
You can of course play the song in other keys on your ukulele. I will just give you one more key to play you song in.
I will make a little conversion table for you to use in order to play the song in D-major. First you will get the chords in D-major:
D: 2/4 2/3 2/2 0/1
You will also use the chord A7:
A7: 0/4 1/3 0/2 0/1
and finally G-major:
G: 0/4 2/3 3/2 2/1
In order to be able to play Happy Birthday To You in the key of D you have to replace the chords in the following way:
C becomes D
G7 becomes A7
F becomes G
This change of key will give you a chance to sing in a slightly higher pitch. Of course there are more keys that you can use. We have different key preferences because of our personal singing abilities but these keys are good for an untrained voice at least.
Now you can play the ukulele chords to the song Happy Birthday To You in two keys!
There will be plenty of opportunities for you to play this song. Learn it by heart one line at a time and you will be able to play the song wherever there is an ukulele.
