How To Play Happy Birthday On Bass Guitar Like A Boss

It’s inevitable. you’ll, at some point in your career as a bassist, get asked to play Happy Birthday on bass guitar.

Sometimes you’ll play the song with a band. And, sometimes you might get asked to play it solo.

Here’s a bass guitar arrangement to Happy Birthday that I came up with. I’ll show you some concepts that’ll make you sound like a boss on this classic tune.

There’re a few specific musical devices I’m applying to make this arrangement sound unique.

The next time you get asked to play this popular song, you won’t be clueless.

Let’s dive in.

Watch And Hear My Happy Birthday Bass Guitar Arrangement

Many traditional tunes with simple melodies can be harmonized using basic cadences. Happy Birthday is one of those tunes. So, if you want to be able to play this song on the bass guitar (or any instrument), you gotta’ become familiar hearing the I chord, IV chord, and the V chord.

In this bass guitar arrangement, I actually started out with simple chords. Then, I explored different inversions and embellishments to eventually come up with my version of happy birthday that you’re hearing in the video.

Later, I’ll breakdown the concepts for my approach

Happy Birthday Chord Melody Concepts

As a bass player, playing chord melody is at the bottom of our list of priorities.

But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know the chord changes to the song.

We all know the melody to the song Happy Birthday.

But, a lot of students will struggle to play an arrangement of Happy Birthday on their bass guitar.

And, many will resort to searching on Google for “Happy Birthday tab bass.”

If you are among those that struggle playing this standard song on the bass guitar, try these tips before you resort to looking up tablature or sheet music.

Before anything else, figure out a basic I, IV, V arrangement of Happy Birthday

If you’re in the beginning stages of your process of arranging, first learn the I IV V chords to this song.

This is crucial.

You can harmonize most songs using a I chord, a IV chord, and a V chord.

Happy Birthday is one of those I IV V songs.

What are the chords for the Happy Birthday song?

There are 3 fundamental chords that you need to know for the Happy Birthday song.

Here they are in the key of C Major:

• the I chord is C Major
• the IV chord is F Major
• the V chord is G Major

First, you’ll want to hear where these fundamental chords fit along with the melody. Then, you’ll have more freedom to re-harmonize those chords.

This practice is much easier on a piano or a keyboard. But, you can still do it on your bass guitar.

Use your ears. You can even do trial an error at first. It’s a good idea to practice this often in general.

Sing the melody and play either bass notes C, F, or G. Pay attention to when C, F, or G sounds good or bad. You’re doing this while you are singing Happy Birthday. If you are using a piano, play the melody on your right hand and then try different root notes with your left hand.

Embellish your I, IV, or V Chords to add spice to Happy Birthday

You don’t have to go bananas to make your chords sound cool.

A simple chord embellishment is all you need.

Adding a 7th to the chord, or even a 6th, will make the chord sound jazzy. It’ll also start to make you sound like you know what you’re doing.

Take your basic I, IV, V arrangement and play the same chords, but try adding a b7 to your V chord.

You’ll experience more tension with your V chord that will have a stronger pull to the I chord.

Try adding a 6th to your I chord.

The one chord will sound more jazzy and soulful.

Explore adding different embellishments.

If it sounds good, then that’s all that matters.

Use chord inversions to make your bass note continue in the same direction

If you want to make your chord melodies sound more jazzy, then explore inverting your chords.

A chord inversion puts a different chord tone, other than the root note, on the bottom. The difference can be subtle to hear.

The purpose of this is to make the bass note continue in the same direction. That way the bass note doesn’t jump all over the place.

Another reason, is that chord tones in general will voice lead better. This will make your arrangement of Happy Birthday sound cohesive.

Putting it all together and playing Happy Birthday song on the bass guitar

In the video above, I kept the direction of my bass notes ascending for more than half of the song. Then, as the song started approaching the end, the bass notes descended.

Sometimes, the bass note was a chord tone. And many times, the note was an embellishment.

There is no hard rules. Challenge yourself to see how long you can keep your bass note going in the same direction.

Here are the key takeaway’s for this simple process:

1. Figure out the I, IV, V chords that go along with the melody of the song.
2. Embellish those I, IV, V chords by adding a 7th or 6th.
3. Invert the same I, IV, V chords to keep your bass notes traveling in the same direction.

Give this a try.

The next time you play Happy Birthday on the bass, you’ll sound like you know what you’re doing.

More bass guitar lessons like this, over here.