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!
I have kept the notes of the easy piano version as simple as possible.
The key signature is in F major (one flat – B flat).
This is a good key to learn to play Happy Birthday in because the melody will be at a pitch range that most people (male and female) 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 don’t 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 (crotchet) 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 (it is easy to forget the key signature at this point and try to play a B natural by mistake!).
There is a pause (fermata) 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!
The intermediate piano version of Happy Birthday is also in F major, but I have added an extra harmony line to the right hand part to add a bit more interest.
The fingering is quite tricky at times and I have added some suggestions. You may find that you want to slightly change the fingering I have written depending on what works best for you.