Happy Birthday Finger Style

For your first dive into finger style, we’re going to be learning the Happy Birthday song - a classic unlike any other!


View the full lesson at Happy Birthday Finger Style | JustinGuitar

My birthday is in 2 weeks. This song will be fun to play !

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This is a lot more challenging then it appears. Plucking 2 stings while fretting and changing strings and frets in each bar of music. I think that memorizing each bar then moving on to the next is best to get this down.

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I agree. I need to go back to this. I eventually learned the patterns, but then I started the metronome. Boo boy! That was hard.
But it would be a good exercise in timing to put it all together with the metronome as well.

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I learned the basic melody first, then added in the bass notes…much easier for me.

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I suppose I’m in the minority but tablature really confuses me. I’d be able to get this down eventually but it would be easier for me with the actual music notation.

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Hello @APaul39 welcome to the Community.
If you can read notation but not tab you may have thoughts on the recent video Justin posted here.

Cheers :smiley:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide

Awesome! Thank you so much!

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This one was so much harder than I expected - lots of repetition required for me - nearly there now

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How do I open the GuitarPro in the downloads tab? I can’t find a program to open it and when it does, it is completely blank.

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You need the GuitarPro program to read GP files.
:sunglasses:

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OK, thank you…I sort of figured that.

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Think I see an error in the tab posted on the website: the final chord needs a 1 ( not 0) on the B string.

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I found this little song fun to learn and accomplish! At times I struggle to follow long when he says chords and string #’s which I’m sure some day (hopefully soon!) it won’t be such a challenge but if there is a way the notes on the tab chart can be highlighted as he plays them, it would make it much easier to follow along! Thanks!!

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@Mick Thanks for taking the time to report what you see as an error.
We always appreciate alerts to improve the site.
That said, I see this in both pdf and GP files in the final bar:
image
Which is correct as you describe.
Cheers :smiley:

| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Approved Teacher

@Richard_close2u I think Mick is referring to the tab shown on the lesson description page?

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@Socio @Mick

Thanks for the extra clarification @socio and yes, you’re correct - as is @Mick

I have now reported this error and it will be added to the to-do list of site corrections. Thanks for the alert.
Hope that helps.
Cheers :smiley:
| Richard_close2u |

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omg i been playing bass for many years but im new to guitar, i found tommy the cat on bass by primus easier to learn than this damn thing.

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Can someone please explain why the 3rd note in the fith bar is noted as a G or G7 when the notes are D and F ?

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That sounds like a handy way to do it. :thinking:

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