Happy (ukulele)

I can’t think of a happier instrument to play this happy tune on! This is a great one for barbecues, sing-alongs, and cheering up grumpy spouses.

The chord patterns are fairly simple and repetitive, though they do vary from verse to chorus.

For this song, though, you really want to focus on the strumming and rhythm patterns. For the verses, you want to keep those chords fairly short and staccato. To do this, mute the strings slightly after strumming the chord with the outside part of the palm on your strumming hand. For the choruses, you can have a more regular and melodic strumming pattern.

Something else to be careful of are those long rests in the verses! Something you might want to do is add in some percussive strumming over muted strings. This will add some interest to those parts of the song so that you’re not just singing over nothing, and it will also help you stay on tempo.