Happy | TAB
The chorus chord progression of Happy can only be one thing; the IV – III – VIx. The reason I say this is because only in one place of the diatonic chords do we have a major chord with a minor chord a semitone below.
Here’s the progression for the chorus:
||: Dbmaj7 Cm7 | Cm7 | Cm7 C7sus4 F | F F7 :||
The extensions are decorative and could be played using a clave rhythm. You could vary the chord shapes, here’s just one way of doing it in TAB.
Compare this chord progression movement to that of B.B. King‘s The Thrill Is Gone, a song in Bm. Happy is in Fm. The fact that the chorus is an F, not an Fm is a temporary change.
The verse progression is based around an Fm blues scale, harmonize the riff and it becomes:
| Fm Ab Bb Ab | C Bb Ab Fm Ab Bb |
Followed by:
| Fm Ab Bb Ab | C Bb Fm Ab |
After playing Happy at least a hundred times with various bands I can safely say that the car crash moment is down to that most musicians don’t realize the riff changes every other time. I include myself in that category by the way!
Here’s some TAB showing you how Happy’s verse could be played. I guess the question is, what do you do if everyone else isn’t changing it every other time?
Happy TAB | Related Pages
Happy | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn to play Happy by Pharrell Williams using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| F5 N.C | N.C | Fm Ab Bb Ab | C Bb Ab Fm Ab Bb |
It might seem crazy what I am ’bout to say…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Pharrell Williams tunes
As Kelis, Nsync, Justin Timberlake, Nelly, CeeLo Green, and Snoop Dog’s producer and co-writer, Pharrell Williams is a big deal in the business.
In 2013 he released three of the most well-known songs of our time, Get Lucky, Happy, and Blurred Lines.
Pharrell Williams on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm featuring TAB covers Happy. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.