More To See With The Chords In The C Family

Of course everyone knows the happy birthday song, right?

Birthday Party Celebration. Photo Credits

When I was a kid, I was taught by my father to play the happy birthday song in the key of C. Basically, you can play it in any key you like provided that you already know how to transpose the chords. When I grew up, I learned to play the song starting from different keys like D or G.

The last chord family that we will be learning is the C. In musical theory, everything starts with C or the "Do" in "Do-Re-Mi". The key of C is basically the center of the tonal universe and most musicians would agree that it is the easiest key to play in. Maybe, that was the reason why my father taught me to play common nursery rhymes in the key of C including the happy birthday song.

I chose to tackle the C family of chords last because it's so easy to play and it also has lots of chords in its family. But don't worry, you already learned most of the chords when we explored previous chord families (A, D, and G).


The basic chords that make up the C family are C, Dm, Em, F, G, and Am. I'm pretty sure that you already know C, Em, G, and Am chords. If not, then simply browse through my previous posts about these chords.

You only need to learn two more chords that belong to the C family: Dm and F. The following figures below shows the fingering of these chords:

Dm Chord diagram and left-hand fingering

 

F Chord diagram and left-hand fingering

 

Notice that both the Dm and F chords have the second finger on the 3rd string, second fret. This would be the common tone that you can simply hold down when you switch between these chords.

Of all the basic major and minor chords, the F chord is probably the most difficult to play. As you can see, the F chord is not an open chord because it uses no open strings. In addition, it also requires you to play a barre. Barre chords are chords that involve using one finger, usually your first finger, to press all the strings down at once on a single fret. Thus, an F chord is considered a barre chord.

The indication () in the F-chord diagram that tells you to fret (or barre) two strings with one finger.

You must exert extra finger pressure to play a barre and having difficulty at first is very normal. You are likely to hear muffled and buzzing sound of the strings when you play a barre. Experiment with various placements of your index finger until it feels comfortable and the strings ring clearly as you strike them.

Now lets try playing these in a progression as shown in the image below:

Progression in the Key of C.

You might be wondering why I provided these progressions when I presented the different chord families. Well, playing these progressions over and over will simply allow you to get used to switching among different chords and help you build your calluses faster.

In the figure above, the small curved line joining the second half of the 2nd beat and the 3rd beat is known as a tie. It's quite similar to the barre symbol but it has a different meaning. A tie tells you not to strike the second note of the two tied notes - in this case, the first note on beat 3. Instead, just keep holding the chord on that beat without striking it again.

Learning how to play that way is an example of syncopation. In a nutshell, syncopation is when you play a note on a beat where you probably wouldn't expect a note or not playing a note where you do expect to hear it. Syncopation breaks up the regular pattern of beats and presents an element of surprise in music and that's what keeps a listener's interest.

By the way, what follows is the happy birthday song using the very basic chords of the C family. Try playing it. Enjoy!

C               G          
Happy birthday to you
                             
G              C
Happy birthday to you

C                F
Happy birthday to dear <name>

C         G  C
Happy birthday to you