Actor Zac Efron went back to his singing roots by serenading talk show host Ellen Degeneres for her birthday on Thursday (30Jan14).

The former High School Musical hunk visited the comedienne's show with guitar in hand, prepared to give her a birthday present she would never forget.

DeGeneres, who turned 56 on Sunday (26Jan14), told the audience, "Zac told me during the break that he actually doesn't play the guitar but he learned to play guitar and wrote a song for me for my birthday. And so I'm going to hear a song that he's gonna sing."

Efron responded, "I kind of thought like, what do you give somebody on their birthday that kind of has everything like you do. I don't really play guitar, and where's Taylor Swift when you need her, but I kind of just figured out how to play this last night."

The 26 year old began to strum his guitar while singing Stevie Wonder's soulful version of the Happy Birthday song to the beloved talk show host.

Following his performance, DeGeneres commented, "Well, that is sweet! Thank you so much. You didn't write that song."

Efron replied, "I know, that's Stevie Wonder."

The last time Efron was on DeGeneres' show in 2012, he was joined by country star Swift, and the two performed a cover of Foster the People's Pumped Up Kicks on their guitars.