Super Mario Theme – Koji Kondo

About this piece

The Super Mario theme is the main overworld music that Koji Kondo composed for Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., released for the Famicom and NES in the mid-1980s. Its bouncy, syncopated melody made it one of the most recognisable tunes in video game history, and it has returned in many later Mario games, each time in a fresh arrangement.

This version lasts about 1 minute 28 seconds, ranges from G2 to C6 and is written in 6/4 at 100 bpm, with the hands on separate parts. It is fast and rhythmic: the right hand plays the jumpy melody, full of short notes and offbeat accents, while the left hand supplies a bouncing bass line, and the two have to lock together precisely for the groove to work.

The web page plays a 30-second preview, and the full song with lessons and fingering is in the EzPiano app. A count-in is especially useful here, because the tune starts with plenty of energy and leaves little room to settle in. Practise each hand alone in Wait mode, then drop to 50 % speed and loop the opening bars with A–B until the rhythm sits in your fingers. Raise the speed gradually toward 100 % rather than jumping straight to full tempo, and listen once in Listen mode to fix the bounce of the tune in your ear.

Other versions of this song: Super Mario Theme (Hard version) – Koji Kondo