Super Mario Overworld Theme Song

What key is the Mario Bros theme in?

The original version of the “Super Mario Bros” theme was composed in C major and Hoffman Academy’s version is also in C major. Our version has been adapted for learners who are around the late elementary level. 

Another famous video game theme song that you can learn is the theme from “Minecraft”, which you can check out here.

What are the notes for the Mario theme song?

The theme centers around an arpeggiated chord. For example, the theme begins in the right hand with these notes: E E E C E G and then the left hand plays a G an octave lower. In more advanced versions of this theme, this moves around to other chord arpeggiations as well. It keeps going by starting with the right hand on C before moving to the left hand which plays G E A B A A-flat G. It moves back to the right hand, which plays E G A F G E C D and lastly B with the left hand. It repeats back to the right hand playing C and left hand playing G E A B A-flat G. The ending now begins with the right hand playing F F F E D C. The left hand has the final say by playing a C an octave below. To get this all on the piano with the correct rhythms, I suggest watching the Hoffman Academy video for help!

Who composed the Mario theme song?

The “Super Mario Bros” theme was composed by Kōji Kondō. Kōji Kondō is a Japanese video game composer who was born in 1961. In addition to composing for “Super Mario Bros”, he has composed for the video games “The Mysterious Murasame Castle” and “Shin Onigashima”.

Why does Super Mario Bros music sound fun?

This music is mostly written in a major key and sounds upbeat by incorporating syncopated rhythms. These elements create a dance-like rhythm that is memorable and the arpeggiated melody makes it catchy.

It's-a-me, Matt! here with Hoffman Academy
to teach you an easy arrangement of the
"Super Mario Brothers Overworld Theme".
Let's get playing.
You'll notice right off the bat that this song is in 4/4
time. We're going to be using a lot of
eighth notes and eighth note rests, which
will make the rhythm a little more
complicated, but that's okay. We're going
to count through it and make sure that
we know exactly where each note is
placed.
As for position, we're going to use two positions mainly.
Some people
refer to these positions as butterfly positions
because our thumbs are going
to be right next to each other
rather than playing the same notes at
the same time.
For this first position I'm going to put my right hand in a C major pentascale
with my thumb on C,
and my pinky on G,
and my left hand will be
right below it with my thumb on the B
below my right hand C, extending all the
way down to an E and my left pinky.
For the second position of the song, you'll
notice that it's another butterfly position
just one note higher than the
first one,
with our right hand still on white notes but starting on D,
going up to A and our left hand,
with our thumb on C and our pinky on F.
Let's start at the
beginning in our first position.
With our right hand thumb on C and our left hand
thumb on B.
Let me play the section for you first, and then we'll dive into it.
In our right hand we're using the notes
of a C major arpeggio DO MI and SO.
For this first rhythm I'm going to count it
like this: instead of counting, 1 2 3 4
I'm going to count 1-& 2-& 3-& 4.
That way I can feel where the eighth notes are supposed to land.
This one's going to land on 1-& 2-&.
I'm going to repeat the section a few times so that you can really feel
that eighth note rest on beat 2.
1-& 2-&
Take it nice and slow and repeat it over and over again
until the rhythm is nice and smooth. Taking it from a slow tempo like this,
1-& 2-&, to how it's felt in the song,
Two fast notes, a short break, and then the same
note again.
With these first three notes, rhythm is key
so it's important to get lots of repetition based practicing.
Make sure that you play and say the rhythm
out loud to yourself either through
TI-TI rest TI, or through counting, 1-& 2-&
Repeat this several times on your own
until you have the rhythm nice and
smooth and can play it without pausing.
Go ahead, give it a try.
I'm gonna add two more notes to this
pattern.
Here's how the counting for this works.
We're going to say beat 3, but
not play anything just like we did for beat 2.
1-& 2-& 3-& 4
If we ...