Nov/23/08
86comments

Super Mario Bros Theme (Simplified Version)

Super Mario Bros (Tab)(PDF)


MP3

First off, Seeso cropped up on Julia Nunes’ YouTube Live performance. The poor lad’s cable fell out (that should get the ladies clicking over). Wade Johnston looks like he’s going to be the next UkeTube hero that I just don’t get (beyond the fact no one can make a comment about him without using the words ‘cute’ and ‘adorable’). But if anyone’s opening a book on the Bushman Contest, I’ll have a tenner on him.

Down to business.

Dominator has already tabbed James Hill’s barnstorming version of Super Mario Bros Level 1 (you can download the tab here). Which is great if you’re a ukulele super hero like Dom and James but a bit beyond us mortals. So I thought I’d put together an easier version – heavily based on the James Hill arrangement.

Notice I said ‘easier’ not ‘easy’. There are still plenty of tricky parts. There’s a great deal of switching between picking and strumming and a few big jumps up and down the fretboard.

Buy Super Mario Bros. Theme
Visit James Hill’s website.

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86 Comments

  1. Markus November 23rd, 2008 2:52 pm

    hi al,

    the super mario mp3 throws an error when loading…

    maybe something to fix?

    i´ll come back later and try again. thanks. markus

  2. Woodshed November 23rd, 2008 3:01 pm

    Thanks, Markus. It should work now.

  3. Markus November 23rd, 2008 3:45 pm

    yes, it works.

    what a pretty version of the tune! your simplifications give justice to the ancient gaming platform it comes from…

    thanks. markus

  4. newbie November 23rd, 2008 6:16 pm

    Just when I thought I couldn’t dislike Julia Nunes more…
    I know I’m going to get bashed for this because she has some followers but she makes me regret playing ukulele. And I’m not talking metaphorically: everytime I see a video of this girl I put the uke away for some days and go back to my bass guitar.
    I hate the uketube hype even if I fell for it.

  5. newbie November 23rd, 2008 6:17 pm

    As for the mariobros tab, thanks a lot.

    And sorry for the rant! :(

  6. zym November 23rd, 2008 9:24 pm

    im afraid i have to agree with you newbie.

  7. Paulyus November 23rd, 2008 9:43 pm

    I luv it, brings me back to when gaming was pure. No internet guides on how the beat a game, no cheat codes(at least not as many), and u didnt need three joysticks and eight buttons to play a game. Ah, to be six again, lol. Anyways thx for the simplified version, and altho I hadn’t heard of this Julia person, she’s a lil annoying. But nothing can make my put down my uke, not even when I couldn’t get an A string and had to use fishing line(blasphemy i kno but im ghetto that way)

  8. Emily November 23rd, 2008 10:51 pm

    Thanks Al!
    I’ll have great fun attempting to learn this.
    Theme tune sunday is brilliant =]
    xx

  9. Dragutin November 23rd, 2008 10:52 pm

    nice, a mario tab that’s playable =) thanks thanks thanks!!

    also, why so much hate on nunes? some of her songs are pretty emo and not very good but other stuff (like build me up buttercup) is really enjoyable and in the spirit of ukes

  10. amber November 24th, 2008 7:17 am

    I don’t know how anyone could dislike Julia or Wade, that’s like saying you dislike sunshine happiness and rainbows. A bunch of grumps, you!

    I got to see them in person and Seeso was so smooth I didn’t know his cable had fallen out until I got home and watched the video.

    My money is on either Wade or Evilhamster95 for the Bushman contest.

  11. Brian November 24th, 2008 7:42 am

    A Flame War on UKE HUNT??-that’s what I love about Ukers-civilised/restained and no f**king swearing !
    Ms Nunes ain’t that bad-just a bit syrupy .

    Brian
    p.s.-new Bester discoveries in the new year?-you bet!

  12. Chris November 24th, 2008 4:18 pm

    Don’t care much about Julia Nunes but the Super Mario tab I care very much about. The James Hill version always was so far beyond my skills, but this one seems to be doable. Great work Al!

  13. Woodshed November 24th, 2008 9:29 pm

    newbie and zym: That’s a lot further than I’d go. I don’t understand the big deal, but I don’t find her that bad. And a lot of people have picked up the ukulele because of her. She’s certainly not as annoying as the guy that introduces her.

    Paulyus: Pfft. You kids. I remember the days of the Commodore 64 when games took twenty minutes to load. That was real hardcore.

    Emily: Good luck with it.

    Dragutin: You’re welcome.

    amber: Don’t get me started on fuckin’ rainbows. Colourful bastards.

    Brian: You’re reading the cleaned up version. And bring on the Bester.

    Chris: Glad you like it.

  14. Alf November 25th, 2008 12:00 am

    Commodore 64? Luxury. We used to dream of a Commodore 64. We had a lowly ZX Spectrum. And our Dad used to slice us in two with a bread knife.

  15. Woodshed November 25th, 2008 8:58 pm

    Alf: I hope we can at least agree that gaming peaked with Jet Set Willy.

  16. Uke January 23rd, 2009 7:44 pm

    >:( argh im trying to learn to read tab music but just cant do it.. i cant change quick enough! it take me ages to read 1 chord and when i get there it sounds wrong!! :'( i need some help or i will stop playing Uke!!! i cant find enough good songs on chord music.

  17. Woodshed January 24th, 2009 8:34 pm

    Uke: Don’t give up. It’ll come with practice. Have you read the how to read tabs posts?

  18. Uke January 24th, 2009 9:15 pm

    yeah i have.. first thing i checked when i decided to learn tabs.. but when you need to play strings 2 and 3 i cant hit just them.. i end up hitting 1 2 and 3 or 2 3 and 4

  19. Woodshed January 25th, 2009 12:19 pm

    uke: When you say ‘hitting them’ are you trying to strum them? They designed to be fingerpicked. This might help:

    http://howtoplayukulele.com/how-to-play-fingerpicking-ukulele/

  20. michael June 19th, 2009 1:58 am

    i like this better than the game over version

  21. Woodshed June 21st, 2009 8:09 pm

    michael: Thanks.

  22. Insomniac August 29th, 2009 1:21 pm

    Nice tab!

    Only one issue though, the mp3 and the tab don’t seem to match at the point where it transitions from the ’55 22 33 44 55′ section to the main riff that plays 4 times at the end.

    The part where it says to have the 9th and 12th frets fretted and then to slide down the neck between those two parts seems to be missing in the mp3.

    Hopefully that makes sense, its a bit difficult to explain what I mean.

  23. KerryCull September 23rd, 2009 10:33 am

    Well im doing alright at it, im sturggling abit with the bit where its very full on with all the chords.

  24. RosieSaysYes October 19th, 2009 3:46 pm

    This really would sound alot better on proper strings…Rather than my rubbishy nylon ones that came with the ukee.
    Ah well, bless Mahalo for giving me any at alll :)

  25. Markus April 4th, 2010 5:48 am

    Hey, thanks for this tab and all of them on this site. I like playing a song people know but wouldn’t expect to here on a ukulele.

  26. Woodshed April 5th, 2010 1:06 pm

    Markus: You’re welcome. Glad to hear you’re impressing your friends with it!

  27. Nichola July 6th, 2010 10:02 pm

    Can I just say…. WOW. This actually brought a tear to my eye. Definately the next thing I’m taking a bash at :)

  28. Jimmy July 13th, 2010 5:19 am

    back in my day, all we had were home pong consoles and the oddysey (just kidding, im from a much younger age)

  29. Woodshed July 13th, 2010 8:51 pm

    Nichola: Good luck with it.

    Jimmy: Old skool!

  30. zvenson July 14th, 2010 12:06 am

    Great – Love it -James Hill is great but your version also kicks ass! Thank you very much!

  31. Kyle July 17th, 2010 5:12 am

    hey what’s up first off really appreciate all the work you put into the site. best site to learn and practice ukulele in my opinion.

    just wanted to let you know that whenever I click the play button on this it says file not found. I remember playing it within the past few weeks so i’m not sure if it’s just my computer or a universal problem, but just wanted to give you a heads up. keep up the good work!

  32. Woodshed July 17th, 2010 4:56 pm

    zvenson: Thanks but I can’t take credit for this version. It’s just a simplified version of James’s.

    Kyle: Thanks very much for pointing it out. It’s a site-wide problem. It’s being fixed but it’ll take a while until they’re all done.

  33. Lyndsey July 25th, 2010 12:44 am

    Oh, tablature. I can never seem to get it right. I’ve gotten the easy fingerpicking songs down, but the moderate list stomps me. Tabs just kinda feel like playing twister with my fingers.
    I suppse I’m just a chords type of girl

    P.S. Awesome job with this one. It makes me want to pull out the old Nintendo 64

  34. Woodshed July 25th, 2010 10:43 pm

    Lyndsey: Keep at it. I really need to get round to sorting out the fingerpicking lessons.

  35. Lyndsey July 26th, 2010 12:23 am

    Don’t get me wrong, Woodshed. Without your fingerpicking lessons I would be a little lost lamb to tabs. It’s not your lessons; it’s my slow fingers.
    P.S. I most definately will keep practicing tabs.

  36. Jack August 2nd, 2010 12:00 am

    I’m struggling with the bar labelled, “13”, on the 3rd measure and from there until the end of the second. I can get the first measure and the measures that start “401” but I have no idea how the strum the rest. Any help or information, or am I completely missing something?

  37. Jack August 2nd, 2010 12:04 am

    “from there until the end of the section”* sorry.

  38. Pingu September 11th, 2010 5:37 pm

    Awesome

  39. John December 13th, 2010 12:35 am

    I only bought my uke about 2 months ago, but I’m having so much fun with it thanks to this website.

    I’ve just done my own version of Mario, based on this tab, and it’s already got nearly 300 views in 6 hours – no idea how!

    Thanks for all the hard work you put into the site, I really appreciate it.

  40. Me December 28th, 2010 6:35 pm

    This website is just awesome!!!!

  41. Woodshed January 1st, 2011 12:21 pm

    John: Glad to hear your videos are doing well. Look forward to seeing more of them.

    Me: Thanks very much!

  42. Emily January 20th, 2011 6:04 pm

    Hey Al, I’ve been reading your blog/playing the songs you post for a while, I’ve just never commented :P I love this site, it’s where I get most of my uke music.
    I have one question about this song though. I’m a fairly new beginner, and I’m wondering how you strum measures 15 to about 21 without hitting the bottom string? Or do you pick those?
    Thanks :)

  43. Woodshed January 22nd, 2011 2:58 pm

    Emily: I block the g-string with my thumb to stop it ringing.

  44. Sarah February 28th, 2011 4:23 am

    woodshed this is absolutely awesome!! Do you think you can tab up more video game, tv, movie themes?
    This website really is the best though!

  45. Woodshed February 28th, 2011 5:41 pm

    Sarah: Yes, I will be doing. There’s Stayin’ Alive this week if that counts as a movie theme. And I’m working on the Magnum PI theme. Game Theme suggestions are welcome.

  46. Athena April 25th, 2011 11:40 pm

    That’s amazing!!!!! I guess I am kinda a beginner at uke, so I can’t really play it :( I have learned it, but I can’t find any easy songs that I know to play or practice off, like fingerpicking especially. Do you know of any?? I think I’ve visited every site :(

  47. Woodshed April 30th, 2011 9:39 am

    Athena: I’m going to have to draw together some introductory stuff about fingerpicking. Hopefully this is some help.

  48. UkuLinho May 18th, 2011 8:35 pm

    Thanks for the great Tabs!
    I just made a video of this Arrangement with my Brüko Sopranino.

    I tuned it up to A# D# G C, so it’s in the same key as the original.

    You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdnH_CVK4tI

    Keep Strumming,
    UkuLinho

  49. Woodshed May 19th, 2011 6:30 am

    UkuLinho: Nicely done!

  50. michael May 21st, 2011 5:01 pm

    thanks for doing this tab. I learned the rest of the underworld theme in this video but the rest is from your tab http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOX4XbJqdgA

  51. Woodshed May 22nd, 2011 1:03 pm

    michael: Excellent version. Thanks.

  52. Daniel June 14th, 2011 6:28 am

    Is there a chord version of this?!?!?
    If there is, i want it!!!

  53. Woodshed June 14th, 2011 11:40 am

    Daniel: It’s a bit too involved for a pure chord version, I think.

  54. Laney Loo July 2nd, 2011 11:00 pm

    I love playing this! Its fun to see the looks on peoples faces when they recognize the tune :)

  55. Jack July 25th, 2011 8:13 am

    it will be kool when i learn it i have had good times with my uke.

  56. Woodshed July 26th, 2011 8:54 am

    Laney Loo: Excellent!

    Jack: Good luck with learning it.

  57. Zach October 1st, 2011 12:18 pm

    Cool tab! Can you do Pokemon Red and Blue?

  58. CountPancake October 25th, 2011 10:55 pm

    I can almost do the first couple of lines of by heart yay. But after that there are just so many different chords I can’t do it. (sadface(

  59. Pedders November 3rd, 2011 8:26 pm

    This is brilliant! I’ve got it nailed upto where the strumming starts at no. 13, it just totally blows my mind. Is there some sort of pattern I’m meant to be using that I’m missing from reading the tabs? Thanks!

  60. Freduke January 28th, 2012 11:26 am

    @Jack :

    Seems you’re not alone in this case. I’ve got to say that super mario was my ultimate goal when i started ukulele 2 years ago, I tried after a few month playing,but put it away since it was literaly impossible for me! ^^

    But, two days ago i put myself working on it again, and finally got those measures! So for the strum (start measure 15) I suggest you to do:
    Roll up up up down(with the 2 on Astring) up(401) down up(021) down Roll up up.. You’ll find the rest! ;)

    Hope it’ll be useful to you!

    Still from measure 27 to 37 to learn for me. But i think i got over the most difficults parts! :)

  61. Freduke January 28th, 2012 11:30 am

    “up(401) down up(021) down”

    Actually this part ‘s more “Roll(401) up down(021) up & Roll..”

    Sorry!

  62. John January 28th, 2012 12:09 pm

    If anyone’s interested, I’ve just made a short tutorial vid to try and guide people through the Uke Hunt tab:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkzV4md_hFs

    (It’s something I’m just doing for fun to try and teach myself basic editing, I’m not claiming to be a qualified uke teacher or anything!)

    This was my original attempt at a video of the Mario tune:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tnsYsJf7Tc

  63. Woodshed January 28th, 2012 2:03 pm

    John: Excellent! I’ve added it to the post.

  64. John January 29th, 2012 8:42 pm

    Thanks!

    Hoping to do a “Dueling Banjos” tutorial eventually, so will let you know if/when I get round to it.

  65. Nick February 14th, 2012 7:59 am

    I don’t understand to do the last 2 parts

  66. Digging April 24th, 2012 6:03 am

    It really is simplified!

  67. Larry November 4th, 2012 5:36 am

    I can’t read sheet music… That is a problem. I need help.

  68. Woodshed November 4th, 2012 7:44 am

    Larry: There’s a guide to reading tab here.

  69. LonnaB February 26th, 2013 9:11 pm

    Hey there Woodshed

    I am having trouble getting this tab to come up right. Am I doing something wrong, as usual?

  70. Woodshed February 27th, 2013 12:38 pm

    Lonna: Hmm, seems to be working okay for me. I’ll send you an email.

  71. Jay Vaidyanathan June 23rd, 2013 6:09 pm

    I dont really get how this is easy…. (Must be that im bad :( )

  72. Woodshed June 24th, 2013 6:41 am

    Jay: I don’t think anyone said it was easy. It isn’t.

  73. Josh July 10th, 2013 2:16 am

    sounds good, but I can’t read the musical notation. Do you have anything simpler that I could read? Regular tabs maybe?

  74. Woodshed July 10th, 2013 8:00 am

    Josh: That is regular tab.

  75. Oliver March 13th, 2014 3:05 pm

    Wow, great tab! keepin balance between sophistication and accessibility, this IMHO stays true to the original midi masterpiece. Thank you so much!

    Also: Magic comes true if you play this on a pink ukulele in a crowded place. Trust me^^

  76. Woodshed March 13th, 2014 3:12 pm

    Oliver: Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it.

  77. Keith December 31st, 2014 3:54 pm

    Thanks for posting this. I was given a ukulele (A £4 second hand one) for my birthday at the end of October and I wanted to learn it properly. For Christmas my parents bought me a £90 ukulele; a considerable upgrade.

    Anyway, here is my attempt: http://youtu.be/dms41PzVlCE

    Could you advise me on how to prevent unwanted strings from sounding?

    Many thanks

    Keith

  78. Ben January 27th, 2015 2:12 am

    How do you get that rolling sound for the first couple notes?

  79. Woodshed January 27th, 2015 11:53 am

    Ben: With a roll strum (flicking all your fingers on the strumming hand across the strings).

  80. Beth Wagner June 7th, 2016 5:29 pm

    I was really disappointed to learn that the tab download links don’t work.

  81. Woodshed June 7th, 2016 7:44 pm

    Beth: That’s weird. It’s working fine for me. What happens when you click the link?

  82. Beth Wagner June 22nd, 2016 3:48 pm

    It’s just a picture, it pops up and asks if I want to ‘save image’.
    I’m very confident in knowing how my phone works, so maybe it’s just not working for the Galaxy S3 because it’s an older model.

  83. Katie October 3rd, 2016 7:17 pm

    Wow, awesome! I printed the tab three days ago and now I I can play the song!… Albeit somewhat cringe-ily. Thank you for making this!

    I was wondering how the part that starts at 40 seconds sounds different than the other notes. Is it a type of technique, like the rolling strum?

  84. Woodshed October 4th, 2016 7:15 am

    Katie: That’s fantastic! Well done.

    Yep, it’s a roll strum (where you strum the strings with each finger individually). It’s a bit of extra emphasis but it’s not essential.

  85. Katie October 6th, 2016 2:59 pm

    Thank you Woodshed! I will try that technique and see how it sounds. Ukulele hunt is pretty awesome, thinking about learning the Minecraft wet fingers or Sonic theme next.

  86. Woodshed October 7th, 2016 3:39 pm

    Katie: You’re very welcome! Hope you enjoy learning those.

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