Mad World was an early radio hit for the 1980s pop band Tears for Fears. In this Mad World Piano Tutorial You'll learn the chords, the amazing accompaniment and some very cool details!
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Mad World was released in 1982 by the British rock band Tears for Fears. The song was written by Roland Orzabal and sung by his bandmate Curt Smith. Mad World was their first huge international hit, which was followed in 1985 by their massively successful Songs from the Big Chair Album.
Mad World is a very easy song to play on piano. It’s in the key of A major and there are a grand total of 4 chords in the entire song!
Love Tears For Fears? Check out my Everybody Wants to Rule the World tutorial!
Let's go!
For our first step, you can simply learn the chords in root position. Watch the video and I’ll take you through it.
Mad World Lyrics and Chords
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Mad World Chord Inversions
These are the chord inversions that I chose for this tutorial. You can absolutely choose any inversions that you prefer!
Piano Fill for Mad World
In the second half of the chorus, this piano fill comes in. Notice that the RH plays the fill and the LH takes over playing the chords.
Accompaniment Strategies for Mad World
For the accompaniment strategy, I tried to break down the full picture of the band into something that is relatively easy and play on piano (and sing at the same time!). I think you will notice how this is a pretty accurate representation of what is being played in the recording. By all means, feel free to double the LH in octaves or add any other details that make sense to you.
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