Mad World

I was inspired to play Mad World by the stay-at-home performance of Curt Smith (Tears for Fears) and his daughter. His daughter’s voice is awesome, and he must be overjoyed to be playing music with her. Although written by Tears for Fears, I based my version on the Michael Andrews & Gary Jules performance from 2001’s Donnie Darko.

Mad World is melancholic, and more than appropriate for these times. To me, this pandemic has illuminated the relentless (and often shallow) deluge of information, and content. It’s forced me to slow down, reevaluate my priorities, and take a much needed breath.

The next time you’re scrolling through Instagram or Facebook, think of Curt Smith’s initial lyrics:

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere

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How to play Mad World | fingerstyle guitar

The guitar tab for this piece is only a single page long. Although relatively easy to play, this song is best for intermediate guitar players and up.

In accordance with the guitar tab, my order of looks like this: Intro/chorus 2x, Verse 4 x, Chorus 4x — Intro/chorus 1x, Verse 4x, Chorus 4x, Intro/chorus 2x, End.

Enjoy, the guitar tab is available below:

Mad World | fingerstyle guitar

This song is played in standard tuning with a capo on the 1st fret.