Watch John Petrucci annihilate the Super Mario Bros theme in warp-speed guitar playthrough

How’s this for a speed run? In a brief stop off from this year’s G3 tour with Joe Satriani and Phil Collen, John Petrucci found time to cover the Super Mario Bros theme tune - and, of course, he lent his own warp-speed skills to the track.

Accompanying YouTube videogame guitar cover star FamilyJules, Petrucci blazes through the lead melody before taking the theme to a whole new dimension with some mind-bending modal licks on his Ernie Ball Music Man Imperial Blue Monarchy Series Majesty - he even deploys a Mario amiibo as a pick.

“This was a dream come true,” says Jules. “John is one of my biggest influences of all time - I've been listening to Dream Theater for as long as I can remember and owe so much of my playing ability to his tutorials on YouTube as well as his DVD, Rock Discipline.”

D’aww. This isn’t the first all-star Mario cover we’ve heard lately, either; back at the end of 2016, Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto played the Nintendo classic's theme on acoustic guitar with The Roots.

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Michael Astley-Brown

Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and 15 years' experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. His writing also appears in the The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.