Billy Corgan is an underrated guitar soloist – and he knows it. His tortured leads on vintage Smashing Pumpkins cuts like Soma and Quiet through to his mid-noughties guitar-hero rebirth on Zeitgeist have largely flown under the radar.
But in recent years, as the Pumpkins have continued their post-reunion renaissance, his approach to guitar solos has changed. He’s pulled back on the faster side of his playing, instead turning to longer, held notes and heavy modulation to cut through.
In a new interview with Guitar World, Corgan shared what prompted his change in style.
“I don’t play that many leads live anymore, so if I’m only going to play like two or three leads live, I’ve got to make my point fairly quickly,” he says. “At this point, I’m 58 years old – the kineticism of a lead is what I’m interested in. The notes are less important to me. And that might sound strange, but that’s just the way I feel.”
Corgan’s desire to constantly reinvent himself – something that both fascinates and infuriates his fanbase – extends not only to his songwriting and aesthetic, but every nuance of his playing. And the rise of technically astonishing social media guitarists has prompted him to reassess the way he tackles solos himself.
“If you’re going to play a lead in an alternative rock band in 2025, what are you trying to say? No-one’s going to care that you can play good, because there’s 50 10-year-olds playing Eruption on YouTube.
“There’s nothing actually that impressive about somebody being able to play the guitar at a decently high level anymore, so I think it’s the expressive quality that makes it interesting. So I’m more interested in creating a feeling than showing off.”
For Corgan, there’s a missing link between social media and making it in the quote-unquote real world. He burned out on the flashy playing. He wants to see more players make that transition and make their mark on the mainstream.
“I don’t see a lot of that great playing converting into popular music, whether it’s in popular metal bands or popular alternative rock bands.
“I want to see them making the Metallica songs of tomorrow or Megadeth or Slayer or something. I want to see that convert into music. I would wish for that crew of guitar players to convert those incredible abilities into the popular culture.”
The Pumpkins leader is quick to admit that he could be wrong (“Maybe there are guitar players I wouldn’t know that got super-popular on Instagram and now they’re in the biggest metal band in Finland or something”). And certainly, we’ve seen some players make the jump.
Rabea Massaad is writing, recording and touring with alt-metal outfit Vower. Sophie Lloyd got picked up to tour with mgk and released her own solo record. And Mateus Asato has played mega-stages with huge names including Bruno Mars, and is just about to drop his debut album.
It can happen. But as Corgan points out, technicality isn’t what taps into mainstream culture at large; it’s the songs that make the impact.
“It’s like if Clapton had just been a guitar influencer and hadn’t been in John Mayall and Cream and Derek and the Dominos. The reason everybody knows Eric Clapton’s name is not because he’s a great guitar player. It’s because he made some of the most popular music of the 20th century, and, oh, by the way, it has incredible guitar. That’s kind of the point I’m making.”
Billy Corgan’s full interview with Guitar World will be published in the coming weeks, in which he discusses the guitar that changed his life, as well as the Laney Supergrace, the pedal amp that bottles the firebreathing tone of his live Smashing Pumpkins rig.
