Billy Corgan is a man whose reputation and genius truly precede him. Since forming the Smashing Pumpkins in the late ’80s, the group has sold more than 30 million records, including landmark albums Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and Adore.
It should also be noted that Corgan is one of the most influential guitarists of his generation and quite possibly many generations to follow. Yet there is one element to his success that may not be common knowledge, which is that he has written and recorded the bass guitar tracks on almost every album in the entirety of the Smashing Pumpkins’ history.
While this should greatly warm the hearts of bassists everywhere, it also leads us to question the influence of D’arcy Wretzky, Melissa Auf der Maur, Ginger Pooley, Nicole Fiorentino and now Jack Bates, and the roles they’ve played in the development of the Pumpkins’ unique sound.
Their playing over the years has surely sparked trends in alternative rock bass playing, and their collective stage presence is infinitely powerful.
Yet Corgan was the mastermind fuelling the Pumpkins’ low-end sound. Speaking to Bass Player in 2012, he said, “As a guitar player first, I tend to like bass that doesn’t diminish what I’m playing. I tend to see bass in more of a support-and-enhance type of role that’s best when it makes everything else shine brighter.”
It is not always easy for a guitarist of Corgan’s magnitude to approach the bass as a creative outlet. Often guitar players get stuck writing overly simple lines, or parts that do little to connect with the drums. But for Corgan, who is adept at playing over 10 different instruments, he is able to write, record and play the bass parts, even if he does tend to honour the guitar first.
“At times I can be guilty of creating too much around the guitar part. If there’s any part of creating a bassline that I’m good at, it’s looking for a rhythm hook with some notes that would harmonize or blur with my guitar.
“Bass should be able to disappear and reappear at will, tucking underneath a guitar part and driving the song, and then drawing attention to itself at just the right moment.”
Epic moments in famed Pumpkins songs such as The Everlasting Gaze and Bullet With Butterfly Wings give the bass a piece of the spotlight, but generally Corgan likes to use it as a more supportive tool rather than a standout feature.
“It is not difficult for me to switch to the mentality of a bass player in the sense that as the songwriter, in most cases I know what I’m looking for. That said, I don’t always think like a bass player. I’ve learned a lot of respect for that approach over time, but it doesn’t always come naturally to me.”
While the Pumpkins bass chair has been a veritable revolving door since the departure of D’arcy in 1999, one trait has remained consistent to the position, which is they have all been pick players.
While the grinding, midrange tone of playing with a pick seems a staple of the Pumpkins sound, Corgan enjoys players who let their fingers do the plucking.
“I actually prefer people who play with their fingers. If a bassist is going to use a pick, it has to be used just right to not blunt the guitar attack. It’s a fine balance not to interfere with the tonality of the guitar.”
Corgan’s bass collection is nothing short of spectacular. “Right now I own a 1958 Fender P-Bass, a 1963 Fender Jazz Bass, a 1968 Guild Starfire, a 1968 Höfner violin bass, a ’60s-era Fender Coronado, various ’70s P-Basses, a ’60s Gibson EB-2 and various Reverend basses.”
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