Underrated guitarist and underrated songwriter as well. BC has a signature sound as well. I remember first hearing the solo on Zwans "honestly" and thinking "that's a BC solo if I've ever heard one". His control of distortion is quite incredible. I just wish he never learned to sing lol. The old live performances before he balded out we're amazing, the imperfections in his singing made the music so much more punk. I miss that snarl.
Unbelievable. He can play like this, seemingly without breaking a sweat, and he has the restraint to write songs like 1979 and pretty much everything on Adore. Billy Corgan is truly an artist.
I read an interview with Corgan, way back in the 90s, where he said something to the effect that although the huge, crushing anthems are what grabs the audience's attention and what usually sells albums, it's the quiet, restrained pieces that he loves to write the most. In essence, 1979 is Billy Corgan at his most BIlly Corgan (Actually, I'd argue Beautiful is really Billy Corgan at his Billy Corganest). I wish I could remember where I saw it, or heck, even if it was print vs. TV interview, but the point still stands: Billy loves his sweet love songs. I think that's actually one of the more wholesome things about him.
I’ve seen EVH, SRV, Jeff Beck, Clapton, Johnny Winter, Jeff Healey, Santana, Derek Trucks, BB King, Buddy Guy, Lindsey Buckingham, Prince, and many more live, but the most incredible live solo I ever saw was Billy and the Pumpkins doing “Starla” in ‘94. I was right at the front of the stage and he blew my mind.
A criminally underrated guitarist. What's amazing is the way he looks so nonchalant when he's pulling off all this ridiculous shredding. He doesn't pose or posture because playing guitar that brilliantly is just so natural to him.
Whatever he does now is on purpose but back in the early 90's it's because they didn't have a lot of psychedelic shirts in 6 foot 4 big guy size in the thrift stores
so incredible! Billys leads have been the most challenging for me to play since the 90s! They are absolutely unique and break the mold for lead guitar parts of songs
I have been telling my friends for 20+ years Billy Corgan is my favorite artist. And they don't realize why i tell them that. now besides the great songwriting I have further evidence in a nice, easy-to-difest format. Thanks for the Video!! (instant subscriber)
Holy shit man you just blew my mind … all these goddamn years and i always thought it was easy to dijest…. Oh and yea ive even seen pumpkins live and didnt realise what a good guitarist he is
@EdBenji Agreed. I'm scratching my head at some of these comments. I'm just hearing manic notes at high speed with no underlying musical structure. My brother is a huge fan so i went on a deep dive. Many times he solos, the other instruments duck out and leave him almost alone with the drummer. I'm guessing he knows he can only shred tunelessly, rather than over a chord progression. Interesting.
@@roypublik948check out the frail and bedazzled studio roughs and songs like hello kitty let solos he did as well. There’s truth to alot of what you said but he found a way to merge his shredding and the music as well
My absolute favorite of all time. So awesome to see this old video of him, he looked like me at that age lol. I see some Eddie Van Halen influences here for sure.
When he was a kid he used to practice to his favorite bands and Van Halen was one of them and he could replicate every single note Eddie had nothing on him LOL
He has a bit of psychedelia, a bit of gothic rock, a bit of metal, a bit of grunge and a bit of shoegaze all in one guitarist. His versatility is really insane
I recall reading his "confessions" years ago when they were online. He picked a random number of 5 or 7 hours per day to practice guitar And apparently he did just that, 5 or so hours per day for, a couple of years I think. I can't remember the exact quote
He just tunes it there, ON THE SPOT. No tuner, turning it live, not switching out. I saw the Pumpkins live (only once sadly) and spent the entire time watching him play the guitar with my mouth open. I play guitar, well compared to him, I pluck a few strings sort of. He is the most underrecognized and greatest guitarist of the past 30 years.
Yeah being a good guitar player requires a musical ear. I too can tune to E or Eb from nothing, like changing strings for example. Not everyone can do it though
Probably the best guitarist of the 90s. In a decade where technical prowess was borderline embarrassing to demonstrate, it was only Corgan that really carried that torch imo and still stayed on the absolute forefront of modern rock at the time. What's crazier is that he's not really given his dues as a guitarist even 30 years later. I think that's because he's known as such an amazing songwriter though
Jerry was an OK player Kim Thayil was a good, original player. Mike McReady … marginal. Corgan is a poseur - crap player. Robert DeLeo smokes all of them.
@@fab.silva1119 Robert was the bassist bruh, it was Dean his brother. Id add the Blind Melon guitarist, both of them, Try their song, Paper Scratcher. Amazing dual guitar work
Always really rated him. In the underrated class. Always thought he's got there through practice and hard work rather than being naturally gifted like some
Fun fact: Billy writes and bats lefty, plays right handed guitar (so dominant hand does the fretting). Kurt Cobain wrote right handed and played lefty guitars. Dominant fretting hand. Exact opposites.
I expected this to be a joke video given Billy's own famously high opinion of his guitar skills. But no, he really does shred with tremendous skill. That said, there's a good reason he keeps this stuff off the albums. It's fun as hell, but it doesn't really add anything in the context of a song. As Tom Waits once said, "A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't."
Wow, I just realize that Billy Corgan's head now really looks like a pumpkin. Was he going for this look? Imagine the look of his skull being fractured with a tattoo. Only kidding. My all time favorite band. I wish Corgan did solos like he use to.
Billy Corgan is such a great guitar player, my biggest gripe with alternative rock is that they force all these great musicians to dumb down their playing
Where’s the part where Billy becomes a great guitarist? I can’t find it. This is utter noise. Yup… he could play all of Fair Warning and 2112 while in high school, like he’s claimed in the past…. NOT!🙄
LMFAO! Did he really say he could play all of Fair Warning? Lots of non guitarist in this comment section. He is decent but saying he is some world class virtuoso is a load of crap!
Wow fudge this is horrible. I only know basic soloing but i could tell that he's not in the beat at all. Dissonant notes after one another, im thinking what scale he was trying to play. He obviously got that speed but he's not playing the correct notes. Geeze people. As much as i love this guy, this is like when drummers spins their sticks or stands up, you think they are one of the best out there.
He's a good composer and melody maker, I'm a Smashing Pumpkins fan since I'm in Highschool but I have to admit, his guitar solos are his weakest, yes they're technically impressive but they're forgettable and kind of just doodling
@@joesnider880 well the solos sound amazing and are great to play on guitar. e.g the solos on rhinoceros, soma and a song for a son (in this video) are all very good.
Regarding the last segment, does nobody else care about the blatant damage to guitar playing the world over all because of that Scandinavian pianist/drummer 🙄
@@TheAlibabatree do you play guitar? from ur comment I can tell you're new or you don't. Or you're worshiping him. that's cool, but he's not extraordinary.
Am i getting trolled by you lot cos that all sounds like a mess even without considering how disconnected it is from anything happening at the same time..
One of THE most underrated guitarists of ALL time!!
Thank you for your time and attention to greatness!
Np I loved making this video :)
Everything that has ever happened is underrated
Underrated guitarist and underrated songwriter as well. BC has a signature sound as well. I remember first hearing the solo on Zwans "honestly" and thinking "that's a BC solo if I've ever heard one". His control of distortion is quite incredible. I just wish he never learned to sing lol. The old live performances before he balded out we're amazing, the imperfections in his singing made the music so much more punk. I miss that snarl.
@@Daves_not_here_man_ OMG so underrated underrated !one! no one else but us know how gud he is!! underrated
@@Daves_not_here_man_ lmao yeah.... "learning how to sing" destroyed the Pumpkins sound.
Unbelievable.
He can play like this, seemingly without breaking a sweat, and he has the restraint to write songs like 1979 and pretty much everything on Adore. Billy Corgan is truly an artist.
I read an interview with Corgan, way back in the 90s, where he said something to the effect that although the huge, crushing anthems are what grabs the audience's attention and what usually sells albums, it's the quiet, restrained pieces that he loves to write the most. In essence, 1979 is Billy Corgan at his most BIlly Corgan (Actually, I'd argue Beautiful is really Billy Corgan at his Billy Corganest).
I wish I could remember where I saw it, or heck, even if it was print vs. TV interview, but the point still stands: Billy loves his sweet love songs. I think that's actually one of the more wholesome things about him.
@@TomatoFettuccini
Spaceboy
I’ve seen EVH, SRV, Jeff Beck, Clapton, Johnny Winter, Jeff Healey, Santana, Derek Trucks, BB King, Buddy Guy, Lindsey Buckingham, Prince, and many more live, but the most incredible live solo I ever saw was Billy and the Pumpkins doing “Starla” in ‘94. I was right at the front of the stage and he blew my mind.
What a song...
I was thought of Billy Corgan as an 80's guitarist who managed to adapt to the 90s
Honestly, I’m pretty sure the 90s adapted to *him*.
Yes but the 70's were strong in his playing
I always found it amazing how Billy could slam into the strings and get a single note
Frusciante kinda does that too but he doesn't completely mute the other strings
Agreed!!
I love them both too, but Billy without doubt does it better
@@aniquinstark4347 ^^^ agreed
@@Squasagedog i have fairly average sized hands and can do this, but yeah billys hands are literally shovels
yeah, at some point u gotta learn that stuff
A criminally underrated guitarist. What's amazing is the way he looks so nonchalant when he's pulling off all this ridiculous shredding. He doesn't pose or posture because playing guitar that brilliantly is just so natural to him.
Also, see Derek Trucks, especially in his younger years. He’s one of the best players ever and he barely moves. Even his face is like a statue
This dude is so underrated. I also appreciate his "no fuxs given" to wearing a shirt that's too small. He's next level at wearing the tightness.
Billy's response to a shirt too small would be to wearing a cape
And ive seen him in capes too!!
Im not even fucking joking
And a dress
Fuckes?
Whatever he does now is on purpose but back in the early 90's it's because they didn't have a lot of psychedelic shirts in 6 foot 4 big guy size in the thrift stores
Billy controls distortion like nobody else other than Hendrix. His solos are so unique.
so incredible! Billys leads have been the most challenging for me to play since the 90s! They are absolutely unique and break the mold for lead guitar parts of songs
I have been telling my friends for 20+ years Billy Corgan is my favorite artist. And they don't realize why i tell them that. now besides the great songwriting I have further evidence in a nice, easy-to-difest format. Thanks for the Video!! (instant subscriber)
Holy shit man you just blew my mind … all these goddamn years and i always thought it was easy to dijest…. Oh and yea ive even seen pumpkins live and didnt realise what a good guitarist he is
@@kingry1985 I just bought tickets yesterday for this summer
Billy is a shredder, one that can play fast and melodic.
He's anything but melodic!
@EdBenji
Agreed. I'm scratching my head at some of these comments. I'm just hearing manic notes at high speed with no underlying musical structure. My brother is a huge fan so i went on a deep dive. Many times he solos, the other instruments duck out and leave him almost alone with the drummer. I'm guessing he knows he can only shred tunelessly, rather than over a chord progression. Interesting.
He's not playing Melodic in these clips, but he certainly does in many, many others. This was a collection with a very narrow focus.
@@roypublik948check out the frail and bedazzled studio roughs and songs like hello kitty let solos he did as well. There’s truth to alot of what you said but he found a way to merge his shredding and the music as well
Play fast OR melodic.
Billy isn’t a guitarist, he’s an alien that plays a guitar.
Finally! I'm sure he appreciates this. He's been dropping hints for frikkin' ages.
So....an alien guitarist.
Corgan is the man of a thousand guitar tones ❤ really a standout player from a great era
Him tuning the strings up around the three minute mark made me so anxious
What a great composer and guitarist
What are you smoking? This guy IS TERRIBLE. A bunch of noise
Wow the OG strat sounds so much better in every way than the new reverand.
You think so too!? Yeah, absolutely.
@@chaliceb5totally
My absolute favorite of all time. So awesome to see this old video of him, he looked like me at that age lol. I see some Eddie Van Halen influences here for sure.
When the pumpkins first got started Billy Corgan was called the Indy Van Helen imagine that
When he was a kid he used to practice to his favorite bands and Van Halen was one of them and he could replicate every single note Eddie had nothing on him LOL
@@mr.anderson6040Yeah honestly I’d rather listen to Corgan than Van Halen all day
Billy would not say that... he actually interviewed Eddie and has spoken about how much respect he has for Eddie.
True !!!! Billy Corgan is the best !!!! Magic guitar with psycodelic sound
He has a bit of psychedelia, a bit of gothic rock, a bit of metal, a bit of grunge and a bit of shoegaze all in one guitarist. His versatility is really insane
Billy can make that guitar scream like no one else. Virtuoso!!!
yeah the guitar was certainly screaming for help geeze
Thanks for putting this together. I've always said he could be the greatest rock guitarist of all time. And, don't forget Chamberlin on drums. :)
Billy is not just a great songwriter he is also a great guitar player!!!! That is rare
Wow, I almost forgot, how amazing they were!
I recall reading his "confessions" years ago when they were online.
He picked a random number of 5 or 7 hours per day to practice guitar
And apparently he did just that, 5 or so hours per day for, a couple of years I think.
I can't remember the exact quote
Pretty sure it was 4 hours straight every day for 4 years, then he was just like "got it." I used to read those too but it's been so long
big hands like buckethead
he's always been so damn good
thanks for this!
BC was a big EVH fan early on. It shows in his early days solo.
He just tunes it there, ON THE SPOT. No tuner, turning it live, not switching out. I saw the Pumpkins live (only once sadly) and spent the entire time watching him play the guitar with my mouth open. I play guitar, well compared to him, I pluck a few strings sort of. He is the most underrecognized and greatest guitarist of the past 30 years.
Yeah being a good guitar player requires a musical ear. I too can tune to E or Eb from nothing, like changing strings for example. Not everyone can do it though
What he’s doing here though is tuning his E string until it breaks, just a hit of madness at the end of the show
Probably the best guitarist of the 90s. In a decade where technical prowess was borderline embarrassing to demonstrate, it was only Corgan that really carried that torch imo and still stayed on the absolute forefront of modern rock at the time.
What's crazier is that he's not really given his dues as a guitarist even 30 years later. I think that's because he's known as such an amazing songwriter though
Billy is amazing and one of the best.... But best of the 90s? Jerry Cantrell has got to take that spot for me and im a huge SP fan since Gish.
Jerry was an OK player
Kim Thayil was a good, original player.
Mike McReady … marginal.
Corgan is a poseur - crap player.
Robert DeLeo smokes all of them.
James Dean Bradley, too
I didn’t realize there was a debate since that is so clearly dimebags decade.
@@fab.silva1119 Robert was the bassist bruh, it was Dean his brother.
Id add the Blind Melon guitarist, both of them,
Try their song, Paper Scratcher.
Amazing dual guitar work
I love his style of just doing whatever the f*ck and then making it sound good somehow 😂
Indeed he is.
3:38 Uncle Fester melting faces.
He is the absolute best in my book! Luv WPC
That Song for a Son solo is my favorite guitar solo of all time.
I remember seeing in an interview he said he practiced 4 hours a day for 4 years as a teenager.
I could have been happy with 6 Gish type albums of his shredding
billy corgan the dream collector
Totally underrated
Saw him live during the Zeitgeist era. He is an absolute beast on the guitar.
One of the most creative riffs and solos were written by Mr. WPC 😌👌
Damn he channeling Jimi Hendrix.
Not underrated at all top 10 of all time Brilliant!! 💪🎸
Billy and rivers cuomo. Fav vocal+singer
There easily a part2 of this
A good soma solo, some nice acoustic playing.. an ode solo.. here is no why solo
Great vid though
Always really rated him. In the underrated class. Always thought he's got there through practice and hard work rather than being naturally gifted like some
I’m glad someone made this so I didn’t have to
Harmageddon guitar solo is underrated.
Great content
Thank you :)
His solos r very unique
Billy Corgan by day, Billy Van Corgan by night.
Why are all these solos he's kinda known for his melodic parts
Pinch of Brian May from first two Queen albums in it.
thanks a lot!!!!!
nailed it.
Fun fact: Billy writes and bats lefty, plays right handed guitar (so dominant hand does the fretting). Kurt Cobain wrote right handed and played lefty guitars. Dominant fretting hand. Exact opposites.
after Domenico Bini he Is the best
GOD MODE
I had no idea he could play this way.
Noise made with pathos
Здорово 🤟
He seems to be very influenced by Deep Purple. A lifelong genius
Dam I didn’t know he could shred like that.
I love shit like this!
Thanks you
so fucking good
He’s tooooo damn good 😢 I’m sorry but the proof is in the pumpkin spice pudding
You can probably buy some pumpkin spice snack at his cafe Madame Zuzu in Highland Park in Chicago area. 😊❤
Man it breaks my balls so bad when Billy does that heavy E string 'wind until breaks' thing, sounds great, but his poor strat 😢
What’s the second song?
The song is called Starla. It’s off the compilation album Pisces Iscariot. He doesn’t play like he did in the studio version though.
@@_PhantomX ahh yes I’ve heard it. He goes fucking nuts in the live version
Which song is the first solo?
A Song for a son.
@@jotu2274 Thank you!
Is it just me, or did the other guitarist walk off at 3:16 ??
I expected this to be a joke video given Billy's own famously high opinion of his guitar skills. But no, he really does shred with tremendous skill. That said, there's a good reason he keeps this stuff off the albums. It's fun as hell, but it doesn't really add anything in the context of a song. As Tom Waits once said, "A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't."
5:01 He knows he’s cool lol
MAYBE I WANNA bE A SHITTY GUITARIST
Funky butt lovin'❤
Seriously, though, the size of his hands is straight up CHEATING. Those fingers are all like a full inch longer than mine.
Nobody under rates Billy like Billy.😂😂😂😂
Starla is a great song.
This kind of playing isnt unachievable you just have sone decent gear and a passion for all things guitar!
Jackie Coogan
Wow, I just realize that Billy Corgan's head now really looks like a pumpkin. Was he going for this look? Imagine the look of his skull being fractured with a tattoo.
Only kidding. My all time favorite band. I wish Corgan did solos like he use to.
He looks like Uncle Fester now
0:00:00 the actual take from "A Song for A Son" one of the great SP guitar moments from the post reunion era
Billy looks like Klaus Schwab now.
lol 😂
You will eat ze pumpkins...
You can see this level of "Greatness" at any Thursday night Blues jam at the local dive bar. Give me a break.
Billy Corgan is such a great guitar player, my biggest gripe with alternative rock is that they force all these great musicians to dumb down their playing
What an idiotic opinion. The musicality and technicality of alt rock blows "classic" rock away.
I was amazed when I found out that he was a great guitarist.
For some reason I just assumed that JI was the shredder.
My bad.
better than what he portrays to be but still not the greatest 90s guitarist.
Just noise!!
He's like the darth vader or fester adams of Rock!!!
I mean he's no Holdsworth
Honestamente he ido not playing nothing dificult but he ido the Best making his amazing 🎵🎼 music
Where’s the part where Billy becomes a great guitarist? I can’t find it. This is utter noise.
Yup… he could play all of Fair Warning and 2112 while in high school, like he’s claimed in the past…. NOT!🙄
LMFAO! Did he really say he could play all of Fair Warning? Lots of non guitarist in this comment section. He is decent but saying he is some world class virtuoso is a load of crap!
Grunge was hard rock without the guitar solos.
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard
Good thing Billy’s music isn’t grunge.
He's very talented
But Fruciante blows him away; Thanks God he's still here!!! JM
100% :)
imho billy is a bit better, has more melody and feel
@@alexmalch everybody has opinions and it's great we all don't like same guitarists :)
@@joshuacobb3923 that’s true!
Every guitarist is great in his own way. Maybe some players are not great live but for the songs in the studio they can be perfect.
Wow fudge this is horrible.
I only know basic soloing but i could tell that he's not in the beat at all.
Dissonant notes after one another, im thinking what scale he was trying to play.
He obviously got that speed but he's not playing the correct notes.
Geeze people. As much as i love this guy, this is like when drummers spins their sticks or stands up, you think they are
one of the best out there.
He's good, but he's no Joni Mitchell 🤣
He's a good composer and melody maker, I'm a Smashing Pumpkins fan since I'm in Highschool but I have to admit, his guitar solos are his weakest, yes they're technically impressive but they're forgettable and kind of just doodling
I’m gonna have to disagree with you on that one.
just sounds like noise to me. hes a great composer and melody maker but his solos are terrible imo
@@joesnider880 well the solos sound amazing and are great to play on guitar. e.g the solos on rhinoceros, soma and a song for a son (in this video) are all very good.
@@samwilson2046 he's a tremendous talent but these solos in this video don't impress me. but everyone has different tastes
@@joesnider880 the guitar solo from soma is beautiful stfu
Regarding the last segment, does nobody else care about the blatant damage to guitar playing the world over all because of that Scandinavian pianist/drummer 🙄
He never was. Just a good song writer. He sings awful nowadays.
Don't really listen to him so I can't comment on him that much but from what I have seen hes alright
He’s easily one of the best guitar players of the 90s. This video was a poor selection.
@@TheAlibabatree do you play guitar? from ur comment I can tell you're new or you don't. Or you're worshiping him. that's cool, but he's not extraordinary.
@@thebends6580 What a childish response. And yes, I’m a multi instrumentalist, thanks for asking.
@@TheAlibabatree So am I. Not a child, and now I'm even more surprised that you consider BC as one of the bests of the 90's. Dig deeper
Boring 2
Thanks :)
3:28 - Uncle Faster playing guitar
Am i getting trolled by you lot cos that all sounds like a mess even without considering how disconnected it is from anything happening at the same time..
What is the first song?
A Song for a Son.