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The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock - Guitar Tab

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Key E major
The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock guitar tab video
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Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
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AI-selected preset based on genre and era — adjust the knobs to taste.

Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
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The Smashing Pumpkins Alternative Rock E major
Capo Advisor 0 E major · Original key

About Cherub Rock

Few opening riffs in Alternative Rock hit as hard as the one Billy Corgan built for "Cherub Rock." The song opens with a clean, arpeggiated figure before the band crashes in with a wall of heavily layered distorted guitars, a technique Corgan used extensively across Siamese Dream. That layering is worth understanding: what sounds like one massive guitar tone is actually multiple tracked parts stacked together, so when you play it solo you will need to choose which layer carries the most weight and commit to it. Running at 120 BPM in E Standard tuning, the song sits at a very comfortable tempo, but the challenge is in the feel: the heavy riff needs to sit with real weight and not rush. The outro builds through repeated riff cycles that can trip you up if the picking hand gets sloppy under fatigue. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop that section slowed down until the right-hand attack feels consistent. The Smashing Pumpkins rewarded the effort with one of their most satisfying songs to have under your fingers.

  • The song is in E Standard tuning and E major, making open-position power chords and the signature riff very natural to finger.
  • The main riff relies on palm muting and precise pick attack to get the correct heavy, punchy tone rather than a washed-out wall of sound.
  • On the record, Billy Corgan layered many guitar tracks to create the dense tone, so focus on the core riff part rather than trying to replicate every texture at once.

How to Play Cherub Rock

The song moves through: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge 1, Bridge 2, Solo, Bridge 3, Outro.

Tuning: E Standard · Key: E major · Tempo: 120 BPM

The arrangement runs through 8 distinct sections, and the solo is the steepest jump, so isolate it on its own.

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 120 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Billy Corgan's primary weapon, particularly his late-'70s hardtail model with stock single-coils that create the Pumpkins' signature scooped, fizzy fuzz tone when slammed into a Big Muff. The single-coil bridge pickup delivers that aggressive high-end sizzle and cutting sustain central to their distorted sound.

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

James Iha's go-to rhythm guitar, providing bright, cutting tones that complement Corgan's Strat-based layers and add definition to the band's wall-of-sound approach without sacrificing the clarity needed in their dense arrangements.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Corgan used Les Pauls with stock PAF-style humbuckers for warmer, thicker lead tones that contrast with his Strat's fizz, allowing him to shift between aggressive rhythm fuzz and fat, sustaining solos throughout the Pumpkins' catalog.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

A variation of Corgan's Les Paul arsenal, the Custom offered similar warm humbucker character for lead work while its thicker body resonance provided deeper low-end support for the band's heavier passages on later recordings.

Gibson ES-335
Guitar

Gibson ES-335

Corgan deployed this semi-hollow body for textured, slightly more organic tones that provided sonic variety beyond his Strat and Les Paul, particularly useful for cleaner, more nuanced passages that needed definition without harsh high-end artifacts.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

The core of Corgan's distortion tone, cranked to the edge of breakup and pushed harder by his Big Muff pedal, the JCM800's natural tube compression and high-volume sustain became synonymous with the Pumpkins' crushing wall-of-sound aesthetic.

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