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The Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonaise - Guitar Tab

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Key E minor
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonaise guitar tab video
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Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
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The Smashing Pumpkins Alternative Rock E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Mayonaise

Few songs in the Alternative Rock canon reward slow, patient practice quite like "Mayonaise." At 84 BPM in E Standard, the tempo feels unhurried, but that relaxed pace is deceptive: the song layers multiple guitar parts that need to lock together precisely, and sloppy timing is immediately exposed. The central challenge is the surging, distortion-heavy chord work that builds from near-silence into a dense, almost orchestral wall of sound. Getting that swell right means controlling your picking dynamics carefully, and the transitions between the quiet and loud sections demand a light touch at first, then a committed push into the heavier passages. The song sits in E minor, so the harmonic language is relatively approachable, but nailing the feel, that sense of controlled tension releasing into noise, takes real work. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the build sections slowed down until your dynamics feel natural. The Smashing Pumpkins layered guitars extensively here, so even a single-guitar arrangement asks you to make choices about which parts carry the most weight.

  • The song is played in E Standard tuning in the key of E minor, keeping the open strings available for resonant, full-sounding chords throughout.
  • The main challenge is dynamic control: the arrangement shifts from delicate, quiet picking to heavy, layered distortion, and the transition needs to feel gradual and intentional.
  • Looping the loud-to-quiet and quiet-to-loud transitions with the Practice Toolbar at reduced speed helps you internalize the picking pressure changes before playing at full tempo.

How to Play Mayonaise

Tuning: E Standard · Key: E minor · Tempo: 84 BPM

Loop each section and focus on clean, even timing rather than speed, with the metronome at 84 BPM.

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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