Smashing Pumpkins - Drown - Guitar Tab

About Drown

Few Smashing Pumpkins tracks reward patient practice quite like "Drown," a slow-burning piece in E minor that leans heavily on sustained, feedback-edged chords and a hypnotic sense of space. At 120 BPM in standard E tuning, the tempo is comfortable, but the challenge is not speed, it is control: holding chords cleanly, managing pick attack to keep dynamics consistent, and letting notes ring without unwanted noise creeping in. The signature guitar work builds from relatively simple chord shapes into long, droning passages where tone and feel matter far more than technical complexity. Getting that wash of sound right means paying close attention to where you mute and where you let strings sustain freely. Smashing Pumpkins were central to the Alternative Rock scene of the mid-1990s, and "Drown" shows the quieter, more textural side of their guitar approach. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop and slow down any passage where your chord transitions are breaking the mood, so you can iron out the movement before bringing it back up to tempo.

• Played in E Standard tuning and rooted in E minor, the song favors open-string resonance, so letting chord shapes ring fully is key to nailing the feel.
• The 120 BPM tempo is moderate, but the long, sustained passages demand steady picking dynamics and clean fretting hand control throughout.
• Focus practice on smooth, noise-free chord transitions, as any fret buzz or premature muting disrupts the droning, atmospheric quality the guitar parts rely on.