i was just reading an article that assigned the smashing pumpkins' use of pedal tones to an influence from middle eastern music, and i know that is nonsense.

they were no doubt referring to what corgan variously called the "pumpkins chord" or the "hendrix chord", in differing guitar publications through the 90s. corgan was a guitar magazine staple for about five years or so, tossing out bits of tabs all over the place, and providing a running commentary on them. and he did, in fact, use a lot of pedal tones in this period - something he was clear to attribute directly to hendrix. anybody familiar with both guitarists will not have difficulty drawing the influence, in regards to the use of open strings: compare purple haze with silverfuck.

and, where did hendrix get these ideas from? well, these are actually strumming techniques. there might be a very surface similarity between these open chord strumming tactics and sitar music, but it breaks down instantly on any basic analysis. where hendrix picked the idea up was from white country & bluegrass musicians. the song structure of purple haze, minus the tasty solo, is actually a hoe down. get yer jugs out. and pick up yer fiddles.

but, i mean, if you didn't know any better, you might have fucked that up - it's a pentatonic scale on an open string, and middle easterners write pentatonic music using open strings all the time so, duh, right? except that every culture does that, in varying degrees. what would the solo in purple haze sound like on a chinese flute, at half speed? fairly traditional, in fact.