Jeffrey Schroeder was born February 4, 1974 in Los Angeles, California. Schroeder began formal guitar lessons with David Koval at age 12. At age 18, he joined the band The Violet Burning before co-founding the shoegaze band The Lassie Foundation for whom he played guitar on on three albums and all tours from 1996 to 2008. He also worked on a side project Eric Campuzano called The Beat Concerto.In 2007, Schroeder was hired by Billy Corgan to join the newly-reformed Smashing Pumpkins as a replacement of James Iha. He made his debut with the band at a live show in Paris. Although originally only a touring member, Schroeder's contributions within the band quickly expanded as he remained the only member (besides Corgan) of the reformed group (that debuted in Paris) to stay in the band beyond 2010.By 2012, Schroeder had become a full member of the Smashing Pumpkins and made his first studio contributions as a guitarist to the album Oceania (2012) and later Monuments to an Elegy (2014). In 2017, Billy Corgan sought to reunite the band's classic line-up and successfully recruited drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and guitarist James Iha. Despite Iha's return, Schroeder remained part of the band's line-up as a third guitarist.