Hotel California

[Danny Poole]

Found Here: Songs > Hotel California

Please leave your comments & questions!

[fretdancer]

Danny, I ony found your site today, I have to admit it was not easy to find being well down on the google listings, but by golly it was worth looking for.
I am very well impressed with your song lessons, especially Hotel California.
I have been playing guitar for about 18 months, self taught using the net. I have had a couple of cracks at Hotel California but never has it been broken down to such managable chunks or as logically as you have done it here.
I truly am immensely impressed with the way you present the information. I especially like the way you have a play button for each individual bar. I cannot praise you enough for the work you have put into presenting the lesson.
I do think that you have an incredible way of presenting how to play a song. In all the time I have been playing, I have only learnt "bits" of songs and riffs etc, I am now looking to put all my knowledge into learning and being able to play full songs - I think this method will certainly go a long way if not all the way to doing just that.

well done indeed

Pete

[Toby267]

I don't have 12 string guitar. Is there a way to play it on a single steel stringed acoustic?

[Danny Poole]

You can play it the same as written, it won't matter to much if you play it on a 6 string it just won't have as rich or full sound as playing it on a 12 string. the string on the 12 string are still the same tuning.

[boyofmystery]

Hi Mr Poole
excellent lesson.
Do you know how to get the solo tone?
I have a epiphone les paul n a Vox AD30VT
thanks 2 anyone hu can help me

[Danny Poole]

I don't know if this is the right tone but I use a Fender set to the bridge pickup with the amp set on a medium amount of distortion.

When listening to the song it hear a little bit of delay in some areas (but mostly dry), the guitar has a slight phase or wah pedal tone to it in some areas, but it is really subtle.

.... but i'm not totally 100% sure.

[Gizmo]

Hi Danny,

I've got a Boss PS5 and would like to hamornize the solo while playing it alone!
I've tried to harmonize it from bar 105 where I play starting fret 10 (i.e. the lower part). I thought that setting up my PS5 to Bm (intelligent harmonizer) and to the third up that would do it but it doesn't sound good.
I ain't very good in theory, so maybe you can give me a hand:
- is the song in Bm minor scale? If so where am I wrong with my settings?
- maybe the song is in B minor harmonic?? Then which key corresponds to it (in term of minor or major scale)?

Many thanks for the help...

Cheers,

Gizmo

[Danny Poole]

Hi Gizmo, below are 2 diagrams, the top one is showing all the notes used in the 1st part of the solo and the 2nd one is show all the notes used in the end of the solo (this is the part you are using the harmoniser on.

The "O's" represents all the notes in the B minor scale and the "X's" represent all the notes that are in the solo but outside the B minor scale.


||---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|-X-|-O-|---|-O-|---|---
||---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|-O-|-X-|-O-|-X-|-O-|-X-|-O-|-O-|-X-|-O-|---|-O-|---|---
||---|---|-X-|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|--
||---|---|---|---|---|---|-O-|-X-|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---

...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12.. 13..14..15..16..17..18..19..20

You can see that if you used a harmoniser on the parts below the solo wouldn't work because there are too many notes outside the B minor scale, and the harmoniser would only play notes inside the scale. I tried the same thing with my harmoniser and soon realized it couldn't be done because of this reason.

This end part of the solo folows the chord patterns rather than the scale, and the chord pattern goes outside the key of B minor. These are the chords you can use in the key of B minor: Bm, C#dim, D, Em, F#m, G, A and the simplified chords used in Hotel California are: Bm, F#7, A, E, G, D, Em. You can see that the F#7 and E go outside the key and I think you'll find this is also where the notes in the solo go outside the scale.

end part of the solo
||---|---|-O-|---|-O-|-X-|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-
||---|---|---|---|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|-X-|-O-|-X-|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|---|---|---
||---|---|---|-O-|---|-0-|-O-|---|-O-|---|-O-|-O-|-X-|-O-|-X-|-O-|---|---
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---

...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12.. 13..14..15..16..17..18

[Gizmo]

ThanX.... it comes clear to me now!
Well, I guess I've to find another guitarist to play the harmonized parts

Cheers,

Gizmo

[Vix]

I found the lesson to be quite excellent! I already had my way to play the intro but I'm trying out the solo. I really like the way it's divided into smaller parts, each with a corresponding audio file. That way, it's all very clear and easy to follow. All that's left is to play it!

[john82]

I just love playing this solo!
it's a classic...
luckily i found a very nice gibson 12 string guitar, so this song sounds great with it!

______
Johnny
guitars101

[splitter]

Originally Posted by Danny Poole

You can play it the same as written, it won't matter to much if you play it on a 6 string it just won't have as rich or full sound as playing it on a 12 string. the string on the 12 string are still the same tuning.

thnx poole... can you tell me a decent and cheap 12 string guitar to start with as I don't have one...

[Danny Poole]

I wouldn't go for a 12string under $400 if possible. You might strike it lucky but I always prefer Maton and the lower level Yamaha are still quite nice.

[chris]

hi danny
can u play hotel california without a capo
by transposing the chords

[Danny Poole]

To play it without a capo you would be playing these chords

Shapes:

Bm & F#7 (both bar chords)

||---|-1-|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|---|---
||---|-1-|-2-|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|---|---
||---|-1-|---|-4-|--- ||---|-1-|-2-|---|---
||---|-1-|---|-3-|--- ||---|-1-|---|---|---
||---|-1-|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|-3-|---
||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|---|---

A & E

||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|---|---|---|---
||---|-3-|---|---|--- ||---|---|---|---|---
||---|-1-|---|---|--- ||-1-|---|---|---|---
||---|-2-|---|---|--- ||---|-3-|---|---|---
||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|-2-|---|---|---
||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|---|---|---|---

G & D

||---|---|-4-|---|--- ||---|-2-|---|---|---
||---|---|-3-|---|--- ||---|---|-3-|---|---
||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|---|---
||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|---|---|---|---
||---|-1-|---|---|--- ||---|---|---|---|---
||---|---|-2-|---|--- ||---|---|---|---|---

Em & F# (bar chord)

||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|---|---
||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|---|---
||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|-2-|---|---
||---|-2-|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|-4-|---
||---|-1-|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|-3-|---
||---|---|---|---|--- ||---|-1-|---|---|---


Verse:
Bm.... F#7.... A.... E....
G....D.... Em.... F#7....

Chorus:
G.... D.... F#.... Bm....
G.... D.... Em.... F#....