STUDY PROGRAM : HOTEL CALIFORNIA Study program Hotel California Copyright © 2005 Mike Hayes - All rights reserved. www.guitarcoaching.com STUDY PROGRAM : HOTEL CALIFORNIA Introduction ............................................................................................................... 3 The Eagles ................................................................................................................. 4 Those “Hotel California” chords ............................................................................... 5 The “Hotel California” chord progression ................................................................ 6 The “Hotel California” / “We Used To Know” connection ...................................... 8 Back Cycle progression ............................................................................................. 10 Guide Tones .............................................................................................................. 13 Performance Notes .................................................................................................... 17 Rhythm Charts ........................................................................................................... 19 Chord reference library ............................................................................................. 25 Front Cover : The “Pink Palace” was prominently featured on the cover of The Eagles “Hotel California” album. The photo was taken by photographers David Alexander and John Kosh, who sat in a cherry-picker about 60 feet above Sunset Boulevard to get the shot of the hotel at sunset from above the trees Located on Sunset Boulevard, at the north end of Rodeo Drive, the Beverly Hills Hotel is renowned the world over. Built in 1912 in the middle of lima bean fields, the "Pink Palace" (as the Hotel is affectionately known) was there even before there was a Beverly Hills. The city grew up around the Hotel. The Hotel's list of celebrity guests is extensive, including politicians, movie stars, and members of the royal family: John F. Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Spencer Tracy, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Aristotle Onassis, the Duke of Windsor... Page 2 Copyright © 2005 Mike Hayes - All rights reserved. www.guitarcoaching.com STUDY PROGRAM : HOTEL CALIFORNIA “Welcome To The Hotel California ..….” Arguably the Eagles' masterpiece and an essential item in the classic rock library, "Hotel California," released in 1976, spent "only" a single week at number one on the Billboard charts. Yet it went on to become one of the most enduring rock and roll songs of all time. Have you every wondered why certain songs become standards, while other songs disappear without a trace never to surface again? It’s an undisputable fact that songs with weak storylines and poorly constructed musical backgrounds don’t last, in our special in-depth study programs you will learn the magical ingredients that make songs like “Tears In Heaven’, ‘’Hotel California”, Stairway to Heaven’ etc ., as popular today as they were, the day they were written. There is a reason, that’s what this special study series is all about ……..the why? Originally the recording industry’s role was to ‘capture an event’ yet today in many ways the recording industry tries to ‘create an event’. Over the years with all the advancements in technology often a song (or movie) is created to showcase the latest technology. For example a movie may be produced that features amazing special effects, digital surround sound etc., however, no amount of technology can save a movie with a weak storyline, these movies are doomed to disappear forever. The same is true for songs, initially the public came to know and love a song through radio airplay (via the audio medium) in recent times the eye has replaced the ear as our musical antenna (how many times have you been seduced by a video clip to purchase a CD only to be disappointed when you listen to the album without the visual stimulus) don’t worry you are not on your own. Once you understand the underlying principles that are the ‘shaping forces of music’ you will play with more authority, your solos will be more memorable, and you will present a much more exciting, dynamic performance to your audience. ..... I hope you have as much fun playing ‘Hotel California’ as we did putting the program together ..... Page 3 Copyright © 2005 Mike Hayes - All rights reserved. www.guitarcoaching.com STUDY PROGRAM : HOTEL CALIFORNIA Hotel California The Song Written by the Eagles and released on their album Hotel California in December 1976. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1971 and originally backed up Linda Ronstadt. They brought country and western and southern songs into the popular rock and roll mainstream, recording 8 albums before the band broke up in 1982. Don Henley reorganized the band 10 years later to record a 9th album Hell Freezes Over in 1992.Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 album of 1977 has equaled Michael Jackson's Thriller in U. S. sales (26 million) but Jackson still leads the all-time list with 51 million world-wide sales. The Band The band was formed by four Los Angeles-based musicians who had come to the West Coast from other parts of the U.S. Singer/bassist Randy Meisner (born in Scottsbluff, NE, on March 8, 1946) moved to L.A. in 1964 as part of a band originally called the Soul Survivors (not to be confused with the East Coast-based Soul Survivors, who scored a Top Five hit with "Expressway to Your Heart" in 1967) and later renamed the Poor. In 1968, he was a founding member of Poco, but left the band prior to the release of its debut album, joining the Stone Canyon Band, the backup group for Rick Nelson. Singer/guitarist/banjoist/ mandolinist Bernie Leadon (born in Minneapolis, MN, on July 19, 1947) arrived in L.A. in 1967 as a member of Hearts and Flowers before joining Dillard and Clark and then the Flying Burrito Brothers. Singer/drummer Don Henley (born in Gilmer, TX, on July 22, 1947) moved to L.A. in June 1970 with his band Shiloh, which made one self-titled album for Amos Records before breaking up. Glenn Frey (born in Detroit, MI, on November 6, 1948) performed in his hometown and served as a backup musician to Bob Seger before moving to L.A. in the summer of 1968. He formed the duo Longbranch Pennywhistle with J.D. Souther, and they signed to Amos Records, which released their self-titled album in 1969. The Albums Albums, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 and Hotel California, ranked among the ten best-selling albums ever, according to the certifications of the Record Industry Association of America. Though most of its members came from outside California, the group was closely identified with a country- and folk-tinged sound that initially found favor in and around Los Angeles in the late '60s, as played by such bands as the Flying Burrito Brothers and Poco, both of which contributed members to the Eagles. But the band also drew upon traditional rock & roll styles and, in their later work, helped define the broadly popular rock sound eventually referred to as classic rock. That helped the Eagles to achieve a perennial appeal among generations of music fans who continued to buy their records many years after they had split up, which inspired the reunion they mounted in the mid-'90s. The personnel on Joe Walsh vocals, guitar, keyboards Hotel California are : Don Felder vocals, guitar, slide guitar Glenn Frey vocals, guitar, keyboards Randy Meisner vocals, bass, guitarone Don Henley vocals, drums, percussion Page 4 Copyright © 2005 Mike Hayes - All rights reserved. www.guitarcoaching.com STUDY PROGRAM : HOTEL CALIFORNIA Hotel California Those 'Hotel California' chords : Originally written and recorded in E minor, the song was ultimately transposed to B-minor and re-recorded to accommodate the vocal melody delivered by Henley. Felder capoed his acoustic 12-string at the seventh fret, which enabled him to preserve the open chord shapes of his original guitar arrangement. The "High strung" timbre produced by the capo's placement, enhanced by processing the 12-string through a Leslie cabinet (refer page 27), ended up becoming part of the song's distinctive sound. Felder played all of the song's guitar tracks except for the landmark solo, for which Felder and Joe Walsh traded licks and harmonies. "Joe and I sat on two stools and worked the whole thing out," Felder recalls. Eagles singer/guitarist Don Henley picked the song out of a demo cassette containing eight or ten different ideas that Felder had put together. "Henley said, "I really love that one that sounds like a matador or something," Felder recalls. Don Henley and Glenn Frey collaborated on the song's memorable lyric. "Glenn had this idea," Felder remembers. "The fantasy of California. It's supposed to be a microcosm of the world. Glenn is great at conceptualizing. He'll say, 'I can see this guy driving in the desert at night and you can see the lights of L.A. way off in the horizon.' Henley gets the picture and goes from there. Key of B minor : It's no accident that Hotel California is in the Key of B minor, musicians write music in the key of B minor to depict emotions of ‘loneliness’ and ‘melancholy’. Why B minor? Professional musicians know that selecting an appropriate key plays a large part in ‘setting the musical scene” for a performance. Song of the most enduring and best loved music has been written in the key of B minor e.g., J.S Bach’s Mass In B Minor (in all probability