Hotel California guitar solo

The hottest "Hotel California" guitar ensemble playing is the Gipsy Kings version.

 

I dunno why Felder would say that about Bm. I can think of worse keys than that for guitar (beginning with Eb and Ab).

 

If he wanted it originally at Em, I'm guessing he was talking about minors. I can't think of a single song of theirs that is in Eb, Ab, or flats in general.

 

Not to mention that the main 12-string guitar is played with a capo, which makes fingering difficulty less of a consideration. But Bm can be a fine key to play guitar in in standard tuning! All open strings are available.

 

Not even close.

 

It is both a solo and a guitar duet. Felder solos, then Walsh, then they join together in glorious harmony.

 

Not really into them but that's a tune I'll stay around to listen if it's playing somewhere. As for 'younger' people being into them I'd imagine it being a popular track in the Guitar Hero video game series played a role. I'm in my 30s and can't recall them ever being brought up other than that one song.

 

And a dessert topping!

(You nailed it - it's a solo, then a solo, then some trading of phrases and harmony playing - the "duet" if you please. I still consider it all the "solo section".)

And no, it makes not a whiff of a whit of difference whether it's improvised or not.

Are we pedantic yet?

 

Like Jimmy Page on "Stairway", Don Felder always uses a double-necked guitar... Felder did this even in the studio with Sammy Hagar for a 30 second clip.

 

He performed the whole song though and switched between the two guitars from verse to chorus and back. He played the solo pretty much note for note the same but also played Joe's part.

 

Hotel California tops this list from Guitar World.

“01. The Eagles, "Hotel California" Hotel California (1976)

Yes, it's "Hotel California." What a nice surprise! Admit it: Don Felder's 12-string acoustic guitar intro (and every other note and chord he plays on this song) is, at this point, a part of our collective consciousness. This song, the ubiquitous soundtrack to 37 trillion barbecues, elevator rides and long trips through Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley, California, at 3 a.m., has never gone away—and probably never will.”

The Top 30 12-String Guitar Songs of All Time - Guitar World

 

I enjoyed that Top 30 - thanks for the link - although a number of the videos were blocked for me. That is super annoying.

 

Not the greatest list although it covered some of the best known songs. GW so they had a readership to pander to.

 

!

I heard the story too, and have posted about it before. Steve Dahl, an FM jock in Chicago, was (or is) a good friend of Joe Walsh, and when Dahl told it on the radio, he said Walsh swore it was true. Except according to Walsh via Dahl, it was Don Henley, not Frey. Walsh and Felder played Henley the tape of the finished duet and he told them it was really good, "but you can do better".

Henley then left the studio to have dinner, leaving Walsh and Felder to re-record the guitar duet. They had no intention of doing so, and when Henley returned a few hours later feeling no pain from the cocaine, they played him the same tape again. According to Walsh, Henley broke out in a grin and said "See? I told you you could do better!"

 

The acoustic duet isn't bad, either.

 

my favorite version is on the live version in the The History of the Eagles...

 

both absolutely perfect!

 

It's a meticulously constructed composition, yet still has great feel, phrasing and emotion due to the quality of the guitarists that performed it. There are no wasted notes. One of the best rock guitar leads.

 

Fwiw lol I wrote a negative post about specific reasons why exactly I don't like it but after 10 minutes I deleted the post as I now should delete a post in the Nashville Skyline thread! Anyway, fwiw the actual 'solo' after Henley stops singing, I do like, fwiw. Everything else before and after that, not, except for this staccato riddum' part in the right channel that plays at different times through parts of the song. Sorry I know rthyhm is 6 letters but I still can't spell it right, that guitar reminds me of a little reggae flavor anyway.

 

I'm not close to the guitarist that Felder is, but that's ridiculous. It's probably the third best "minor" key for guitar after Em and Am.

Proof: One of the other all-time great "epic" solos is "Comfortably Numb," which is in the key of.... Bm.

 

Or guitar.

 

The only reason I mentioned the solo thing in my initial post was because an important aspect of why it resonates so well with folks is the fact that it's a carefully precomposed melody--"carefully" because a lot of care went into just how well it works as a part of a song. Unfortunately a lot of solos don't do that.

I didn't bring it up to nitpick about whether it's really a solo or to get into a "debate" about that, which I find annoying.

 

Close enough for jazz (or rock & roll in this case).

 

Back in the late-'80s, Joe Walsh used to pop in on Steve Dahl/Garry Meier's radio show in Chicago, and on one occasion he told this story about the "Hotel California" solos. He said that he and Felder were listening to the playback of the solos they'd just recorded when Henley walked in. "What is this? This sounds like ****! Do the solos over!" Henley stalked out, while Felder and Walsh smirked at each other like, "**** that guy." About an hour later, Henley returned, high as a kite, and demanded to hear the newly re-recorded solos. "OK, this is much better! Thanks for doing them again, guys!"

Felder and Walsh hadn't re-recorded a note.