The Eagles, "Hotel California"

The guiar transcription of Hotel California is my homage to a true musical landmark. A work that sold over 33 million records must have something to it. It even constitutes one of the all times most downloaded songs on the web.

The cover of the Hotel California LP is one that has impressed the retina of everyone I know from my generation. The profile of the Beverly Hills Hotel with the LA palm trees in the foreground and the sunset going full throttle. How could one forget such an epic LP! It contained one of the landmark songs of all times that has been reproduced and performed by countless artists the world over. The Spanish sounding intro on a guitar and the mysterious lyrics with so many legends attached to it, all contributed in the making of a piece of a true pop icon.  

"Hotel California" is the main and the title track from the Eagles' album of the same name and was released as a single in February 1977. The song was written by Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey. The Eagles' original recording of the song features Henley singing the lead vocals and concludes with an extended section of electric guitar interplay between Felder and Joe Walsh. Henley said that the song was about "a journey from innocence to experience... that's all".

The music for this song originated from a demo written and recorded by Don Felder and given to Don Henley and Glenn Frey to write lyrics for it. Once finished it was recorded in the key of E minor which turned out to be the wrong key for Don Henley to sing and was later re-recorded in the proper key for his voice which was B minor. The song is rated highly in many rock music lists and polls; Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 49 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The song's guitar solo was voted the best solo of all time by readers of Guitarist magazine in 1998 and was ranked 8th on Guitar Magazine's Top 100 Guitar Solos.