Hotel California : Classic Songs (Inception / Chords)

Hotel California : Classic Songs

Tuesday January 9th 2024

I thought it might be nice to have a little bit of a think about some of the classic songs we kind of take for granted. For the time being, I’m thinking of songs that are, or have remained, in our guitar club repertoire for a fair time, usually demonstrating their popularity to players as well as listeners. I reserve the right to expand that definition in the future…..

We’ve probably all played songs that we don’t really know the history of, or even what their real meanings are…. you just “accept” them. But who actually wrote them? Is there a story behind their existence? As somebody with a burgeoning interest in songwriting doing a little bit of digging into the hows and whys appeals to me more and more.

Hotel California by The Eagles is a great place to start. It’s been a guitar club favourite since... forever. Certainly since I took over running Coustics properly, circa 2009 (you can read more about the club’s history in my last blog, “The First Gig”) it could be the only song that I took out of the repertoire, only for it to be reintroduced a few years later following some mild grumblings. Everybody makes mistakes.

The album, “Hotel California” was released in 1976, with he musical concept for the title track being down to guitarist, Don Felder, (left). Writing demos alone in a rented beach house, he hit upon a chord sequence which “showed promise”. His daughter’s bedroom was at the time doubling as his home studio, so as soon as he was able, he recorded a basic demo, with a basic drum machine and a few overdubs onto a cassette. The track went to Glenn Frey and Don Henley, along with about 15 other ideas, and he pretty much forgot about it.

In a later interview Glenn Frey recalled most of Felder’s demos were pretty useless, with too many guitar parts to leave space for a vocal, (note to songwriter self, there’s a tip there), but that that particular track again, “showed promise”. Don Henley too ultimately latched onto the track too, describing it as a bit like “Mexican Reggae” and proceeded to write the lyrics we all know and love.

But was there actually a Hotel California? Apparently not. I mean, there is, NOW….be pretty stupid for there not to be. Most opinions seem to air towards it being a ‘state of mind’. I think I heard Joe Walsh once describe it that, at that time, everybody was going to California from all over the U.S. to make their names. Nobody was actually from California, (at least none of the original Eagles lineup was) so the city was like a hotel to everybody…..

The song took three tries to record. First one was the wrong speed, (Felder can’t remember if it was too fast or slow), second time it was too high for Don Henley to sing (yep, been there done that, good to know I’m not the only one) so it was dropped from Em, 5 semitones to Bm, (E to Eb/D#, to D, toDb/C#, to C and then B = 5 frets, 5 semitones, theory fans…). Three….is the magic number…... Felder, with a background in jazz improvisation, was apparently looking forward to trading licks in that monster of an outro with Joe Walsh, as they had often done on previous tours.  Apparently this was shot down by Henley, who considered Felder’s original solo ideas to be far superior, demanding Felder to get his housemaid back in Florida to find the original demo and play it over the phone to him at The Record Plant Studios in L.A. so that he could relearn it.

There you go, a bit of history, a bit of theory. If you’re really hungry for a demo on the actual playing of the song, I’d recommend the following video where the man himself shows you how it’s done. To be honest the word “teaches” in the video title should perhaps more accurately read “demonstrates” - it’s not a great lesson per se. Take note though that Felder talks about the song being written in Em, but has the capo on 5, pulling that Em shape up 5 semitones to Am. If you pull the capo up to 7, it takes that Em shape to Bm, hence his reference to the 7th fret.

The chord shapes he’s using in a Coustics style layout are therefore : 

Em  /  Em  /  B7  /  B7  /   D   /   D   /   A   /   A

C   /   C   /   G   /   G   /   Am  /   Am  /    B7   /   B7

See you next time. Any time of year, you can find me here…….

The First Gig (of the year, and how Coustics began...)

The First Gig

Friday January 5th 2024

No sooner has the new year come and gone, it’s time to get on the road again. I mean that figuratively really, because I don’t actually tour per se, I mean it’s time to get back to work. January’s Guitar Club night is usually the first booking of the year. I’ve always thought it appropriate in many ways because the club is where the music portion of my life began to take shape properly. So…..

Come with us now on a journey. Through time and space, to the world of…well, not The Mighty Boosh certainly, this is a country pub in Crockerhill, Sussex, circa 2006.

I have a new neighbour, his name is Eric. Eric is, (or now sadly, was) an endlessly enthusiastic, generous and friendly sort, quite literally in a permanent rapture as to the glorious wonders of music, mini golf and homegrown tomatoes. Upon learning that I had “flirted” with playing the guitar for a few years, I was eagerly invited to join him at a new guitar club, his music tutor Sally was running for her students at the pub. I still believe the offer to join him was honest, and in the spirit of friendship and musical adventure......the fact that Eric needed me to drive him there on dark evenings was entirely inconsequential.

Everybody squeezes themselves into the bar, warm beer is ordered and wonky music stands begin to sprout like weeds from the sticky carpet. What few locals there are are hoping for a quiet night... and they're disappointed. The classic rock and pop of the 1960s, 70s and 80s appear to be the tunes of choice, and to my surprise, I really quite enjoyed it. Which is lucky, because Eric LOVED it.

As time passed, Sally became unable to run the club, and some of us stepped up….

It is now 2024. The venue has changed, but the format has little. What’s always a bit of a wonder to me is that many of the faces haven’t changed either. It’s a testament to the strength of Sally’s original concept and that original group of people, who, 18 years later, are still clocking in every first Thursday of the month to strum a few tunes. New faces and friends are great and valued, but here’s a special shout out for the old guard for the first gig of the year, you know who they are. It would literally not be the same without you.

Anyway....last night's club was surprisingly well attended, given that many of the roads around our way have been flooded for about 2 months now, and it's January. Nobody likes January. I didn't get any good photos last night, so I thought I'd keep driving down that partially flooded memory lane and dig out some of the oldest guitar club photos I could find. I may not be thanked for posting these ;-)

Eric is the one in the second picture, looking after all the ladies. The old smoothy.......