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Hotel California

by The Eagles • Lesson #31 • Nov 23, 2016


Hey there, friends! In this lesson I’ll teach you how to play Hotel California, the absolute classic from The Eagles. I’ll be using no capo in this lesson, but will teach the song in a way that lets you capture the (almost) exact sound of the recorded version. I’ll walk you through the chord shapes, strumming, and various riffs you can add to spice things up. Let’s get into it!

Video timestamps:

  • 0:00 Preview & lesson overview
  • 2:34 About this lesson
  • 4:05 How to play the chords
  • 7:03 Verse chord progression
  • 8:23 Strumming patterns
  • 9:44 Chorus chord progression
  • 10:45 Intro: basics
  • 13:24 Intro: adding flourish
  • 17:34 Chorus riffs

A Note About Capo

Again, my video lesson teaches this song in the key of B minor, without a capo - but you can use the chords I show to play along with The Eagles version.

For your reference, here’s a quick guide on how to play along with different capo positions. Simply use the corresponding chord families per the chords listed below. In my song sheet linked below, I include the exact chord progression for each of these three keys:

No Capo = Key of B minor
Capo 2  = Key of A minor
Capo 7  = Key of E minor

Print-Friendly Song Sheet 5 pages

Follow along with my print-friendly guide for this song! It’s available for purchase at Musicnotes.com, the web’s leading provider of licensed sheet music.

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Hey there! My name is David Potsiadlo, and I'm the creator of the 400+ weekly lessons here at Song Notes, going back to 2013. Here’s my guitar story »

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