Hotel California Guitar Lesson - Easy Tutorial

So what we're going to be doing today is we're going to be doing Hotel California. I won't be doing much singing in this one because I think due to copyright laws, I'm not allowed to sing this song. But I can show you the picking patterns and the strumming patterns that we can use to play along with this song. So this is going to be an easy version of Hotel California. You'll see. I have a capo on the second fret here. And what we're going to do is we're going to be playing chords relative to the capo. So instead of playing an F sharp major major chord like they play in the original, we're going to be playing in E major. So this, this capo is going to help us eliminate some of the barre chords. The only bar chord we'll have to contend with in the easy version is the F major bar chord. And if you want to, you can play the F major 7. As you can hear, it doesn't sound as nice as the full bar chord, so I recommend using that. But if you're not keen on the bar chords yet, worry. Now, all the picking patterns and strumming patterns I'm going to go over here can be applied to the original song. So if you want to go look it up in the original chords. But if you want to go to my website, laurenbatement.com I have the easy version on my website. And that's what we're going to be doing in this tutorial lesson here. So let's start off with the picking pattern for the intro. Okay, for the intro, first, let's discuss how we can keep this really simple. So say you're a beginner and we want to keep this really simple. So first let's go over the chord progress. And the great thing about this song is it does have a repetitive chord progression. It's just the chord progression is eight chords long. So that chord progression is going to be A minor, E, G, D, F, C, D minor and E. And then we're going to repeat that for the intro. We'll repeat that through for the verses. The choruses, we're going to change it up a little bit. But also the outro at the end with the really long solo, the same chord progression. So that's nice. So four chords, A minor E, G, D, F, C, D minor E. We're going to play through that twice for the intro. But if you want to keep things simple, a great way to do it would just be three playing with eighth notes, if you're absolutely simplified and you want to keep it simple. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And we can use that for the verses. But for this intro, we can go 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 dot And 1 and 2 and 3 and four. And the other thing you could do is you could just, you know, do one and three if you wanted. One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and 1 and 2 and 3. That works really well, too. Opens it up a bit more. And then you can switch to the eighth note strumming for the verse. So what we're going to do. Let's talk about the picking pattern that I was using in the intro here. Now, you can improvise with this. I'm going to show you a basic pattern and you can add or subtract to that as much as you want. When I play songs like this, so this song is a little bit more in the intermediate realm. Even with the strumming patterns I'm going to show you later, there's a lot of improvisation. I don't usually play it the same way through twice because when you're focusing on playing something and singing, your guitar is on automatic pilot. So my head kind of does whatever my hand wants it to do. So if we talk about this picking pattern, we're basically starting with the strum, putting some picking notes in between, and then ending with the strum. And all of this takes place between the one beat and the three beats on the one beat we're strumming. So we start with A minor, we're going to strum down. And then I'm going to pick the bottom three strings, starting on the high E, going to the B, and then going to the G. So it's going to be.

That's the picking pattern.

And then I'm going to strum again. So it's strum, pick, pick, pick, strum. One more time.

Strum, pick, pick, pick, strum.

And then I would switch to the next chord. Chord, which would be the E major. And same thing, strum, pick, big, big strum, same thing.

And you can do the same for the G.

And then the D.

Now, I understand this doesn't sound exactly like the intro, but that's why it's the easier version. This is a way for you to play it and have it be accessible to you without going too crazy. So that's the basics of it. So it's strum first string, second string, third string, strum.

So strum, 1, 2, 3, strum.

And then we get G. Bum, bum, bum, strum. Finally D.

And you can do that for the entire intro. If I wanted to just show you a little bit more what you can do if you want to spice it up even more.

So you can see you don't have to just you can do up picking, down picking. You can kind of see split things up. You heard I threw a couple hammer ons in there. Which if you listen to the original, they have hammer ons in the original doesn't have a capo. So they do a lot of things based off of the open strings. So that's kind of a cool thing but just shows you how you can spice it up even more if you want to try and play around with it. But we're going to stick with strum.

Pick, pick, pick, strum and then strum, pick, pick, pick, strum.

So that's how I would.

For this song. Now let's go to the verse. Alright, so the verse is using that same eight chord chord progression. A minor E, G D, F, C, D minor E. The only thing is we're gonna start strumming now and the strumming pattern that we're gonna use for this has a little bit of a 16th note to it. So the first half is gonna be 1, 2 and so it's gonna be down.

That's what it'll sound like.

So it's 1, 2 and up, down, down, down, up.

And then the second half is going to be 3 and 4, 8 and 3 and 4 e and up.

So it's going to be down, down, down, up, down, up.

So if we put both of those together, it's going to be 1, 2.

And a 3 and 4 e and a 1, 2 and a 3 and four e and a 1, 2 and A 3 and 4 e and A, M and D. 1, 2 and A 3 and four, A and A.

Go to the app.

Down, down, down, up down, down down up down, up.

Just thinking of the next strumming pattern.

Down, down, down, up, down, down, down, up, down up down, down, down, up down, down, down, up, down, up and then E. Down, down, down, up down, down, down up down, up.

So that's the strum I played a little bit quicker for you to hear what it sounds like.

Gone to the second strumming pattern.

And it gives you a feel of what that's going to to sound like. So this one, fortunately we have downs on all of the downbeats. The Threes, the ones, the twos, the fours. So that's the strumming pattern we're going to use for the verse. So if I go through one more time, it's going to be. I'll start on A minor here and I'll stay on A minor. It's going to be 1, 2 and.

A 3 and 4, and a 1.

2 and a 3 and four.

E. And so that's down, down, down, up, down, down, down, up, down, up, down, down,. Up, down, down, down, up, down, up.

That's the strumming pattern we're gonna use for the verse. Now we're gonna jump to the chorus and our chord progression is gonna change a little bit and our strumming pattern is gonna open up a little bit and come a little bit more syncopated. So first let's talk about the chord progression because we're gonna change things up a little bit. So it's gonna be F, then C, E, 7, A minor, F, C, D minor, E. So again, we have an eight chord progression for our chorus. Now, the strumming pattern, we're going to be doing a lot of up strums. So it starts exactly the same as the last pattern.

So we have the down, down, down, up.

That's how it's going to start. I guess I should start it on the F chord. That's the first chord of the chorus.

So it's going to be down, down, down, up.

So that's that one, two and up. Now, after that, we're not going to be playing a downbeat on the three. We're actually going to be playing two more ups after that. So if we play this pattern, it's.

Going to be down, down, down, up, up, up, down, down, up.

That's the whole thing. Ready?

It's down, down, down, up, up, up.

Down, down, up, the whole pattern. So the timing is 1, 2 and E, a 4 and A. So we don't have any strum on the three. Let me do it again. So it's going to be down, down.

Down, up, up, up, down, down, up.

Now, if you want to keep things simple on the chorus, all you have to do, you can just. You can do all down strums if you want to just do the chorus.

1, or 1, 2, 3 and 4.

You can do something simple like that.

Or 1, 2, 3, 4.

And if you want to keep things really simple, if you want to challenge yourself a little bit with this syncopated drumming pattern, let's break down that rhythm one bit at a time. Because for Some people doing multiple ups, if you've never done that before, can be tricky. So let's start with just one up. So we got the first part of the pattern.

Down, down, down, up.

Let's do it again.

Down, down, down, up. Great.

Now what we're gonna do is we're just gonna have the second up.

So it's gonna be down, down, down, up, up.

And that's it.

Down, down, up, up.

One more time.

Down, down, up, up.

Good. Now we're gonna add the third up.

So it's gonna be down, down, down, up, up, up.

That's it.

Down, down, up, up, up.

One last time.

Down, down, down, up, up, up.

Alright, that's all the up strums. So now we're just gonna add the down, down, up to the end so it'.

Down, down, down, up, up, up, down, down, up.

And that's the strumming pattern we're going to use for the chorus. It'll sound like this.

And there you have it. That's what pattern we're going to use for the chorus. And that's really it. And so you basically have your intro, which is the picking part, your verses and your choruses. And the end of the song is that solo. And of course we had our original verse.

Strumming and chords. And I will kind of intensify that with the solo. So I might even do some builds if we're going into.

I switched all 8th note down strums at that point. So these are things like I said, when I play something like this, I'm not thinking about the strumming pattern. My hand is just playing. I'm trying to maintain some semblance of that strumming pattern. But I'm probably never playing it the same way twice because I'm not feeling focusing on it. Especially with this. Because we're moving from picking to a strumming pattern that's on the downbeat to a strumming pattern that's on an upbeat. So it's a little bit tricky moving between these patterns. So first I would recommend practicing the picking, then practicing your verse strumming and then practicing your chorus strumming. And don't even worry about changing chords. Just practice the strums first, then move through your chord progressions and then try single sewing all of the parts together, moving from one flawlessly into another. So that gives you some ideas of how to play Hotel California. I hope you guys enjoyed it. If you want to make a donation, visit laurenbateman.com donate I appreciate everything you guys do. I hope you like the new camera. Make sure to leave a comment, let me know a thumbs up. Really appreciate you guys. I try to come back comment back whenever I can. Feel free to go check out some of the other videos and other video lessons in my YouTube channel. Have a great day guys and I'll see you in the next lesson. Video.