Hotel California Chords & Guitar Lesson
Welcome to my Hotel California chord chart by The Eagles. Such a classic song. Beautiful all around. I have gotten a lot of requests for this song on YouTube and through the contact form, so I figured why not.
So this version here is going to be the “Easy” version using a capo. We will still be in the same key as the original, so you will be able to play along with The Eagles, but it’s going to have less barre chords than the original which is always helpful.
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Hotel California Guitar Chords:
Hotel California Strumming Patterns:
Simple Strumming:
1 + 2+ 3+ 4+
D D DU
Simple Chorus Strumming:
1 2 3 4 +
D D D D U
Intro: P=picked note
1 2 + 3 + 4 + 1
D P P P D
Verse Strumming:
1 + 2 + 3 4 +
D D D U
Chorus Strumming:
1 2 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 3 + 4 +
D D D U D D DU DU
Want to learn more about 16th note strumming and improve on your playing? Check out Lauren’s Guitar Strumming Course.
Now, when I play this song, there is definitely A LOT of improvising on the strumming pattern. I will increase dynamics and intensity because on the lead guitar player too at times. Things to keep in mind for a song this amazing. I’ll give you a couple of examples of courses that you can play around with.
The intro, of course, has a lot of picking and again, this can all be improvised to. You can pick a few notes and strum as long as it’s in time. This is a timing that works well. Sometimes you can strum the 4 + and sometimes you can just hold on to the 3 and not strum. Variation is key.
Hotel California Guitar Lesson:
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Hotel California Chord Chart:
Due to this being an Eagles' song, I have made the decision to remove my lesson notes outside of general chord progression and theory.
It is becoming a dangerous world for music teachers online. And while I know you all benefit so much from the detailed arrangements of songs I have here on my website, I have decided to not publish any more songs from the Eagles catalogue.
I am very sorry to disappoint any students who have enjoyed these lessons.
If you are interested in learning Eagles tunes, then I highly recommend you pick up one of the following books with their music:
or
The above are affiliate links which means I get a small commission from sales of these products to help fund this website.
Song Structure:
CAPO on the 2nd Fret. All chords are 2 measures each.
This means you will play the strumming pattern twice per chord.
For the most part this song follows a fairly repetitive chord progression for the intro and verses:
Am E G D F C Dm E
When we move into the chorus section we have the introduction of the F, C, E7 and Am chords. There is no repetition on the chord progression for the chorus:
F C E7 Am F C Dm E
This file is the author’s own work and represents his interpretation of this song. It’s intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.
We do not distribute printable chord and lyrics charts. These charts are here only to support online learning. We highly recommend buying music from Hal Leonard or a reputable online sheet music store.