Easy tutorial for beginners with some explanations, the tab, the lyrics and the chords to play the song Hotel California chords by Eagles on the guitar.
Hotel California with chords
The three parts are played in the same way.
The two verses of every part are played in the same way too.
We will therefore only look at introduction, verse 1 of part 1 and the chorus.
Introduction of the Eagles song
Here are the chords you will be using in introduction :
When you master those, you can follow the next framework to play introduction :
Verse 1 of the music
In order to play the verse 1, you don’t need to know any new chords.
…and, following the same plan, verse 2 and the other parts.
Remember that the chords are written above the lyrics so that you can play them at the right time. Therefore, it’s better to play while singing. Chords that are to the right of a phrase (not above a word) are played between the two phrases.
Chorus of Hotel California
As I said, you don’t need to know any new chords to play the chorus. You can continue by following this framework:
Hotel California video with tab
You can also try to play other Rock guitar tab like the famous song of John Lennon Imagine.
Hotel California lyrics
The lyrics of the song Hotel California by Eagles are composed of three parts (with two verses each) and a chorus.
The structure of the lyrics is simple:
Part 1 – Chorus – Part 2 – Chorus – Part 3
Part 1
On a dark desert highway
Cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself
This could be Heaven or this could be Hell
Then she lit up a candle
And she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor
I thought I heard them say
Chorus
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year
You can find it here
Part 2
Her mind is Tiffany-twisted
She got the Mercedes Benz
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys
She calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard
Sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember
Some dance to forget
So I called up the Captain
Please bring me my wine
He said, ‘We haven’t had that spirit here”
“Since 1969”
And still those voices are calling from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say
Chorus
Part 3
Mirrors on the ceiling
The pink champagne on ice
And she said, ‘We are all just prisoners here”
“Of our own device”
And in the master’s chambers
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives
But they just can’t kill the beast
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“Relax, ” said the night man
“We are programmed to receive”
“You can check-out any time you like”
“But you can never leave!”
Improvise with the blues guitar scale !
Hotel California history
Hotel California by Eagles is one of the most famous rock songs in history. Number 1 in sales the year of its release in 1976, it would play on the airwaves in the United States every ten minutes on average.
Hotel California was composed by the band’s singer Don Henley in the eponymous “Hotel California” located in a Mexican village. It is precisely this hotel that intrigues and fantasizes when listening to the lyrics.
References to marijuana, alcohol and syringes, the song gives an idea of the libertarian state of mind of a generation rocked by the Beat Generation and the Sixties. And it is precisely all the ambiguity of the song Hotel California which, under air of luxurious and quiet hotel, reveals an American hedonism symbol of a freedom and a subjection. For this freedom to excess takes the form of a golden prison from which one can no longer escape: “You can check-out any time you like, But you can never leave!”
Easy score for beginners
The following score is a “home-made” easy score for beginners that we created according to the above frameworks and explanations.
Summarizes everything we just covered. You can download it for free to play Hotel California by Eagles on guitar.