WEEK 4

This week you will explore, Hotel California which was written and released back in 1976. Eagles lead singer Don Henley once told Rolling Stone, "We were all middle-class kids from the Midwest. 'Hotel California' was our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles,”.

HOTEL CALIFORNIA

HOTEL CALIFORNIA by The Eagles was originally recorded in the key of Bm but we have transposed it to the key of Am for ease of playing on the ukulele. You can however, play along to the original track by placing a CAPO on fret 2 of your ukulele and playing the chords shapes from your song sheet. We will also be shortening the intro to just one round and the outro to 3 rounds.

The chords contained in this song are all open chords as follows: 
Download the song sheet by clicking the button below:

STRUMMING PATTERN

The main strumming pattern contains a range of quarter, 8th and 16th notes and looks like this when counted out: 
It looks a lot more complicated than it is and with the tempo of the song at just 72BPM, its pretty hypnotic once you get the hang of it. At the end of each section of the song you will just play half of each bar, leaving the rest of the bar silent. These fall on the final E7 chords of each section and look like this:

STRUMMING 

In the video below - practice the strumming pattern independently at various speeds starting at 60BPM, 65BPM and 70BPM to get a feel for it before adding in the chords. 
Intro & verse 5 Strum sequence (Single Strums - 1 down strum per bar) Am - E7 - G - D- F- C- Dm - E7
Verse & Solo strum sequence: Am - E7 - G - D- F- C- Dm - E7 (half bar on final E7)
Chorus Strum sequence: F - C - Dm - Am / F - C - Dm - E7
Now try adding each of the sections together. Starting with single strums, 2 x verse sections and 1 chorus section at 50BPM:

AUDIO TRACKS

​The audio play along tracks will appear here within 24 hours of your first class taking place and are a great way to help with home practice. 
HOTEL CALIFORNIA: Level 2 part only w/drum track @ 72BPM
HOTEL CALIFORNIA: Level 2 & 3 parts w/drum track @ 72BPM
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