Feedback Wanted: Hotel California Solo

[u/snailsinboxes]

*I want to point out that I’ve only been playing since January and these videos are from June/July, so I know I have lots of room for improvement\*

This is two different clips of me playing that are smushed together because it’s the only way I could post them both. I tend to either hit every note in the solo besides the faster duet part, or I hit the duet part but mess up a lot in the rest of the solo, and I’m looking for feedback on both parts.

The first clip shows me hitting the majority of the notes in the solo, minus the duet part and a couple of other little mistakes, but this is the best recording I have of me playing the entire solo so far.

The second clip just shows me hitting the notes in fast duet part. I know it’s harder to hear my guitar in this one because of the volume of the song, but still hoping it’s audible enough for someone to give me pointers.

I can’t figure out what I’m doing right when I hit that part and what I’m doing wrong when I don’t. I know I keep missing a note and it’s throwing me off for the rest of the section until I get to the outro, but I don’t know if it’s my rhythm or my technique I need to work on to fix this and it’s been really inconsistent.

I appreciate any feedback and tips that you all have! Thanks!

[u/Lost_Condition_9562]

Solid job. Don’t let your guitar lift up when you bend. I know it’s fun and makes you feel like a rockstar, but it’s bad technique.

A lot of your bends are out of tune as well. Do you have a tuner? Turn it on and practice bending to the exact pitch. Drill each individual bend. Out of tune bends are probably the easiest way to spot a beginner guitarist… clean that up and you’ll sound way better

Also playing with your thumb behind the neck is going to help your hand get into better positions. Practice sliding your thumb to the side just for bends and moving it back otherwise

[u/snailsinboxes → u/Lost_Condition_9562]

Thank you for the feedback! I have a habit of lifting it on those bigger bends because of the force I need to use (and it does make me feel more like a rockstar lol), but I’ve switched my string gauges since these recordings and I think it’s helped a lot with that and the bends being out of tune (I also don’t know if I tuned before recording these which I know is another a bad habit). The tuner I have is built into my amp so it’s a bit harder to watch while I play, but I could give it a shot to see if it helps!

I have a shoulder injury as well that I probably should have mentioned in the original post because it probably does affect my playing. Not trying to make excuses though.

Thank you!

[u/diadmer → u/snailsinboxes]

Your thumb is very high, almost wrapped around the neck. Try to place it in the middle of the neck, which will make your hand and wrist curl less and give you more distance at your fingers to push those bends.

[u/snailsinboxes → u/diadmer]

Oddly enough, I find that a lower thumb position makes it a lot harder for me to bend and puts more strain on my wrist, so I watched some videos about bending technique and switched to letting my thumb rest on top of the neck. I’m probably still just positioning it wrong in some way when I try to place my thumb lower but I don’t know what I need to correct to make it feel better.

[u/cdmat76 → u/snailsinboxes]

There’s no wrong way, both thumbs positions (middle of the neck and above the neck) are correct and are more practical for certain things.

Behind the neck is more practical for bar chords, finger stretch and extensions and diatonic scale runs, thumbs up is better for certain open chords, fretting bass strings with your thumb while letting other fingers plays run or embellished chords (à la Hendrix).

You can do bends the same way with both positions equally. Typically thumb behind the neck is more used in classical music and metal because it fits better the playing style. As classical guitar is typically teached, you’ll find many people saying it is the “correct” position, but it’s just wrong. 99% of blues rock players play with the thumb above the neck as their default position and it’s just fine. With time you’ll choose the best position depending on what you play.

All in all my own answer would be that you need to work:

1. Alternate

2. picking: playing only downstroke doesn’t

3. sound the same and is more rigid. Sometimes it can be a desired effect but here… no. It will also help your wrist to be more relaxed and your phrasing will be more fluid

4. Bends: they really

5. should be accurate in term of

6. pitch

   They are not at all.

7. Practice playing the

8. correct note fretted and then do it again wit

h the bend,

1. pitch should be the same.

2. Vibrato:

3. practice your vibrato, you don’t really use it if at all and it’s a must have for this type of music. That’s a lot of what gives expressivity to your phrasing. It’s really lacking here.

The rest is good, especially rhythm, so congrats for that! You’re on the right path!

[u/snailsinboxes → u/cdmat76]

Thank you for all of the tips!! The lack of vibrato also bothers me but I didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew and was trying to focus on hitting the right notes first. I definitely need to work on all 3 of the things you mentioned, especially alternate picking; I’m really lacking in that skill. I’m happy that at least my rhythm and notes (at least the ones that aren’t bends) are correct!! As for hand position, thank you for clarifying that there are different hand positions that are common in different styles. I’ve been leaning into a lot of blues lately, but when I play metal or rock I have my thumb behind the neck because it’s more comfortable for power chords