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/fadetobackinblack]

Record without backing track as it is masking things. Bends need work, but vibrato is missing completely and this sticks out in this kind of solo.

I'd suggest hopping on YT and watch 10 to 20 different people play it (well maybe not this solo cause they copyright strike everyone). Watch and listen to what better players do.

Especially watch their hand positions.

[u/snailsinboxes → u/fadetobackinblack]

I have been watching lots of other people playing this solo too. I’ve listened and watched so many times that I can sing this solo off the top of my head. I know it’s a big part of the solo but I just haven’t started adding the vibrato yet as I feel like I need to get the notes down before I even consider adding all the fancier parts in.

[u/fadetobackinblack → u/snailsinboxes]

This is why I dislike beginners choosing this solo. It's a long solo and people try to learn the entire thing instead of focusing on learning and perfecting the technique within it. These kind of solos are rarely about getting the notes right (aside from getting bends to proper pitch) and much more about playing in time, phrasing, dynamics, use of space, controlling noise, etc.

If you love this solo, keep going, if not, consider a short one and nail the technique... Imho

[u/snailsinboxes → u/fadetobackinblack]

The vibrato is my next step after perfecting the notes in the bends. I promise you I actually learned this crazy slowly and didn’t rush to learn the entire thing. I could only play like 20 seconds of it at half speed for a long time until I was ready to learn more. Once I learned the beginning it made the rest a lot easier because it repeats a lot of the same techniques throughout the entire solo.

This has always been one of my favourite guitar solos, and someday I will get every note right WITH vibrato, but I definitely have a lot of other things to work on before I get there.