Improvising Over Hotel California
In this lesson we will look at a few different ways to solo over the Hotel California
What We Will Work On in This Lesson
- Bm Pentatonic in 7th Position
- D Major in 7th Position
- A Major in 7th Position
- F#7 Arpeggio in 6th Position
- B Harmonic Minor in 6th Position
Soloing Over Hotel California Chord Progression
Below is the arpeggio solo from the end of the song and you can find the lesson for it here:
B Minor Pentatonic in 7th Position
We can almost use the Bm Pentatonic scale for playing over this entire progression however there is one note we will want to be aware of. The A in the Bm pentatonic scale is not going to sound great over the F#7. The reason for that is the F#7 chord is built F#, A#, C# and E. So hitting a natural A over the F#7 chord with an A# in it, is going to sound quite dissonant. That said, if you are looking to create dissonance, by all means go ahead. Just note that most people will refer to that as a 'wrong' note.
So we could just use the Bm pentatonic and try to avoid the A while we hear the F#7 or you could turn the A into an A# when you hear F#7.
Another option is to use an F#7 arpeggio when we hear F#7. That is shown next.
F#7 Arpeggio in 6th Position
A very fun way to treat the F#7 chord in the progression is to play an F#7 arpeggio. This not only sounds great but is a great way to practice training the ear, shifting back a position on the guitar and using an arpeggio form we first learned in
B Harmonic Minor in 6th Position
