We arranged a musical mix of the Eagle’s 1976 electric version and Hell Freezes Over acoustic version of Hotel California for some fun and variety. Scott plays awesome sparkling acoustic guitar, we all add background vocals, I do some fills on electric and the entire band changes it up so each verse has its own unique feel. After Chrissy sings the last verse, the band lets me go all loud and guitarry and play the lead the original tune is famous for.

So a few weeks ago we “graced the stage” of the Brass Monkey at one of their Thursday Open Mic nights. We opened up with the Beatles Back in the USSR, then Brandi Carlile’s The Story, Neil’s Rockin the Free World and then did Hotel Callifornia. Thelast few tunes really rock it up so when we started Hotel California, I began the intro while Scott hooked up his acoustic. Someone picked up on my notes right away and shouted the song name, then after that the crowd was amazing! They sang along with the chorus, swayed to the verses and when the guitar solo was going, cheered. I think I played it the best ever, and after the band reminding me (like every practice) this may be the best known guitar solo ever, that has been a few times.