Hotel California chords

How to play Hotel California

Play this Hotel California practice chart in B minor, with standard tuning and no capo. The verse and chorus use different eight-bar orders. Learn each line separately before joining them: starting the chorus on Bm because the verse began there would put you in the wrong place. The chart concentrates on the main harmony, with one four-beat bar per printed box.

Separate the verse from the chorus

The verse runs Bm–F#7–A–E, followed by G–D–Em–F#7. The chorus begins G–D–F#7–Bm, then G–D–Em–F#. Notice both differences: the chorus starts on G, and its last symbol here is the F# triad. It is not simply another pass through the verse loop.

These orders follow the basic-chord section of the linked teaching score. The page does not reproduce its individual introduction notes, bass-line variations or solo. The player keeps the existing 73 BPM setting for slow-count practice. Start with one quiet attack per box to hear the harmonic changes, then use the loop as a steady exercise rather than assuming it includes every recorded repeat and ending.

Hear why the F sharp chord is major

Bm contains B, D and F#. F# major contains F#, A# and C#. That A# is important: it sits a semitone below B and helps the harmony pull back to the minor tonic. F#m would use A natural instead and would change that pull. A minor key does not mean every chord in it must be minor.

F#7 adds E natural to the F# major triad. Keep the distinction between the chord root F# and the added seventh E; F#7 does not mean to play F7. In this practice version, the seventh colours the verse’s return to Bm and the first half of the chorus. Compare the final chorus F# with F#7 slowly rather than treating their diagrams as interchangeable shapes.

Change the root string under the barre

Our Bm diagram is x-2-4-4-3-2, rooted on the fifth string. F# is 2-4-4-3-2-2, rooted on the sixth. Both begin with an index barre at fret 2, but the remaining fingers must move. Holding the barre while leaving the other fingers in the Bm positions will not produce F#.

F#7 is 2-4-2-3-2-2. Compared with F#, release the fourth-string fret 4 back to the barre at fret 2. Keep the third-string fret 3 pressed: that note is A#, the major third. Practise Bm to F#7 as a two-chord change, then add the following A. On the return to Bm, stop the low sixth string from sounding so the bass reaches B cleanly.

Let the open chords reset your hand

The middle of the verse gives you A, E, G and D before Em returns to F#7. Use those open shapes to release unnecessary pressure. A is x-0-2-2-2-0; E is 0-2-2-1-0-0. Keep the fourth-string second-fret E as a reference, then set the whole E grip, including its third-string G# and open B string. Check the complete shape before trying to move faster.

D begins at the fourth string and Em can include all six. Keep the picking hand aware of those changing bass-string starts. If you prefer a capo-2 version, the corresponding shape family is Am, E7, G, D, F, C, Dm and E. Those shapes are measured from the capo and preserve the sounding pitches; placing a capo on this no-capo chart without changing its shapes would raise everything instead.

The verse/chorus orders and major-versus-seventh choices were checked against Skegness Guitar Teacher’s basic-chord score. Song Notes’ lesson independently confirms the no-capo B-minor setup and alternative capo families. The grip exercises above use this page’s diagrams.