Hotel California Live
If master of puppets is a thrash metal anthem,then this one has to be crowned as an acoustic guitar lover's anthem.
You tend to understand the power of the sound of a well tuned acoustic guitar over the electric one.(Personally i like acoustic more :P ) not to mention the amazing utility the song has got.When you are able to play the song end to end,you end up in learning n number of guitar techniques like Hammer On,pull offs,slides arpeggios etc.
The songs is one complete dulcet package of most of all that is there about the acoustic guitar.
Of course it is played on classical.But it can be played and heard just as nicely if not better with acoustic guitar.
The original song was played with 12 string acoustic for the epic instrumental ballad to the vocals,with a highly acclaimed electric guitar solo at the end.
The Live version,where the actual action is,tweaks the original song heavily,to a better effect,richer passages and a lot more depth to the song.
It starts with a Spanish sounding intro,with the 12-string strums intermittently while none from the crowd having a clue about where the intro is taking them to.Just as Don Felder finishes his flamenco-esque intro everyone chips in with their guitars and play the famous hotel california ballad.
And thats when the crowd realise what is going on and what is going to happen marked by a huge applause.Its one of those moments that makes hair on your neck stand up.
If anything that could surpass the sweet,mellowed intro and the cruchy high pitch and yet awesome vocals of Don Henley is the outro played by both Felder and Welsch.Notes and notes of melody poured in by both of them structures the outro beautifully.
This also is one of my favorite songs.Infact it has a special place in my heart for being the first high profile stuff I could play from end to end on my guitar(atleast the outro and intro).And trust me it adds some stuff to your guitar techniques repertoire.
My ears dont get tired of it...Dont think they ever will.
