Hotel California Easy Version

Hi Mike,

Now that I think I mastered the easy version what would be a good strumming pattern to spruce the song up.

Thanks in advance

Here's something to try, but it requires thinking about the pulse of the song in 16th notes instead of quarter notes. So, as you count 1, 2, 3, 4 --- each beat gets 2 even downstrokes. So you would count the downstrokes as: 1 'and' 2 'and' 3 'and' 4 'and'.

Next, think about if you were to strum upstrokes evenly in between those downstrokes. Those upstrokes would be in sixteenth notes.

Now for the strum pattern:

2 downstrokes -- on the 1 and then the 'and-of-1'

then

2 upstrokes -- right after the second downstroke, then the next upstroke.

Repeat for the 3rd beat of the bar.

This pattern gives a bit more texture and adds some upstroke accents that give a bit more of a groove to the tune.

Let me know how it goes!

Mike

Hey Mike,

Sorry but I’m confused. If I was to put this into 16th would look like this?

1 2 3 4/ 5 6 7 8/ 9 10 11 12/ 13 14 15 16

D D / U U /D D / U U

I am a novice so I really need to see it written out.

Thanks again

Arnie

Hey Arnie,

We write out 16th notes as:

1 e and a / 2 e and a / 3 e and a / 4 e and a

The strumming pattern would be

1(D) e and(D) a(U) / 2 e(U) and a / 3(D) e and(D) a(U) / 4 e(U) and a

So:

The first D is on 1

The 2nd D is on the and of 1

The 1st U is on the a of 1

The 2nd U is on the e of 2

Then it repeats on beat 3.

Another way to think of this strumming pattern is that it is very close to the rhythm of the picked notes on the recording. This strum is designed to pick up that flavor.

Hopefully this makes sense, but I know it might be a bit advanced. Let me know how it goes.

Mike

Originally Posted by: Mike Olekshy

Hey Arnie,

We write out 16th notes as:

1 e and a / 2 e and a / 3 e and a / 4 e and a

The strumming pattern would be

1(D) e and(D) a(U) / 2 e(U) and a / 3(D) e and(D) a(U) / 4 e(U) and a

So:

The first D is on 1

The 2nd D is on the and of 1

The 1st U is on the a of 1

The 2nd U is on the e of 2

Then it repeats on beat 3.

Another way to think of this strumming pattern is that it is very close to the rhythm of the picked notes on the recording. This strum is designed to give that vibe.

Hopefully this makes sense, but I know it might be a bit advanced. Let me know how it goes.

Mike