In Case Anyone Was Wondering, Yes – Don Felder Can Still Tear Up His “Hotel California” Guitar Solo

The Jeff Probst Show | April, 2013

Don Felder may have been unceremoniously bounced out of the Eagles more than 15 years ago, but make no mistake: the man we called “Fingers” can still tear up his most iconic guitar solo and to add fuel to the fire, he can do it on an acoustic guitar and make it sound every bit as cool as the first time you heard it 40 years ago.

In a 2013 appearance on The Jeff Probst Show, Don took us back in time to cruising down a California freeway at sunset once more with warm, California-soaked melodies of “Hotel California,” pulling double duty on both vocals and guitar for this 1976 classic. He already had the attention of everyone in the room, but when he launched into the solo armed only with an acoustic guitar, “Hotel California” became a beast of a different nature as to our delight, a happy, smiling Felder played his most iconic work yet in a way that was all too familiar but still quite foreign.

Eagles guitarist Don Felder says of the magic of “Hotel California,”

“I was soaking wet in a bathing suit, sitting on the couch, thinking the world is a wonderful place to be and tinkling around with this acoustic 12-string when those ‘Hotel California’ chords just oozed out…every once in awhile it seems like the cosmos part and something great falls into your lap.”

We’ll never get enough of that sweeping, soaring guitar solo that transformed “Hotel California” from a sun drenched spot in Don Felder’s mind to the masterpiece it soon became, and if you’re looking for another reason to fall in love with it, you’ve come to the right place.