Hotel California Solo settings?

  • Hi all!


    We've been booked for a birthday gig, and they have requested Hotel California.... as the only guitarist in the band, it's proving to be a challenge learning it, let alone trying to get the right settings for the solo harmonisation.

    I saw an old thread on this from 5 years ago, but wondered if anyone has got a profile with the settings that I could use.... or if anyone has any advice on how to set it up to match the harmonies for the outro solo?

    Thanks all!

  • Cheers guys - I'm having a hard enough time trying to find the time to learn the main parts, let alone trying to program everything in to the Kemper.... will give it a run-out and see how it sounds!

  • Hi, There're rigs to play Hotel California. Don't need "concuretial-marketing-labyrinthine-system-settings" for it 8o

    It's the attitude and the <3 that you interpret this song that counts.

  • I don’t know if those harmonies are right or not ut they are basically just diatonic 3rds with the odd perfect 4th thrown in. I’m sure it would be possible to make that work with the harmoniser and morphing but would need to experiment a little. I think I feel a project coming on ^^

    If it is all one Mode, you may not even need Morph. Go for it!

  • Damn. That one is a LOT harder than I expected =O


    Here's what I managed eventually but it isn't perfect. Surely there MUST be an easier way to do it that I am missing.


    For the actual solo's. It can't really be done. The guitar lines are almost totally independent of each other. By that I mean that some of the notes in Guitar 1 have different notes assigned to them in Guitar 2 and at some points the rhythms overlap so I would go for the main solo part and ignore the harmony during the solo.


    However, the final Outro arpeggios are pretty much iconic so worth the effort to nail if possible.


    The arrpeggios are simply the chords to the tune harmonised in diatonic 3rds (and 4ths where necessary to make the chord). However, the chords modulate so a single scale doesn't work.


    The progression is Bmin F#7 (B harmonic minor or B melodic minor), A E7 (A major), G D (G major or D major scales would work), Emin F# (E harmonic Minor or E melodic minor). So 4 different scales. Unfortunately it will need Performance Mode with THREE separate Rigs in 3 slots AND a morph pedal to achieve it.=O


    Rig 1

    Harmonic Pitch FX.

    Voice 1 Interval = User Scale 1.

    Edit user scale to the following. (I have set any notes that aren't actually needed to 0 for simplicity but you may want to add something to make any slides sound better.)


    Step 0 = 3

    Step 1 = 0

    Step 2 = 3

    Step 3 = 4

    Step 4 = 0

    Step 5 = 5

    Step 6 = 0

    Step 7 = 5

    Step 8 = 4

    Step 9 = 0

    Step 10 = 4

    Step 11 = 3


    Voice 2 interval = User Scale 2


    Step 0 = 3

    Step 1 = 0

    Step 2 = 3

    Step 3 = 5

    Step 4 = 0

    Step 5 = 4

    Step 6 = 0

    Step 7 = 4

    Step 8 = 0

    Step 9 = 3

    Step 10 = 0

    Step 11 = 3


    Set key to B/G#min


    Now the fun bit: With the Morph pedal in the heel positionSet the Voice Balance all the way left -50% and Mix to 0

    Move the morph pedal to toe position and turn the Voice Balance all the way to the right +49.9%.


    This will cover the first 4 chords of the tune like this:


    Play the low notes of the harmony part.


    Play the first chord (Bmin) with the pedal in the heel position

    Move the pedal to the toe postiion for the second chord (F#7)

    Move back to heel and play the 3rd chord (A)

    Move to toe for 4th chord (E7)


    Rig 2


    Harmonic Pitch FX.


    Voice 1 Interval = User Scale 1.

    Edit user scale to the following. (I have set any notes that aren't actually needed to 0 for simplicity but you may want to add something to make any slides sound better.)


    Step 0 = 3

    Step 1 = 0

    Step 2 = 0

    Step 3 = 5

    Step 4 = 0

    Step 5 = 0

    Step 6 = 0

    Step 7 = 0

    Step 8 = 4

    Step 9 = 0

    Step 10 = 0

    Step 11 = 0


    Voice 2 interval = User Scale 2


    Step 0 = 0

    Step 1 = 0

    Step 2 = 0

    Step 3 = 4

    Step 4 = 0

    Step 5 = 0

    Step 6 = 0

    Step 7 = 3

    Step 8 = 0

    Step 9 = 0

    Step 10 = 5

    Step 11 = 0


    Set key to B/G#min


    Leave voice balance etc the same as first slot


    This will cover the next 2 chords of the tune like this:


    Play the low notes of the harmony part.


    First chord (G) morph pedal in heel position.

    Second Chord (D) morph pedal in toe position.


    Rig 3


    Harmonic Pitch FX.


    Voice 1 Interval = User Scale 1.

    Edit user scale to the following. (I have set any notes that aren't actually needed to 0 for simplicity but you may want to add something to make any slides sound better.)


    Step 0 = 5

    Step 1 = 0

    Step 2 = 0

    Step 3 = 0

    Step 4 = 0

    Step 5 = 3

    Step 6 = 0

    Step 7 = 0

    Step 8 = 4

    Step 9 = 0

    Step 10 = 0

    Step 11 = 0



    Voice 2 interval = User Scale 2


    Step 0 = 0

    Step 1 = 0

    Step 2 = 0

    Step 3 = 4

    Step 4 = 0

    Step 5 = 0

    Step 6 = 0

    Step 7 = 3

    Step 8 = 0

    Step 9 = 0

    Step 10 = 5

    Step 11 = 0



    Set key to B/G#min


    Leave voice balance etc the same as first slot



    This will cover the last 2 chords of the tune like this:


    Play the low notes of the harmony part.


    First chord (Emin) morph pedal in heel position.

    Second Chord (F#) morph pedal in toe position.



    GOOD LUCK


    I hope your tap dancing is up to scratch8o

  • Blimey!!

    Thanks so much, really appreciate it; to be fair, I'm in agreement that the 'only' part to nail with harmonies is the outro arpeggios so your post is incredibly helpful - thank you!

    Just need to get the time to try it now.....!!

  • It took me most of last night to figure it out. Had to sit with paper and write out all the intervals a few times to spot the patterns I would need int the KPA.its a relatively simple harmy part so I still think I must be missing something obvious as I can’t believe it should be that difficult to achieve. Hopefully, someone else will chime in and give me the EUREKA moment that makes me see how stupid I am :D

  • I have set any notes that aren't actually needed to 0 for simplicity but you may want to add something to make any slides sound better.)

    This is crucial in my opinion otherwise it sounds weird.:thumbup:


    By the way, I appreciate all the work that has gone into not only working it out but also transcribing it here ! Well done !

    I know from my own experiences of making user scales, it takes a lottttttt of time

  • It took me most of last night to figure it out. Had to sit with paper and write out all the intervals a few times to spot the patterns I would need int the KPA.its a relatively simple harmy part so I still think I must be missing something obvious as I can’t believe it should be that difficult to achieve. Hopefully, someone else will chime in and give me the EUREKA moment that makes me see how stupid I am :D

    Bravo!Good work here my friend..and I admire your patience!


    I can't even remember how often I sat down with how many students to work this out..but I can't remember that we ever reached "the end of it"..


    Truth is. .you can't do it while playing it "with heart and passion" and I would claim it is much more important to concentrate on the right expression(bendings & vibratos) than on keeping in touch with morphing the pitch shifter..


    But if anyone can do this (controlling the morph and playing the leads as they should be played) I will admit that this is indeed "glorious"..hail,hail..^^


    But I want to hear it..;)

  • Wheresthedug , we bow to your dedication and kindness. Not to mention your genius...

    This is what I love about the Kemper forum. The time and effort to work all that out and then post it for all to see is very generous especially when it’s not for personal use but to assist a fellow musician to achieve a goal.

    I will be trying this out in the near future.


    I have always wanted to understand how to create harmonies to do this sort of part. Now there is a working example to follow so I can improve my limited understanding in this field.


    Well done indeed and greatly received!


    Many thanks

    Pre-Amp

  • Thanks guys.


    While I did do it to help out a fellow player, I also saw it as personal challenge and a way to learn to use user scales. A real life example beats dreaming up an exercise every time and I haven't done before so I did have some personal motivation too. ;)



    Truth is. .you can't do it while playing it "with heart and passion" and I would claim it is much more important to concentrate on the right expression(bendings & vibratos) than on keeping in touch with morphing the pitch shifter..


    But if anyone can do this (controlling the morph and playing the leads as they should be played) I will admit that this is indeed "glorious"..hail,hail.. ^^

    I totally agree that it wouldn't be possible to do it for solos with bends and "feel" but the part on the outro is really just a straight forward stream of steady 3 note fingerings which is doable. I can play it and morph it pretty easily but as lento1234567 pointed out, without all the missing notes the slides up to the last note of each phrase does sound a bit weird. I definitely wouldn't try using the multiple scales and morph approach for the main solo that would be a real train wreck :D


    Something else that dawned on me after I posted the setting is that it might actually sound more natural playing the top harmony and using the Kemper for the bottom one. In order to try this simply change all the +3 to -9, +4 to -8 and +5 to - 7.

  • Quote

    I definitely wouldn't try using the multiple scales and morph approach for the main solo that would be a real train wreck :D

    I know a guy who does stuff like that.For this reason he is well booked in a show band which works for for a huge event company and he also plays (or better said has played) in these TV late night show bands..he is indeed a sick dude who can work for days to figure out finest details and things like these here.I have big respect for this kind of stuff.But it is not my world.I always want some "freedom of expression" even when I get paid for the job.Whatever..there is a reason why my buddy always got more better paid jobs than me..:rolleyes:

  • But it is not my world.I always want some "freedom of expression"

    I know what you mean.


    To be perfectly honest, I am also of the less is more/keep it simple mentality too when it comes to actually gigging or recording. I like to say that it is because I value the artistic freedom but the reality might be that I'm just too lazy to do anything else ^^

  • Damn. That one is a LOT harder than I expected =O

    Holy cow!

    I'd like to vote Wheresthedug for :


    "Most committed response to a single request" on this forum....whilst everyone is so helpful, this is beyond..

    I second that. May I have the envelope, please?


    Surely there MUST be an easier way to do it that I am missing.

    Yeah. Hire a second guitarist. :)

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Massive props for Wheresthedug for sticking with it and figuring out all the parts.


    For something easier, I can only think of using a looper pedal (or maybe the Kemper looper if it can fit the whole outro) and "pre-record" one of the guitar tracks.

  • So, had a bit of a setback trying to learn the solo..... spent last night and this morning in hospital with at least three fractured ribs from judo!

    Makes playing the guitar somewhat uncomfortable, that's for sure.