# Hotel California



## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

I live in the Central Ky area and a core group of five players put together a band, Lexington Lab Band, to do artists we enjoy and were heavily influenced by. At the first of the year we select artists for the year ahead and give ourselves about 6 weeks to woodshed our parts. We come together to rehearse one time and then the next night we record the audio and video. We take 3 passes at each tune to get all the video shots we like and we can use the best of the three audio samples as well.

As i mentioned we have 5 core members but we often invite guests for artists that need specialized instruments or voices. We do one live show a year, in Lexington, and do not gig or play private events. It's strictly for the love of music and fun of playing it with people we so enjoy. No money is made - the money we make on the live show over and above our expenses goes to charity. It's sometime maybe you could consider in your area. Here's our take on a Eagles classic - thanks for considering giving this a listen.


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## mario (Feb 18, 2006)

As usual you guys nailed it.

Well done!


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

thanks so much for giving it a listen!


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

Dale, you could have been a little louder when playing the dueling guitar part but you played it beautifully as usual. IMO, your guitar playing does stand out from the rest. Well done.


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

appreciate the feedback...means a lot when a player like yourself comments on the mix, thanks! thanks so much for sharing your time and hope all is good your way sir, dale.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Filling big shoes, awesome, well done.


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## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

Outta the park Dale. Kudos to you and the rest of the amazing musicians that compile the Lexington Lab Band!


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

dale said:


> I live in the Central Ky area and a core group of five players put together a band, Lexington Lab Band, to do artists we enjoy and were heavily influenced by. At the first of the year we select artists for the year ahead and give ourselves about 6 weeks to woodshed our parts. We come together to rehearse one time and then the next night we record the audio and video. We take 3 passes at each tune to get all the video shots we like and we can use the best of the three audio samples as well.
> 
> As i mentioned we have 5 core members but we often invite guests for artists that need specialized instruments or voices. We do one live show a year, in Lexington, and do not gig or play private events. It's strictly for the love of music and fun of playing it with people we so enjoy. No money is made - the money we make on the live show over and above our expenses goes to charity. It's sometime maybe you could consider in your area. Here's our take on a Eagles classic - thanks for considering giving this a listen.


As usual you guys killed it! I like your concept and only wish I had the chops to organize something similar. It would be great to learn and play tunes simply for the love of them without worrying about whether it's commercially viable. The irony is you guys would be in high demand as a cover or tribute act if you did it for the money!

As for the woodshedding, I have a question. I've admired your instructional videos and really like the way you present and break down a song when teaching it. You have a great ear for the nuances of a song. 
What I'd like to know is how do you do this process for yourself. In other words, when you're woodshedding for 6 weeks what are the steps you take in order to get your parts down? What's the process of breaking down a song and building up your ability to play it so perfectly? Perhaps that could be an instructional video unto itself! How to break down and learn a song.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I'd love to go see your live show. How can I get tickets for 2017?


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

Dale you and your band have always been one of my favorites!

I particularly love your renditions of the Doobie brothers songs!

What an amazing and talented group you are!!


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Big fan of you guys. Well done sir.


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

please know I and all the band, even though they don't post here, appreciate you checking this out and the very kind posts - isn't music a great thing in such a confusing world!

Hamstrung - sincerely appreciate the question and thanks for the kind feedback and sharing a common love of music over the years. When we decide on the set list for an artist i give each tune an intentional listen to assess what songs have the most difficult or time consuming parts to cover. I hit those first and will have the longest time to continue to try to get the feel of them and hopefully not just play the right notes. Then i continue through in that same thought process. I've found for me a lot of practice in one day and none for three or four is not the best. If i can spend 30 minutes a day on learning new material and do that almost everyday i notice i'm much more successful. I also us an app called CAPO - it slows down the song. I'm old enough to remember when this digital technology was pretty much relegated to high end applications. I think the first digital 'slow downer' i saw for commercial use was like 1k. The app was 9.99 i think - it lets me take a complicated or fast passage and really hear it and slowly put it together. Gradually i increase the speed. What that's shown me about my learning style is that once my fingers can do it right slowly the speed comes pretty quick and it's cleaner as opposed to trying to learn it up to tempo and it being sloppy. Sloppy is hard to change - so i think practice slow to play fast. Last thing, in todays's video world (youtube especially) i can see most things i need on video so a lot of the guess work is gone. For example we are getting ready to do Foreigner - i spent 30 minutes watching all the live performances of the song i'm working on. I'm working on Hot Blooded, not the most difficult tune, but in a video i saw Mick Jones uses up strokes on that signurature suspended riff. To my ear that made all the difference - i played it with down strokes naturally and hitting those suspended notes first with an upstroke brought them to life. Thanks Mick for the free lesson! Sorry this was so long and sincere thanks for the interest, dale.


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Superb as usual Dale. You and the band always do an exceptional job. Speaking of the Eagles, I don't know if you were posting here back in 2008 or not, but back then I got to meet Don Felder when he was promoting his book. Here's the thread if you want to check it out: Met Don Felder, Ex-Eagles member last night.


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

Guitarman2 - thanks for asking! The show will most likely be in November or early Dec here in Lexington. We will have an online site you can go to for tickets. It would be an honor to have you and get to hang out. This year i was kind of blown away at the distance some folks traveled. Thanks again.

Kenmac - so happy for you and so jealous! There are two guitarist i'd like to meet before i play the last chord - Don Felder and Pat Simmons. Your killing me but thanks for sharing!


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

Dale, Dale Dale..... what where you thinking....?

First of all great job as the whole band nails another classic...

I did notice right at the beginning of your solo that a tonal thing was off a bit and the first thing I thought of was:
"Im wondering if Dale is wearing blue shoes?".
So I got back a review and then I saw it...BLUE SHOES !!!!!!

If I have seen it once , Ive seen it a thousand times... blue shoes and Les Pauls just dont mix well tonal wise...
Please try to remember that next time...
Its not easy to be critical with a band such as yours but I do my best to try.
G.


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

too funny....how come somebody hasn't told me?? a salesman, bandmate somebody - i'll try to never mix LP's and blue shoes again! Seems like Gibson should confess this somewhere. Hope all is good and thanks for doing all you do to help us - your pal, dale.


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## ampdude (Mar 17, 2011)

Amazing!!!!


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## Woof (Jan 13, 2010)

great as always...


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## Midnight Rider (Apr 2, 2015)

dale said:


> I live in the Central Ky area and a core group of five players put together a band, Lexington Lab Band, to do artists we enjoy and were heavily influenced by. At the first of the year we select artists for the year ahead and give ourselves about 6 weeks to woodshed our parts. We come together to rehearse one time and then the next night we record the audio and video. We take 3 passes at each tune to get all the video shots we like and we can use the best of the three audio samples as well.
> 
> As i mentioned we have 5 core members but we often invite guests for artists that need specialized instruments or voices. We do one live show a year, in Lexington, and do not gig or play private events. It's strictly for the love of music and fun of playing it with people we so enjoy. No money is made - the money we make on the live show over and above our expenses goes to charity. It's sometime maybe you could consider in your area. Here's our take on a Eagles classic - thanks for considering giving this a listen.


That my friends was F'n amazing!!!You nailed that classic with not just the musicianship but the instrument tones as well.Fantastic video production as well,...100% pro.I have seen the Eagles perform this song many times and I can tell you from my experience the only thing that was missing was the goofy faces that Joe Walsh displays during a concert,...lol.

This is not intended to hijack your thread but since we are on topic of the Eagles and Hotel California the following SoundCloud link is of the unplugged version of Hotel California that a group of musicians I was playing with years ago did in my studio just for kicks.

__
https://soundcloud.com/https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Frolltape-1%2Fhotel-california-remake-cover


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

Thanks for the kind posts & bringing willing to check this out!

Midnight Rider / thx for sharing, really nice stuff & I especially loved the nylon string guitar work!


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Dale: I know its a guitar forum, but your drummer is rock solid. Please forward my admiration. And as usual, thanks for posting.


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## helliott1 (Jul 12, 2015)

Great work, Dale. Always have thought you built a winner with this project. You've been at it a while, yes? This tune is great. Wish your lp was a bit further up fron in the outdo solo is all.


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

Swervin55 - sure appreciate that - I will certainly pass it on to Ryan i know he will appreciate it too!

helliott1 - going into the 4th year of this and i do appreciate the mix feedback. I always try to not ask for 'more of me' the classic guitar complaint but it's nice having other players like yourself make suggestions - thanks!


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## sakuarius102 (Nov 23, 2016)

Epic song !! )


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## ZeroGravity (Mar 25, 2016)

Wow! I have listened to many covers and while some are very good, but the timing is slightly off or not quite the sound but this is a s close to the original as I have ever heard. You guys really have it dialed in.


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

totally epic for sure! ZeroGravity thanks so much for taking your time to listen!


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## ed2000 (Feb 16, 2007)

Ok, that's it - I'm taking up the saxophone and burning all my guitars.

EDIT..Nahh, just kidding about the saxophone.


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

lol..thanks so much for taking your time to give this a listen and the SG avatar look like a very cool and unique guitar! yours?


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## 335Bob (Feb 26, 2006)

dale said:


> I live in the Central Ky area and a core group of five players put together a band, Lexington Lab Band, to do artists we enjoy and were heavily influenced by. At the first of the year we select artists for the year ahead and give ourselves about 6 weeks to woodshed our parts. We come together to rehearse one time and then the next night we record the audio and video. We take 3 passes at each tune to get all the video shots we like and we can use the best of the three audio samples as well.
> 
> As i mentioned we have 5 core members but we often invite guests for artists that need specialized instruments or voices. We do one live show a year, in Lexington, and do not gig or play private events. It's strictly for the love of music and fun of playing it with people we so enjoy. No money is made - the money we make on the live show over and above our expenses goes to charity. It's sometime maybe you could consider in your area. Here's our take on a Eagles classic - thanks for considering giving this a listen.


Excellent job Dale, you guys keep up the fine work!


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

thank you sir and please know we sincerely appreciate you giving your time to check this out! Hope this finds you very well, your friend, dale.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Damn professional job on that!!! Beauty!~


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## dale (Oct 9, 2016)

hello! greatly appreciate you checking this one out - hope all is good your way!


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