Who played the guitar solo on Hotel California?

The famous guitar solo on Hotel California was played by Don Felder and Joe Walsh, both members of Eagles at the time.

How the solo works

• The ending solo is actually a harmonized dual-guitar lead.
• Don Felder wrote most of the guitar parts and the chord progression for the song.
• Joe Walsh helped refine the arrangement and recorded the second lead guitar, creating the iconic harmony lines.
• 
  

Recording detail

• The solo was carefully composed rather than improvised.
• Felder and Walsh recorded multiple guitar tracks, trading lines and harmonizing them to create the dramatic closing section that lasts about two minutes.

Why it’s famous

The solo is widely considered one of the greatest in rock because it:

• builds gradually in intensity
• uses melodic phrasing instead of fast shredding
• features tight twin-guitar harmonies, a signature sound of the Eagles in the late 1970s.