Harmony part for Hotel California

[sdahe]

Hello,

 

I don't have much experience working with harmony pedals so Im asking a small favor. Can anyone tell me how to set up a nice harmony block that I can use when I play the Hotel California solo.. Since Im the only guitar player in the band I would like to play it with the harmony. Im playing the Don Felder part so I need the Helix to harmonize the Joe Walsh part.

 

Thanks

[DunedinDragon]

It's been a long time since I did this but as I remember the secret was to use snapshots to change the Key and Scale parameters during the lead so they harmonized correctly over the chord pattern.  

[silverhead]

On 5/31/2023 at 5:07 PM, DunedinDragon said:

It's been a long time since I did this but as I remember the secret was to use snapshots to change the Key and Scale parameters during the lead so they harmonized correctly over the chord pattern.  

Hadn’t thought of that. Makes perfect sense.

[brue58ski]

Yes. There are at least two different keys/scales that are used and you can use snapshots to change them. At least one person has done it. Here's one person's take on what scales to use

 

The "Smart Harmony" comes in (activated with FS2) on the last solo segment with variable scale and key (via the exp-2).
The harmony starts at 1:11 with a "B minor harmonic" scale 4 the first 2 chords (Bm+F#), then at 1:31 shifts 2 "A major" 4 the next 2 chords (A, E) and at 1:35 returns back 2 "B minor harmonic" 4 the rest of the chord progression.

 

I don't know what interval they used.

 

And there's this. Not sure hoe much info is there.

 

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/re-created-the-entire-hotel-california-solo-all-instruments-using-line-6-helix.2147900/

 

and this

 

Also if you go to Customtone to the Helix section and type hotel into the search. There's several patches there that purport to do this as well.

[toddkc]

On 5/31/2023 at 4:07 PM, DunedinDragon said:

It's been a long time since I did this but as I remember the secret was to use snapshots to change the Key and Scale parameters during the lead so they harmonized correctly over the chord pattern.  

I would have never thought to do that, that's genius.

[theElevators]

OK, I tried the smart harmonizer, all different keys / intervals and there is NO WAY to program it to play the entire solo as on the record.  Unless you want to keep switching keys/intervals in the middle of playing each phrase -- it's impossible, so I wouldn't even bother with it. 

 

And I'm a kind of a guy who loves auto-harmonizers.  It's just that they are not smart enough for what we need to do.  For this to be played correctly, we'd need a way to assign which harmony corresponds to what pitch. 

 

If you want to replicate the solo with one guitar, you may want to use a looper and record the 2nd part -- record it with a metronome, and make your drummer play with a metronome.  I've done that in the past.  Just make sure that the metronome tempo is whole numbers, not something you pull from the internet that may not be exact. 

[brue58ski]

I'll look into this further. I could swear someone had done it, possibly using a harmonic (like the one person did in my previous post) or melodic minor scale and using different keys for each scale. Not so sure my memory is accurate. The one thing I recall is it did not use the same key the part of the song was in. It was two different scales in two different keys. But, you tried that. Another recollection is it did require using the Expression pedal to change things in the middle or at the end of one of the phrases. Anyway we'll see. "to the Helix, Batman!!"

[sdahe]

On 6/1/2023 at 10:37 AM, theElevators said:

OK, I tried the smart harmonizer, all different keys / intervals and there is NO WAY to program it to play the entire solo as on the record.  Unless you want to keep switching keys/intervals in the middle of playing each phrase -- it's impossible, so I wouldn't even bother with it. 

 

And I'm a kind of a guy who loves auto-harmonizers.  It's just that they are not smart enough for what we need to do.  For this to be played correctly, we'd need a way to assign which harmony corresponds to what pitch. 

 

If you want to replicate the solo with one guitar, you may want to use a looper and record the 2nd part -- record it with a metronome, and make your drummer play with a metronome.  I've done that in the past.  Just make sure that the metronome tempo is whole numbers, not something you pull from the internet that may not be exact. 

I don't want to harmonize the whole solo.. it's just the last part

[DarthHollis]

Approximate, yes, but you can't duplicate.  That's because each guitar is playing a different inversion of the chord.  I tried every way from Sunday and I don't believe it can be done easily.  This will be a bit of a music lesson.  Here's the reason why:

 

First chord played is Bm (B, F#, D).  One guitar is playing D, B, F# and the other guitar is playing the harmony of F#, D, B.  The first two notes you can harmonize but the last note you can't.  You need a harmonizer that can be set to chords, not to scales.  The intervals cannot be set.  A Bm scale won't work.  The Helix doesn't have a pentatonic scale, I thought that might work for this chord, but it does not.  Bm pentatonic would be B, D, E, F#, A.  So when you played a D the harmony would be F#, then B would be E (not D), and F# would be B.  So pentatonic would not work for the second note.  

 

Second chord is F#7 (F#, Bb, C#) and is a similar thing.  One guitar is playing C#, Bb, F# and the other guitar is playing E (the 7th), C#, Bb.  The last notes are F# and Bb (the root and major 3rd).

 

You would have to change the scale between notes, not just chords. The only way I can think of to do this is using the whammy feature so you can whammy just that note.  That's just the first two chords.  The next 6 chords are similar in complexity.  

 

Anyway, if anyone figures it out I give you major cudos!!!!!  Good luck.

[jester700]

Many simple harmony parts are just parallel 3rds with an occasional 4th thrown in here & there to make the line fit the underlying chord. These can be done with a momentary footswitch programmed to switch to the 4th interval when depressed. But it sounds like in this case you'd also have to have another footswitch to change keys for modulations and borrowed chords. That would get messy pretty quick. But your tap dancing skills would be legendary... ;-)

[brue58ski]

I believe my confusion is which harmonized part we're talking about. Now I recall that it was the harmonized arpeggios after the harmonized solo. The harmonized arpeggios is the part that can be done fairly easily with two different scales. It's the harmonized solo before those arpeggios that is the part that would require a major lesson in footswitch tap dancing.

 

Perhaps a backing track with MIDI instructions for when the Harmonizer would need to be changed.......Eeeeeeesh!...........I know, I know; Yeah right!

[toddkc]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:46 AM, brue58ski said:

I believe my confusion is which harmonized part we're talking about. Now I recall that it was the harmonized arpeggios after the harmonized solo. The harmonized arpeggios is the part that can be done fairly easily with two different scales. It's the harmonized solo before those arpeggios that is the part that would require a major lesson in footswitch tap dancing.

 

Perhaps a backing track with MIDI instructions for when the Harmonizer would need to be changed.......Eeeeeeesh!...........I know, I know; Yeah right!

Call it cheating, but since my band uses backing tracks I just record the harmonies and leave out the whole mess :)

[brue58ski]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:26 AM, toddkc said:

Call it cheating, but since my band uses backing tracks I just record the harmonies and leave out the whole mess :)

 

That would definitely be the easiest way.