Don Henley, Joe Walsh & The Eagles Pack

Lessons

• Lesson 1: The End Of The Innocence - Don Henley - Guitar Lesson

  The End Of The Innocence, released in 1989, is the lead single and title track from Don Henley’s third solo studio album of the same name.
  
  It was Henley who wrote the lyrics, but the music was written by singer-songwriter and pianist Bruce Hornsby.
  
  For that, the arrangement of the song is primarily piano driven and this lesson shows a similar one for the guitar.
  
  It’s done in the key of G, where the guitar is capoed on the 1st fret, using all the major and minor chords, including several ways of playing those.
  
  The strumming has a very syncopated feel in several parts of the song, like the intro interludes, instrumental bridge and the outro.
  
  It also requires quite a bit of focused strumming, in particular for the middle strings, to copy the top notes of the inversions used on the piano.

• Lesson 2: The Heart Of The Matter - Don Henley - Guitar Lesson

  The Heart Of The Matter is a song recorded by American singer and Eagles member Don Henley from his third solo studio album ‘The End Of The Innocence.’
  
  This lesson is mostly based on the acoustic version that Henley performed with The Eagles at their reunion concert ‘Hell Freezes Over.'
  
  It covers the rhythm guitar part, primarily done by Glen Frey, as well as Don Felder’s travis style picking arrangement.
  
  I decided to teach his part in standard tuning, but there is a segment added which shows the chord shapes in Dropped D tuning, as Felder plays it.
  
  Since Henley has taken the key of the song down a whole step in later years, we also take a look at the key of C.
  
  The rhythm guitar part can be easily played the same way as in the original key of D, but it shows another guitar part, which uses power chord shapes, as well.

• Lesson 3: The Boys of Summer - Don Henley

  The Boys Of Summer is a song written by Eagles vocalist/drummer Don Henley and Mike Campbell. It’s the lead track and first single from Henley’s 1984 album ‘Building The Perfect Beast.'
  
  This lesson shows a way of how to perform it with only one guitar and is, like the original, presented in standard tuning with all the strings tuned down a half step.
  
  We take a look at the opening riff, the melody notes through out the intro and the super easy progression. There are only four basic open chords involved, which one could spice up a bit by adding some notes to give them a little more color.
  
  The song requires quite a lot of the strumming hand. It’s fast, should be done randomly, with focused strumming in some parts, while picking out several melody notes.

• Lesson 4: Wasted Time

  Wasted Time is the 4th track of The Eagles’ 1976 Hotel California album. It truly shows their versatility, and that they were far more than a one-trick pony group.

  This lesson teaches a fingerstyle/strumming arrangement in the key of C.

  We take a look at all the chords, which include several chords out of the key, many different inversions, and a couple of tricky stretches are in there too.

  We break down a few fingerpicking patterns, even though it’s encouraged to never play it the same way twice, so to speak. As for the strumming, just keep it simple.

  In the end, the focus should be on expressing the emotions of the song.

• Lesson 5: Saturday Night

  Saturday Night is a track from The Eagles’ 2nd studio album ‘Desperado’, released in 1973.
  
  This is a perfect song for beginners to learn, since it consists of 9, out of 14, basic open chords in first position, along with the easy ¾ strumming. It should be reasonable for anyone to tackle.
  
  The lesson takes a look at the chords, how to preferably finger them, the progression and the strumming. The latter should be done with both swing and straight feel.
  
  It takes practice when learning anything new on the guitar, no matter the level of one’s playing. But in order to really make progress and get the results one is looking for, it is extremely important that it’s done the correct way. For that I’ve taken this lesson as an opportunity to show and teach how to do so, in particular when changing chords and when doing so in time.
  
  It’s recommended to check out those segments. There is useful information in there for all level guitar players, since it’s applicable to anything one tries to do on the guitar.

• Lesson 6: The Last Resort

  The Last Resort was written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey from The Eagles. It appeared as the ninth track on the 1976 Hotel California album.
  
  When performing it during their ‘Hell Freezes Over’-concert, Henley introduced it by saying: ‘You’ve heard about how the West was won, this is certainly about how the West was lost’.
  
  The arrangement features basically three chords in the key of E, and a key change halfway through to G.
  
  Still, there is a lot more to it than that, and this lesson shows how to dress it up in order to make it sound somewhat similar to the original. Needless to say, with one guitar and one voice, it’s an ambitious project.

• Lesson 7: Funk #49

  This lesson is part of our Intros, Riffs & Licks Package.

  Continuing in the riffs series we present Joe Walsh's most recognizable early song, Funk #49. This was released in 1970 on the second James Gang album, James Gang Rides Again and is still covered occasionally by his current band, the Eagles. The opening riff is derived from a standard blues lick and the only other theme is right out of the minor pentatonic scale. The right hand must keep a steady, percussive motion for everything to sound best.

• Lesson 8: Help Me Through The Night

  Joe Walsh is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and probably best known as a member of the rock band the Eagles, whom he joined in 1975. 

  Help Me Through The Night is the 7th track of his 3rd studio album 'So What' (1974).

  The Eagles performed the song on their reunion concert 'Hell Freezes Over' (1994), but it doesn't appear on the original CD edition with the same name.  

  The arrangement was done in Open G-tuning, where the strings are tuned to DGDGBD. For that the chords and shapes are relatively easy and this lesson breaks them all down. 

  We take a look at the strumming in double time and of course go through the progression.

  There are a few syncopated chord changes, but other than that it should be pretty doable for most guitar players. 

  It'd also would be a great opportunity for anyone who'd like to explore a different tuning, just to find out it has major advantages and beautiful sounding chords. 

   

• Lesson 9: New Kid In Town

  New Kid In Town, from the Hotel California album by The Eagles, was written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey and J.D. Souther. The arrangement featured a bit of a 'South Of The Border' feeling and included nice fills from Don Felder's electric guitar and Joe Walsh's keyboard.

  Glenn Frey mainly strummed the acoustic guitar and this lesson goes extensively in the basic accompaniment, but also includes segments on percussive strumming, chord theory with multiple ways to play many of the chords, as well as breakdowns of many of the leads and fills.

• Lesson 10: Ol' 55 - Tom Waits/Eagles - Guitar Lesson

  A very early song from Tom Waits, Ol’ 55 was released on his first album, Closing Time (1973), although by then he was doing most of his songs on piano.
  
  In the 1990s, a couple albums were issued titled “The Early Years” and they included many guitar versions of his songs.
  
  This lesson is based on the version heard on Volume 2 (1993). It is done in a slightly free-form fingerpicking style in the key of A, using a few barre chords from the “A” family, although some easier options are addressed.

  As of March 2025 we have added segments looking at the was The Eagles covered it on their 1974 album On The Border.