Lockdown Licks no. 350. Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley.
Lead solo into closing riffs and chords FM7 to EM7. Played on an HB35+ into a NUX M8 amp on clean channel with mid reverb.
Original guitar by Chet Atkins.
“Heartbreak Hotel” was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley’s first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being given also to Presley. A newspaper article about the suicide of a lonely man who jumped from a hotel window inspired the song. Axton presented the song to Presley in November 1955 at a country music convention in Nashville. Presley recorded it on January 10, 1956, in a session with his band, the Blue Moon Boys, the guitarist Chet Atkins and the pianist Floyd Cramer.
“Heartbreak Hotel” comprises an eight-bar blues progression, with heavy reverberation throughout the track, to imitate the character of Presley’s Sun recordings.The single topped the Billboard Top 100 for seven weeks, Cashbox’s Pop singles chart for six weeks, and the Country and Western chart for seventeen weeks as well as reaching No. 3 on the R&B chart, becoming Presley’s first million-seller, and one of the best-selling singles of 1956.