Q: How can a song have both the major and minor chord of the same note in a chord progression and have it work (e.g. Hotel California verse is Am E7 G D F C Dm E)?
A: i think you will find that minor keys are allowed to use either 6 note, and either 7 note. so in the key of A minor that would be F or F#, and G or G#. the example you gave is good because it does them all, in a very ordinary manner, over the course of the 8 bar figure. actually i think hotel california is in B min for the non-capo holders, but that's not the point