Changes for Hold it

Chet Force · Post by **Chet Force** » 11 Nov 2001 3:32 pm

I'd like to find the changes to Hold it.
who's got a good version on it...

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__________________
"Chet"
Bradenton Fla
ICQ 60649600

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 11 Nov 2001 5:40 pm

C7#9 F9 C7#9 /
F9 / C7#9 (C7#9 A7#9)
D7#9 Db7#9 C7#9 /

one substitution for last line:
D7#9 G9 C7#9 /

I've heard it played both ways

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro

Chet Force · Post by **Chet Force** » 11 Nov 2001 9:02 pm

Thanks Larry... Do you ever get down to Jackson Mi.? My home is in Adrian, just come to Bradenton for the winter...
Thanks again for the changes..

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 12 Nov 2001 7:52 am

You're very welcome, Chet.

I don't usually wander as far as the Jackson area -- if I do and the snow isn't flying I'll look you up. It got into the 20s last night. Bet you're glad you're in Bradenton.

Regards,
LTB

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 12 Nov 2001 7:57 am

Chet;
This is what I play after the A in the head of the tune:(i=raises the A to Bb and f=lowers the C to B ^=play three times)
<pre>
1-------------------------------
2-------------------------------
3-----------------4(f------3----
4--------5(i--------------------
5--------5--------4--------3----
6-------------------------------
7--------5(8------4(8------3(8--
8--------^--------^-------------
9-------------------------------
10----5(8------4(8------3(8------
</pre>
Hold It is a fun tune for jammin'.
Also here's a link to Buddy's Hold It ending lick!
Good luck!

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Chet Force · Post by **Chet Force** » 12 Nov 2001 7:54 pm

Thanks Ernie, I'll give that a try as soon as I get confortable with the changes.

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 15 Nov 2001 3:15 pm

Chet,
Nobody has mentioned this yet, so I thought I'd throw it in.
If you look at the chords Larry wrote and chop off the suffixes, you'll notice that it's really just basically a 12 bar blues form...
So, having said that, after you get the hang of the head, you could go to Ernie's very cool site and use Buddy's "Blues to Use" tab for more ideas on how you might solo over it. Just a thought.
-John

Chet Force · Post by **Chet Force** » 15 Nov 2001 7:41 pm

Thank John, great idea and I'll do just that.

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__________________
"Chet"
Bradenton Fla
ICQ 60649600

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 16 Nov 2001 12:12 am

I have to underline my point that "it's just the blues".
Not to underestimate the importance of the blues, quite the contrary.
I used to listen to jazz groups play some tune that I thought was "a blues"... and hear those variations....and it would confuse me. It just didn't sound the same. I couldn't get away from the fact that a tune like "Hold It" or "Billie's Bounce" or.... well anything from "Rock Around The Clock" to "Stoney Mondays" to Charlie Parker's "Confirmation" was just a basic blues form with all kinds of embellishments. Understanding the embellishments takes some time, but...
As I mentioned in the post, don't be afraid to strip away all the "7#9" and various suffixes on the chords to look at the basic form. Not that there aren't variations on it, but it's essentially the same chord progression as any of the tunes mentioned above, and untold thousands of others. Everything from Count Basie's "One O'clock Jump" to Reba McIntyre's recent dreck "Why Haven't I Heard From You".
The key to it all is the dominant chords. (a dominant chord is any chord which contains the flattened seventh, as opposed to the Major seventh). The blues is dripping with dominant chords, and almost any chord in a standard blues progession can be expressed as a dominant chord without going "outside" the harmony.
The guy that wrote "hold it" was just clever enough to notice that he could find two particular kinds of dominant chords side-by-side to express the chord progression for a standard blues form..... the first one he used (for the 1 chord) was 7#9. If you take his voicing of the 7 #9 chord and lower it one fret, it moves to the 1V chord, expressed as a `13th chord (which is another kind of dominant chord).
Not to take away from learning the tune.. it's pretty cool... but hopefully to strip away some of the mystique surrounding tunes of this nature.

--> Frequently used dominant chords in place of, say for instance "C7" would be:
C13 (an F13 is used in Hold It)
C7b9
C7#9 (as used in Hold It)
C+7 or G aug.
C alt or altered
C7#11
And perhaps many more, some borne of the genius of Stravinsky and Ellington, other borne of the back of Erroll Garner's left hand

Playin' the blues ain't about makin' yourself feel better... Playin' the blues is about makin' other people feel worse!
-Bleedin' Gums Murphy

-John

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 16 Nov 2001 3:53 am

John's right on this one. Most times I don't even pay attention to the chord I'm playing. Go for the feel and sound of the chord as it relates to the tune. If it sounds good...

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 16 Nov 2001 6:58 am

Great info as usual, John.
One piece of the 'Hold It' puzzle that (I don't believe) has been brought out in this discussion is WHY it's C7#9. It's a common tone for the transition between a C or C7 family chord to an F7. The b7 of the F (Eb) is the same as the #9 of the C. That's one feature that contributes to the cool sound of I7#9 to IV7. And, as John pointed out, there are many substitutions or alterations that can lend character to those simple 12-bar blues chords. The most important tones include the thirds -- Major or minor -- and sevenths -- Major or Dominant. You can sometimes mix and match those tones as well, but it often results in chaos and dissonance (sometimes that's what you're after). If you think about it, the C7#9 chord, often voiced C E Bb Eb, contains both a major (E) and minor (Eb) third. Kind of a chameleon chord. FWIW.

LTB[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 16 November 2001 at 07:17 AM.]

Jeff Lampert · Post by **Jeff Lampert** » 16 Nov 2001 2:07 pm

So much of jazz is based on these "chameleon" types of chords, i.e. widely voiced chords with a 1/2 tone dissonance. The very basis of jazz progressions is the Maj7 chord, which in the key of C is C,E,G,B. The C and B have the dissonance. Then you have the 7b9. A G7b9 has G,B,D,F,Ab. There you have the G,Ab dissonance. Then, as previously mentioned, the F9#11 has the F,A,C,Eb,G,B, so the dissonance is in the C,B. Then there's the G13, with G,B,D,F,A,C,E. There are two half-tone dissonances there - B,C and F,E.

Chet Force · Post by **Chet Force** » 17 Nov 2001 1:05 pm

Thanks a ton. You guys sure help a heap.
Sometimes trying to hear the tonal changes that's under all the diferent extenstions can be very frustrating. Sometimes I think we try too hard. There is a lot knowledge written here on this thread. I love it..
thanks guys..

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__________________
"Chet"
Bradenton Fla
ICQ 60649600

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 18 Nov 2001 11:17 am

Lots of good thoughts here, as usual.
One minor point, Larry; you mentioned that the 7#9 chord contains the natural third and also the flattened third.
Well, the flattened third isn't really a flattened third, it's a raised 9th. But they do end up to be a half-tone apart, contributing the dissonance. It's seldom that a scale tone can be more than one thing at a time (i.e. natural or flat). One exception would be an "altered" chord, which can contain both the b9 and #9. Kinda unusual.
-John

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 18 Nov 2001 11:31 am

'Least I didn't call it a D#.

LTB