Ace In The Hole

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

as performed by George Strait

notated by Greg Vaughn (gvaughn@olga.net)

As written in Bb, this song may be difficult for some of you (I still

can't make all the chord switches smoothly) so I've included a simplified

version in A. You can play these chords along with the recording if you

capo the first fret.

 

You've got to have an ace in the hole

 

A little secret that nobody knows

Eb Edim7 Bb/F Bb(#5)/F# G7#5

Life is a gamble, a game we all play

 

But you need to save something for a rainy day

 

You've got to learn to play your card right

 

If you expect to win in life

Eb6 Edim7 Bb/F G7#5

Don't put it all on the line for just one roll

C7 F7 Bb(x13331)

You've got to have an ace in the hole

2: If you're headed down a one way street

And you're not sure it's the way you wanna go

In money or love or all the above

Have a little more than what you show

When life deals out a surprise

Have a few surprises of your own

No matter what you do, no matter where you go

You've got to have an ace in the hole

Chords I use (but they are by no means the only choice):

I still am not comfortable with the Bb(#5)/F#

Bb Eb7 Bb7 Eb Edim7 Bb/F G7#5

1111116 :111116 1111116 :111116 |||1||6 :|||116 ::11113

|||2|| :||||| |||2|| :||||| |2|||| :||2|| ::|34|

|34||| :|3|4| |3|||| :|333| ||3|4| :34|||

C7 F F7 Eb6 I often use plain Eb

:111113 111111 111111 |:1||:10 instead of Eb6.

:||||| |||2|| |||2|| 2:||3:

:|3|4| |34||| |3|||| |:|4|:

To really get the Western Swing sound you want to hit the bass notes

on beats 1 and 3 and strum the whole chord on 2 and 4, but muffle it

quickly to get a percussive BOOM-chick BOOM-chick sound. If any of

you are more adventurous and would like some "swing-ier" sounding

chords, I've got some suggestions from Bo Parker that I'll be happy

to share with you.