#
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.

A
Bb
You've got to have an ace in the hole
         D7                 A     A7
         Eb7                Bb    Bb7
A little secret that nobody knows
D         D#dim7    A/E                  F#7
Eb        Edim7     Bb/F    Bb(#5)/F#    G7#5
Life is a gamble, a game we all          play
		B7                           E        E7
        C7                           F        F7
But you need to save something for a rainy day
       A
       Bb
You've got to learn to play your card right
   D7                   A    A7
   Eb7                  Bb   Bb7
If you expect to win in life
      D          D#dim7      A/E          F#7
      Eb6        Edim7       Bb/F         G7#5
Don't put it all on the line for just one roll
       B7             E7         A
       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.