Hold On by Wilson Phillips

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

• F – C/F – B♭/F – C/F – F – C/F – B♭/F
  I – V (bass F) – IV⁶₄ – V (bass F) – I – V (bass F) – IV⁶₄

Verse 1

• B♭/F – Dm – Am7 – B♭ – Csus4
  IV⁶₄ – vi – iii7 – IV – Vsus4
• F – C/F – B♭/F – C/F (×3)
  I – V (bass F) – IV⁶₄ – V (bass F)
• Dm – Am7 – B♭ – C
  vi – iii7 – IV – V

Chorus 1

• F – B♭/F – C/F (×3)
  I – IV⁶₄ – V (bass F)
• F – B♭ – F/A – Gm7 – Csus4 – B♭ – F/A – Gm7 – C7sus4
  I – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – Vsus4 – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – V7sus4

Interlude

• F – C/F – B♭/F – C/F (×2)
  I – V (bass F) – IV⁶₄ – V (bass F)

Verse 2

• F – C/F – B♭/F – Am/E – Dm – B♭ – C7sus4
  I – V (bass F) – IV⁶₄ – iii⁶₄ – vi – IV – V7sus4
• F – C/F – B♭/F – C/F (×2)
  I – V (bass F) – IV⁶₄ – V (bass F)
• F – C/F – B♭/F – Am/E – Dm – Am7 – B♭ – C7sus4
  I – V (bass F) – IV⁶₄ – iii⁶₄ – vi – iii7 – IV – V7sus4

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• F – C/F – B♭/F – C/F – F – C/F – B♭/F (×2)
  I – V (bass F) – IV⁶₄ – V (bass F) – I – V (bass F) – IV⁶₄

Outro

• B♭ – F/A – Gm7 – Csus4
  IV – I⁶ – ii7 – Vsus4
• F – B♭/F – C/F (×3)
  I – IV⁶₄ – V (bass F)
• F – B♭ – F/A – Gm7 – Csus4
  I – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – Vsus4
• F – B♭/F – Csus4/F (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄ – Vsus4 (bass F)
• F
  I

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0385, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.