Hold On Me – Intro
Hold On Me – Verse
Hold On Me – Chorus Lead-Out
Hold On Me – Bridge
Hold On Me – Solo
Related Music Concepts
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Seventh Chords
Adding one more note to the basic chords
Secondary Chords
Chords that temporarily shift the harmonic center
Add Chords
A chord with an added tone that enriches its sound
Altered Chords
Altered (raised or lowered) notes create tension and complexity in chords
Borrowed Chords
Using chords from parallel modes for contrast and emotion
Chord Progression Novelty
How unusual the chord sequence is compared to other songs
Extended Chords
Stacking thirds beyond the 7th to create more complex sounds
Diminished Chords
A chord built from stacked minor thirds — dark and unstable
Half-Diminished Chords
A diminished triad with a minor seventh on top — softer than fully diminished
Suspended Chords
A chord with built in tension and release
Non-Standard Mode
New scales and home base chords for a different mood
Augmented Chords
A chord with a raised fifth that creates a bright, unresolved tension
Song Stats
●
Keys
E Minor, E♭ Dorian, B♭ Major, G Mixolydian
Tempo
64 BPM
Meter
6/4
Genre
Jazz
Melody Range
G#3 – G#4
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
87
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
67
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
20
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
96
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
E Minor
Tempo
65 BPM
Meter
6/4
Genre
Jazz
Melody Range
G3 – D5
Mood
Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Moody
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
93
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
64
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
36
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
89
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
E♭ Dorian
Tempo
65 BPM
Meter
6/4
Genre
Jazz
Melody Range
G3 – D6
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow
Most Used Chord
v(add6)
Chord Complexity
91
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
0
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
92
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
B♭ Major
Tempo
66 BPM
Meter
6/4
Genre
Jazz
Melody Range
A4 – D6
Mood
Tense, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
94
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
98
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
65
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
98
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
G Mixolydian
Tempo
65 BPM
Meter
6/4
Genre
Jazz
Melody Range
G3 – D6
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow
Most Used Chord
vi
Chord Complexity
95
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
0
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
98
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Keys
E Minor, E♭ Dorian, B♭ Major, G Mixolydian
Tempo
64 BPM
Meter
6/4
Genre
Jazz
Melody Range
G3 – D6
Mood
Smooth, Complex, Unexpected, Mellow, Moody
Most Used Chord
i
Chord Complexity
93
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
29
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
17
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
96
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
About Hold On Me
About the Key
E Minor
It is the 2nd most popular key among Minor keys and the 8th most popular among all keys. Minor keys, along with major keys, are a common choice for popular music.
i iv VI
Most Important Chords
The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all minor chords (E minor, A minor, and B minor).
E Minor Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Intro |
i
v7add4
VI64add4
v43(b5)/VI
i
v7
♭i7
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Verse |
i
v
iv42
IV6add9(dor)
i9
ii°7
iii11(lyd)
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Chorus Lead-Out |
IV7
♭v7add6
VII6add4
v7add6
V7(maj)
i7
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Bridge |
I7(#5)
Vadd4/iii
iii43(b5)
Iadd6
Vadd6
iv°7(#5)(lyd)
♭Vadd4
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
| Solo |
vi9(maj)
vi64
I6
II6add9(lyd)
IVadd6add9
v7add4
vi7
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
About the Melody
Melody data is compiled from all analyzed melody sections, so depending on how a user analyzed a song, "melody" might include instrumental notes.
G3 – D6
Melody range across 31 semitones
3.44 beats/note
Across 396.0 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
93%
Diatonic
Percentage of notes within the song's key.
69%
Chord Tones
Percentage of notes that fall on a chord tone of the underlying harmony.
Mixed
Consonance
How smoothly the melody blends with the harmony (0 = dissonant, 1 = consonant).
Loose
Syncopation
How often the melody emphasizes off-beats. Higher = more syncopated.
About the Metrics
Chord Complexity
Chord Complexity tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
Melodic Complexity reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
Chord-Melody Tension quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Progression Novelty
Chord Progression Novelty measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Chord-Bass Melody
Chord–Bass Melody evaluates how smoothly the bass moves between chords, scoring higher when it travels step-wise, ascending or descending, instead of jumping directly between root position chords.
Hooktheory's metrics are calculated against the entire database of analyzed songs, where 50 is the "average song." Learn more about each of these metrics here.
Chord Complexity
93
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 93/100 — above average
Melodic Complexity
29
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 29/100 — below average
Chord-Melody Tension
17
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 17/100 — below average
Chord Prog. Novelty
96
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 96/100 — above average
Chord-Bass Melody
61
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 61/100 — above average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
Hold On MeAverage Song
BPM Comparison
Melody Distribution
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Melodic Intervals
Distribution of note-to-note jumps in semitones (negative = downward, positive = upward)
Note Durations
How long each note is held (in beats)
Syncopation
How many notes fall on each level of metric strength (0 = on-beat, higher = increasingly off-beat)
Level 0
Notes that fall on the downbeat — the strongest metric position in the measure.
Level 1
Notes on a secondary strong beat (e.g. beat 3 in 4/4) — still firmly on the grid.
Level 2
Notes on the remaining primary beats (2 and 4 in 4/4) — moderate metric weight.
Level 3
Notes on eighth-note offbeats — between the primary beats. Audibly syncopated.
