Knock On Wood | TAB
The intro, which later comes back as a chorus is not diatonic to the E major scale, instead, it follows the E minor pentatonic.
I’ve written these chords as 5 chords. Should you have a horn section at hand, you can play them all as smaller major chords instead. If you don’t have a horn section, 5 chords give the riffs more power.
Here’s the TAB for both chord riffs, as 5 chords.
The verse moves from A6 – E7. This is a slight modification to the chorus, which is an A7. Slide into the A6 and mainly play on beats 2 and 3. You could later add chord licks, as long as you maintain the chord stabs on 2 and 3.
For the E7 chord, you could slide into it as a C shape, or hammer on in various ways using an open-position E chord. Here’s the TAB showing this.
Finally, let’s look at the instrumental section, you could play these as dom7 (or even 6) chords, like this:
| F#7 | G#7 | A7 | C B |
However, should you not have a horn section, you may want to include the horn riff, here’s TAB for how to play this. It sounds best if you hammer on, slide up, down, and pull off, like this:
Knock On Wood TAB | Related Pages
Knock On Wood | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play Knock On Wood by Eddie Floyd using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, the original recording, and cover versions.
| A6 | A6 | A6 | A6 |
I don’t want to lose, this good thing, that I got…
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Booker T. & The M.G.’s tunes
Led by piano and organ player Booker T. Jones, the Stax Records house band played behind numerous legendary artists.
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Booker T. & The M.G.’s on the web
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His biggest hits include (Is There) Life On Mars?, Starman, Ziggy Stardust, Let’s Dance, China Girl, and Heroes.
David Bowie on the web
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As well as a member of bands like Derek & The Dominos, The Yardbirds, and Cream, Eric Clapton has successfully played sessions for more stars than any other guitar player.
His long career earned him three inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.
Eric Clapton on the web
Eddie Floyd tunes
Eddie Floyd was signed to Stax as a writer and artist. Here he worked closely with the house band Booker T. & The M.G.’s.
The guitarist of the band, Steve Cropper, helped Eddie pen his signature song Knock On Wood.
Eddie Floyd on the web
Otis Redding tunes
Dubbed the King Of Soul, Otis Redding was an American singer-songwriter who wrote some of the most famous tunes of all time.
His career was tragically cut short only five years after his first studio album was released as he tragically died in a plane crash in 1967.
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About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm features TAB and covers Knock On Wood. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar by playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.