Knock On Wood | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| E5 | G5 A5 | B5 | D5 B5 |
Verse 1
| A6 | A6 | A6 | A6 |
I don’t want to lose, this good thing, that I got.
| E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 |
‘Cause if I do, I will surely, surely lose a lot.
| A6 | A6 | A6 | A6 |
‘Cause your love, is better, than any love I know.
Chorus 1
| E7 | A7 | E7 | A7 |
It’s like thunder, lightning, the way you love me is frightening.
| N.C | E5 | G5 A5 | B5 | D5 B5 |
I better knock, knock on wood, baby.
Verse 2
| A6 | A6 | A6 | A6 |
I’m not superstitious, about you, but I can’t take no chance.
| E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 |
You got me spinnin’ baby. Baby, I’m in a trance.
| A6 | A6 | A6 | A6 |
‘Cause your love, is better, than any love I know.
Chorus 2
| E7 | A7 | E7 | A7 |
It’s like thunder, lightning, the way you love me is frightenin’.
| N.C | E5 | G5 A5 | B5 | D5 B5 A5 G5 |
I better knock (knock), on wood, baby.
Instrumental
| F#7 | G#7 | A7 | C B |
Verse 3
| A6 | A6 | A6 | A6 |
It’s no secret, that woman, is my lovin’ cup.
| E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 |
‘Cause she sees, to it, that I get enough.
| A6 | A6 | A6 | A6 |
Just one touch, from her, you know it means so much.
Chorus 3
| E7 | A7 | E7 | A7 |
It’s like thunder (huh), lightning (yeah), the way you love me is frightenin’.
| N.C | E5 | G5 A5 | B5 | D5 B5 A5 G5 |
I better knock (knock), on wood, baby. I better knock (knock), knock.
Outro
||: E7 | A7 | E7 | A7 :||
Oh yeah, I think I better knock (knock, knock) on wood.
||: I think I better knock (knock, knock) on wood :|| to fade
Knock On Wood’s chords, progressions, and TAB
Eddie Floyd‘s Knock On Wood has some very clever chords, let’s examine them all, one section at a time.
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, you can play them all as smaller major chords instead. If you don’t have a horn section, 5 chords give the riff power.
| E5 | G5 A5 | B5 | D5 B5 |
Chorus 1 starts with four bars of E7 – A7, then a stop, before the chord riff comes back, like this:
| E7 | A7 | E7 | A7 |
| N.C | E5 | G5 A5 | B5 | D5 B5 |
Chorus 2 and 3 have more chords added to the chord riff, like this:
| E7 | A7 | E7 | A7 |
| N.C | E5 | G5 A5 | B5 | D5 B5 A5 G5 |
Here’s TAB for both chord riffs, as 5 chords.
The verse moves from A6 – E7. This is a slight modification to the chorus, which was an A7. Slide into the A6 and mainly play on beats 2 and 3. You could later on 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 just 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 chords | Related pages
Knock On Wood – 5 similar tunes
- Hard To Handle chords
- Hold On, I’m Comin’ chords
- In the Midnight Hour chords
- Soul Man chords
- Take Me To The River chords
Eddie Floyd
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 classic tune Knock On Wood.
Eddie Floyd on the web
