Knob Creek tab from Mike G of Steep Canyon Rangers

[RobP]

Greetings,

When I saw SCR in Portland in Jan 2011, they played this awesome instrumental. I asked about a recording after the performace, but they said the didn't have a recent one. I was thrilled to see it recorded on the new CD! After the show I saw I emailed Mike to ask for music, and he sent me the tab below. I am posting it here with his permission. Enjoy!





Rob

[wildpikr]

Thanks Rob...looks interesting.

[Jessbusenitz]

Cool! I was just listening to that song.... Thanks!

[Steve Sorensen]

Interesting increase in complexity and sophistication in the new recording compared to the original on Mr. Taylor's New Home.

Thanks.

[mandopete]

Great song - really "Monroe-ish". Mike nails it on the new SCR release.

BTW - anyone else around here know why Knob Creek is famous (other than the great whiskey) ?

[mandopete]

BTW - anyone else around here know why Knob Creek is famous (other than the great whiskey) ?

It was the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.

[RobP]

Interesting increase in complexity and sophistication in the new recording compared to the original on Mr. Taylor's New Home.

Thanks.

When I was talking to the band about that older recording, the comment was "oh.. well that was with some different band members, and it was when we weren't as good on our instruments as we are now". It was almost like they didn't want me to go and get that recording

Cheers,

Rob

[Drew Egerton]

Greetings,

When I saw SCR in Portland in Jan 2011, they played this awesome instrumental. I asked about a recording after the performace, but they said the didn't have a recent one. I was thrilled to see it recorded on the new CD! After the show I saw I emailed Mike to ask for music, and he sent me the tab below. I am posting it here with his permission. Enjoy!





Rob

That looks really familiar! Reason being I took a few lessons with Mike around 2006/2007 timeframe and one of our first lessons he had tabbed that out per my request. I had actually lost the copy I had though, so thanks for sharing. I've played the tune to death with variations but its always good to review the straight melody sometimes as written.

Mike was a pretty good teacher but as they got busier and busier it was too hard to get our schedules together. I did learn a great deal from him in those few lessons though.

Regarding the title Knob Creek, it was named for a community near Brevard where Mike grew up. Same thing with Kuyukendall which is up in the Pisgah National Forest and a popular place to hang out. The new CD they just finished recording will have an instrmental named Graveyard Fields that Mike wrote which features some really blistering pickin on it.

[justinhart]

Thanks for the tab. I hadn't heard the song before but after listening to it, I'm hooked. I like the chord combinations and the progression in the song.

[BeginnerMandolinistTyler]

I know that this is Mike's actual music for his song and I know it really doesn't matter since he wrote the song and all, but the rhythm on for the triplets in measures 9 and 13 should just be 2 16th notes and a an 8th note or 4e+ (Measure 9) and 2e+(measure 13). If they were actually triplets, they would be felt a little slower than what he is playing. Of course, it now just occurs to me that he could just as easily just made a composition change. This isn't meant as an insult towards Mike or anything. I LOVE the Steep Canyon Rangers and Knob Creek. It's actually why I'm on this page in the first place, I was looking for the musical notation for the tune. I'm really bad at learning a tune by ear. I'm working on that by learning Sierra Hull's Bombshell by ear but its a really slow process for me. Its so awesome though that Mike sent you the music for his tune!

[Drew Egerton]

Tyler,

I'm not great with music theory stuff so I can't really say one way or another about your comment there on that front other than Mike wrote it and he's pretty good with it so he probably knows. That said, this was written out as the basic melody without much embellishment. The song was originally recorded on their Mr. Taylor's New Home CD which is probably no longer available as it was done before they signed with Rebel and were still a fairly regional band. They re-recorded it on the newer record Nobody Knows You and he does throw some twists in there, just like he does live. They gotta get creative playing the same tune almost every day.
My favorite twist he showed me was done I think in the second break where he hits a "split string" series on the E string. Last time I saw them live though he cheated and went up to the high position on the A and E for the same 2 notes. Both sound good.

Anyway, glad you like SCR. I am originally from the same hometown as Mike and Woody and really enjoy seeing them be successful.

Don't worry about struggling by ear. I was horrible at it when I first picked up guitar 12 years ago, could be playing along with a tab in the wrong key to the radio and not realize it. Now I can pick out a lot of songs by ear, at least get in the right key and get a basic interpretation of the melody across and improvise the rest. You'll get better, keep pickin!

[andybean]

Little late to this one but I've absolutely loved this tune for a long time and am finally sitting down to tackle learning it. I've tried for a long time to make the D7 chord change sound right as written, but it just doesn't! Anyone else notice this? I understand the melody that Mike is playing at that point definitely implies D7, but I can't for life of me hear the rest of the band shifting there and when I try it it doesn't sound right.

[Drew Egerton]

Andy,

Yea that D7 should be correct. You might be hearing it kind of clash with the F note that he brings up to F# after?
I know on guitar Woody often capo'd up to 3rd fret and played out of E minor, so he would be playing a B7 chord there.
You might also try going all the way back to the 2002 version of it on the record Mr. Taylor's New Home where it was first released. That arrangement may be easier to hear than later versions, more stripped down.