Nirvana - You Know You're Right - Guitar Tab

Nirvana

2002 3:37

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About You Know You're Right

Recorded in January 1994, this was the last studio track Nirvana ever laid down, and the weight of that history aside, it rewards careful guitar study. The song sits in Eb Standard tuning in D minor, which gives the riff a slightly darker, looser feel than concert pitch. Kurt Cobain builds the verses around a quietly menacing single-note figure, then detonates into a distorted chorus where the same melodic idea gets buried under heavy gain and a piercing slide up to a held note. That contrast between restrained verse and explosive chorus is the core challenge: keeping the quiet parts genuinely soft and controlled, not just slightly less loud. The sliding note accent in the chorus sounds simple but needs a confident, committed push to land with the right aggression. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop that transition slowed down until the dynamic shift feels natural, not forced. Grunge phrasing depends on that kind of intentional restraint giving way to release.

• The song uses Eb Standard tuning, dropping every string a half-step and giving the riff a heavier, slightly slacker tension than standard pitch.
• The signature chorus technique is a hard slide up to a sustained, feedback-prone note, requiring a firm, deliberate touch to hit it cleanly at tempo.
• The verse riff demands real dynamic control: picking softly enough to stay quiet without losing tone, which is harder to execute cleanly than the loud chorus.