Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler Sultans of Swing - Playing rhythm and lead together

refer to my Mark Knopfler Guitar Blog for more info, see the article at http://www.mk-guitar.com/blog/2008/12/02/the-one-man-band-playing-both-rhythm...

about this guitar: http://www.mk-guitar.com/blog/2008/10/02/guitar-portrait-1983-squier-jv-strat...

about the gear and setup here: http://www.mk-guitar.com/blog/2008/12/08/gear-and-settings-on-my-last-youtube...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Dire
• Straits
• Sultans
• of
• Swing
• guitar
• lesson
• licks
• Ingo
• Raven

[jerakje]

Do you use your nails to pluck the strings?

[IngoRaven]

@jerakje: mainly flesh of the fingers, but the nails also touch the string sometimes

[guitar789]

Dire Straits always were 4 people, there was a rhythm guitarist who plays rhythm guitar through the whole song. Knopfler just adds licks, you can hear this clearly on the studio record. Also on each live video here on youtube, there is a rhythm guitarist for the rhythm. A few times Knopfer adds rhythm parts using the clawhammer technique, but this doesnt replace the rhythm guitar.

[IngoRaven]

@guitar789

It seems you did not get what this video is about...

Of course there was always a second rhythm guitar player but still my video shows Knopfler's playing approach, this is the way he played on stage all the time. Only in the studio, he often split his playing to two tracks (one rhythm, one lead/licks), and often his brother David added another rhythm guitar.So most of the old Dire Straits songs had 3 or 4 guitar tracks, one by David, all others by Mark. On stage he played both.

[nacki612]

what are the effects used here? ...it really sound like Mark Knopfler's.

[IngoRaven]

@nacki612

see the video desciption, there is a link to a blog article on the gear used here.

[svidrigajlov]

very nice lessons mate

I am trying to figure out what fingers ( right hand ) MK uses in the sultans of swing fast licks...could you help me?

[timv46]

Great playing! It inspired me immediately to go more in depth into Knopfler's playing style. Very well done!

[alkoainee]

This is a great lesson it sounds just like the real thing! But! Do you have a lesson for the kind of rhythm thing you did there? All I've seen on the webs that it's something called "claw hammer" but I still don't have a clear idea what that exactly is. Any pointers?

And this lesson has the sound and groove I've always heard on the record but couldn't figure how it was done. I couldn't put my finger on it, so to say.

[Phazur]

dm c a# a later f c a#

[xTriggernometry]

i dont know those chords. could you maybe list them in order of appearance, or maybe upload a tutorial video for this song.?

[crazyfacestudios8]

your great :D and thanks for helping me with this song :)

[superkillo]

is it fiesta red?

[Straitsfan]

Great video. I just came across this and was wondering if you could show me/us the way you play the rhythm part, maybe slow it down. Love the tone, by the way. Wish I had a vintage amp -- although my 65 twin reverb reissue is wonderful -- particularly with my MK strat.

[guitar789]

@IngoRaven yes you are rigtht, though many people on yt think there is a rhythm guitar- well yeah there is one. I wonder if knopfler ever played sultans of swing live without another guitarist, it wouldnt sound full imo, would it? especially during licks and solo.