Dire Straits and the Sultans of Swing

[viking22]

Heard this song on the radio the other day.
Wow. I normally dont listen to the lighter rock stuff but he had such a great clean tone and the solo ...........anyhow....just a great song that blew me away.
Like mentioned.....I mostly listen to the heavier stuff or older classic rock and this song sounded really good to me.

Anyone else here dig Dire straits and Mr. Mark Knopfler?
what was he using for that great tone on that album too?

I heard that song was recorded as a demo,in a very small & cheap studio in London.The band was gigging a lot in small clubs ,at the time,and they did this in "live" conditions.When they made their first album (produced by Muff Winwood,Steve's brother btw),they were unable to do it better and decided to keep the "demo version" and use it on the album !Fantastic guitar playing/tone !

 

[D-Rock]

A great song that always reminds me of my dad. He would play DS's around the house when I was a boy. The song always blew my mind and still does.
Music for me, music started with my dad. Not sure where my love of heavy music came from, because my introduction to music was the Beatles, Dire Straits, Steve Earl, and Gordon Lightfoot. All the stuff my dad listened to when I was little.

 

[Jimmie]

He's used some interesting, not super-desirable gear in the past.

Mesa Boogie SOB (Son of Boogie)
Nasty Ibanez Multi-fx units
Crate Vintage Club
Musicman heads
zoom multi fx
yamaha reverbs
galleon kreuger amps
delta lab pedals




Goes to show... TIITF

Satch was the same way with gear, I caught the flying in a blue dream show in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 88, played the entire set through an off the shelf marshall combo that Rainbow Music "loaned" him for the show, tone sounded amazing and his performance was flawless. I played the amp afterwards, and yep, I still didn't sound anything like Satriani.

Jimmie

 

[Mudder]

Knopfler used to play Pensa-Suhr guitars too. Not too shabby.

 

[HerbieTheRadDorklift]

I would guess in the old old days it was Fender into some kind of Fender!

I know he used Boogie Mark IIs at some point too.

And yeah, awesome solo in Sultans... all clean, all finger picked!

 

[Blackie08]

one of my fav songs ever

Great playing and tone courtesy of a blackface fender twin, compressor and strat

 

[Digital Jams]

Love that song, Mark brings the heat like an SR-71 and love the picture he paints with his lyrics.

 

[skoora]

Just love those big 80's Toms the drummer had in the extended version video.

 

[jlbaxe]

Knopfler used to play Pensa-Suhr guitars too. Not too shabby.

Still does I emailed Suhr about a guitar like that and never heard back from them

 

[Loudness250]

I remember back in like 83, my friend was getting really good on guitar, we were 7th graders. He had been taking lessons every week for about 2 years. He knew all kinds of Van Halen and rush songs full on with solos too. So his guitar teacher told him to learn sultans of swing, my friend was having a hell of a time with it , he got it but his teacher made him play it with feel and exact so my friend told me it was the hardest thing he had learned at the time and he already had like 20 pretty hard songs down before that.

 

[Dave L]

Knopfler used to play Pensa-Suhr guitars too. Not too shabby.

Still does I emailed Suhr about a guitar like that and never heard back from them

That´s weird, I´m fairly sure that Suhr will make one just like the ones Mark had... but with the current Suhr headstock and without Rudy Pensa´s name on it, of course.

 

[jlbaxe]

Knopfler used to play Pensa-Suhr guitars too. Not too shabby.

Still does I emailed Suhr about a guitar like that and never heard back from them

That´s weird, I´m fairly sure that Suhr will make one just like the ones Mark had... but with the current Suhr headstock and without Rudy Pensa´s name on it, of course.

Thats basically what I wanted and 2 emails with no reply sooooooooo…… Oh well

 

[rupe]

Ironically I just started learning that one for a new band...there's a lot going on there, Knopfler's a monster player. His playing on the song Brothers in Arms is epic as well.
I saw him live at Red Rocks a few years ago (played a Strat and Paul through a pair of Komets)...absolutely incredible! The acoustics in that place are amazing...you could hear his fingers squeaking on the strings.

I was REALLY listening to the guitar parts of that song and your right.....way more then meets the EARS!

That solo is RIPPING! I still cant see how he pulled it off with no gain!

Do me a favor man.... Listen to a song called News off the Communique disc. I am a Knopfler fanboy, and jam with some other like minded blues/Straits players. That one song seems to pull together almost all of the things that showcase his budding skills back in the old days. It is a haunting blues song. The backing guitar is probably harder than the lead. Lots of chics and fills.

I have been learning Once Upon a Time in the West and Tunnel of Love leads. Knopfler played a variety of amps. He even was an SLO man for a while. I think his technique, (tone in the fingers), comes thru whatever gear he plays. You can tell it's Knopfler on Money for Nothin or Down to the Waterline.

Check out Communique, - News, Once Upon a Time in the West, they will keep you busy for a while. It is also cool how many random people know the West tune. I can play that at a store to try out a blues rig and usually one or two people know it.

Thanks for the tip...I'm on it!