My favorite guitarist ain't country, what happened?

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

I was just watching some YouTube videos which reminded me just how much I love Mark Knopfler's playing. To me, "Sultans of Swing" is a freakin' masterpiece. When that record came out I was still in SoCal working six nights a week in a stone country band but it really did something to me. I love everything about the record, even Mark's vocals. I guess Chet saw something in him too or else there wouldn't have been a "Neck and Neck" duet album. His technique really knocks me out. I'd love to play that way! I play with thumb and fingerpicks so the fingerthing is already going but the bare approach like he uses has something I just can't seem to capture. I find lately that although my favorite music is still classic country, I'm beginning to like more of the rock guitarists out there and appreciating more of what's going on in that field. Does anyone out there ever go out of their own yard when it comes to music?.....JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Jerry, I feel that the 2nd Dire Straits album, "Communique" is even better. IMHO it is, from a guitarist's point of view, one of the best, possibly THE best album in the entire history of rock and roll.

*** puts on flame proof suit***
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Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin

Theresa Galbraith · From: Goodlettsville,Tn. USA

I sure hope people do Jerry. It's about Music!
I was fortunate enough to have met Mark.
Hear how great he really is. Every performance was excellent! Smile

scott murray · From: Asheville, NC

Knopfler is really in a league of his own in a lot of ways. Very unique. I love some of the extended live versions of "Sultans" too. I think that record did something to a lot of people when it came out... even Steely Dan used Mark on their next album. He plays on "Time Out of Mind" from 'Gaucho'...
They've been using a guy named Jon Herington for several years now. He's a rocker, but he sneaks some country style licks in quite a bit. Plays a Tele too.

there's so many great guitarists i listen to outside the realm of country. where to begin...? From jazz to flamenco to slack key to you name it. Finally got to see Eddie Van Halen for the first time a few weeks ago. what a monster.
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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

Mike, I don't have that album, I'll have to check it out. The only recording I have is the CD called "Brothers in Arms"....

Theresa, I'll bet that was cool to have a brother working in that band for awhile!

Scott, I agree with you about Eddie Van Halen! I never paid much attention to him until some years back a friend of mine gave me a cassette tape with only one thing on it, "Eruption"...... I'd never heard anything like that in my life. Even an old hillbilly picker like me had to appreciate what he was doing....JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Webb Kline · From: Orangeville, PA

Knopfler says more with fewer notes and effects than just about anybody out there. Pure genius and incomparable self-control.

Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

anyone hear the album he did last year with Emmylou or see the tour? I gotta get around to listening to that one sometime...

ajm · From: Los Angeles

"Does anyone out there ever go out of their own yard when it comes to music?"

At first I thought that this was a strange question to ask on THIS forum, but then I thought about some other players I know and realized that it applies to all styles and instruments, and not just country or steel guitar.

Some people go out of their "yard" all the time, and some never go out of the house. To each their own. After 35+ years of playing, I'm not sure where my "yard" really is any more. I like being at home, I like walking around the block, and I like hiking in the mountains.

I like listening to EVH or Steve Vai when I'm restringing my steel. When I restring my guitar I might listen to My Heart Skips A Beat/Together Again.

You might favor a couple of different kinds of ice cream more than others, but at least give them all a try. You don't have to like them all, but I'll bet there's a lot that you'll find not too bad.
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Artie McEwan

Eric Jaeger · From: Oakland, California, USA

I go outta my own yard all the time, but I don't like everything I see. When the musicians have to look "purty" and the lights, bombs, smoke and the like are more than the music... I draw the line.

Mark Knopfler looks odd, plays unlike anyone else out there, and is about "just the music, ma'am". Honest, I think we'd call it.

And his album(s) with Emmylou arebfabulous. Worth ten of whatever else Nashville released today.

I will now put on my flame-retardant suit with Mike Smile

-eric

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

What's not to like? He plays one note and you know it's him, and it's great.

The thing I have always liked about Knopfler's music is his complete understanding of space in music. He's capable of playing a lot of notes, but never does it for show. A total master of his unique form - often imitated, never equalled. To me, that's what makes a great player.

PSG is a relatively recent thing for me - I played guitar long before I ever touched one, and to the limits of my time, I listen to everything I can get my hands on - instruments or styles. I go out of my back yard at every opportunity - in fact PSG was definitely way out of my back yard. Very glad I took the trip - you never know what's gonna work till you try it.

LJ Eiffert · From: California, USA

Hey Jerry,we use's to play like that all the time at D.J.Ranch,don't you remember? A horn and a fiddle with a Steel Guitar with that paino and the lead guitar all added up with that electric drummer.Thank God for the (50's) Fifties because Artist & Musicians in those days gave us ever kind of MUSIC! That's what life was all about for me & still is today. Leo J.Eiffert,Jr.

scott murray · From: Asheville, NC

Mark loves country twang and it comes through in his playing. The 'Neck and Neck' album he cut with Chet Atkins (and Paul Franklin) is classic, as is the Notting Hillbillies. The Emmylou collaborations are wonderful... I don't think anyone really saw that coming.

Didn't he quit Dire Straits for a little while in the late 70s (right after Sultans) to tour and record with Dylan? His playing on the 'Slow Train' album really shines. "I Believe In You" wouldn't be the same without him...
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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster

Stephen Gambrell · From: Over there

Knopfler couldn't "quit" Dire Straits. The band was always Mark, and whatever backup musicians he chose. He fired his brother from the original lineup.

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

Jerry Erickson · From: Atlanta,IL 61723

One of my favorites is "Your Latest Trick".

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I agree (for once Wink

) SOS is a great song, almost "anti-rock" in it's simplicity and open-ness, with no crashing cymbals, no thundering eighth notes on the bass drum, no droning keyboards, no screaming distortion on the lead guitar, and no yelling unintelligible lyrics into a distorted mike.

I wonder...can we even classify it as rock-n-roll? Confused

Eric Jaeger · From: Oakland, California, USA

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Did you know that Steve Howe of the original bombastic progressive rock band Yes, is a stone-cold Chet Atkins fiend? Steve Morse (now with Deep Purple) is certainly one of the best chicken-pickers ever (ask his friend Albert Lee); Eric Johnson is a great country guitarist, as is blues/fusioner Andy Timmons. Brent Mason plays killer rock and roll, above-mentioned Albert Lee toured in Eric Clapton's band, ummm - why not? My favorite guitarists of all time are John McLaughlin, Steve Morse and nylon-string killers Eliot Fisk & Paco De Lucia, but I try to keep an open mind.

ajm · From: Los Angeles

"You must understand, though, that sometimes, when a small minority calls something "trash", and the vast majority approves of it, it can still really be trash. "

It's also true that one man's trash is another man's treasure.

I think that the original question asked if anyone ever listened to different styles of music for whatever reason, and maybe also wondered what everyone listens to. I sense that this post is drifting away from the original topic again.
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Artie McEwan

Tom Olson · From: Spokane, WA

I guess my answer would depend on the definition of "your own yard." In my own opinion, I think my tastes in music are widely varied. However, I also tend to be selective in what I really like. For example (and please do not take offense to this because none is intended), I honestly do not like Mark Knopfler -- not as a guitarist, not as a singer, and not even as a song writer.

I guess it just goes to show that nobody will appeal to everybody all the time.

Matt Dawson · From: Luxembourg, Europe

I never really understood what all the fuss was about. He can obviously play the guitar but I don't hear anything very special that Albert & Hank Marvin didn't do long before. All the big names who want to work with him obviously hear somthing I don't. When I saw Dire Straits in '77 at the Deptford Albany the whole evening was Clapton & JJ Cale covers. That was actually a very nice evening, but I have to say Twisting by the Pool & Money for Nothing are truly horrible songs..and the poor chap isn't much of a singer either.
Hmm...no accounting for taste.

ajm · From: Los Angeles

Mark Knopfler can't be that good. They haven't spoofed him on Youtube yet.
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Artie McEwan

Gordy Hall · From: Fairfax, CA.

As a songwriter, Knofler is heads and hands above most.

His ability to take any situation and turn it into a song is nothing short of genius.

On his 'Shangrila' album, he tells about Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, he tells of Sonny Liston, he sings about 'paradise' (Shangrila, with some fabulous pedal steel by Mr. Paul Franklin), an embezzeler, and much much more. On "sailing to Philidelphia', his version of the interchanges between Mason and Dixon are pure genius.

He is one of the masters, from his playing to his choice of bandmates to his singing.

The world is blessed to have him around.

Gordy

Henry Nagle · From: Santa Rosa, California

His stage persona might be a little sedate for a you tube spoof.

I think he's a fantastic musician.

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

My favorite Dire Straits' song is "Walk of Life." It's a great groove, great melody, and it's about the life of playing in a cover band working small clubs.

And of course "Money For Nothing" is about working class stiffs stating their opinions on the lifestyles of rock musicians. Hilarious!!
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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.

Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?

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