NZGuitars.com

or ?

Troll

I absolutely love and admire the guy. Not sure why though.

I really, really like his DS stuff and what solo things I've heard but he's not quite on my "go to" list.

Even though some of his songs affect me very deeply and I enjoy searching out different recordings of his songs on YouTube and prizing the small differences between each recording.

But I've never really wanted to play any of his licks. I hear Mick Taylor doing the slide on Love In Vain (for example) and up comes the air guitar and I make guitar faces, sitting alone with my headphones. But I can't get that sort of thing happening with Knopfler. It's... complicated.

olegmcnoleg wrote:Troll

yes I am, but not in this instance, I really like his playing, in fact I've got brothers in arms on right now

I like that he snubbed the R&R hall of fame. I'd buy him a pint but I think he'd insist on paying.

And he's from up north.

I am not a fan, I don't listen to his work or would consider doing so but I admire what he has done. He certainly has a style that easily identifies him.

I think his "thing" was really made apparent when I was listening to a covers band play Sultans of Swing recently, where the guitarist absolutely murdered the solo parts. He wasn't an awful player by any means, but he was trying to play his own licks and runs, which were much more generic blues and completely devoid of the subtle nuances and varied emphasis Knopfler is very good at.

So in this case.

One of the greatest players who's ever held a guitar and I will fight anyone who disagrees.

The first two DS albums - melodic lead playing, great phrasing, good song writing. His legacy.

Later DS is bloated and portentous. Awful cod 50s rocknroll feel to Walk of Life - worst song of the 80s?

Always thought of him as a fender strat guy, but read up on Brothers in Arms and he played a '59 RI LP and Schecter strat and tele on most of the tracks... into a JTM-45 tho', nice.

Boring mumbly shite.

werdna wrote:The first two DS albums - melodic lead playing, great phrasing, good song writing. His legacy.

Later DS is bloated and portentous. Awful cod 50s rocknroll feel to Walk of Life - worst song of the 80s?

I basically agree with this, but I would stretch to the first 3 Dire Straits albums - I reckon Making Movies is awesome. I cannot abide Brothers in Arms - it embodies everything I hate about the 1980s.

He's an incredible and unique player - hard to deny that, even if you don't really dig his style.

I really enjoyed watching this thing on his favourite guitars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3SgyZSYz4Y

mr_sooty wrote:One of the greatest players who's ever held a guitar and I will fight anyone who disagrees.

agree completely. Even if some of his DS stuff got pretty cheesy. I absolutely fucking love some of his newer folky stuff - Get Lucky, Priviteering and Tracker.