Guitarist Profile

MARK KNOPFLER

Career Highlights

BORN: August 12, 1949 Glasgow, Scotland FIRST GUITAR: red Hofner V-2 (in 1964) EARLY INFLUENCES: Lonnie Donegan Chet Atkins B.B. King Bob Dylan BEST KNOWN FOR: Dire Straits Notting Hillbillies Producer Film Scores TOP SELLING ALBUM: 1985 Dire Straits Brothers in Arms NOTED SESSIONS: 1988 Randy Newman Land of Dreams 1987 Sting Nothing Like the Sun 1984 Tina Turner Private Dancer 1984 Steely Dan Gaucho 1979 Bob Dylan Slow Train Coming 1979 Mavis Staples Oh What a Feeling NOTED SOUNDTRACKS: 1998 Wag the Dog 1989 Last Exit To Brooklyn 1987 The Princess Bride

Mark Knopfler is certainly not your run-of-the-mill rock star. His personality, much like his guitar playing, is understated, yet his body of work commands a great deal of attention. Knopfler is certainly best known for fronting the pop band Dire Straits, who broke onto the UK music scene with a 1978 self-titled debut (featuring the classic "Sultans of Swing"). Knopfler instantly became a household name when Dire Straits' 1985 recording Brothers in Arms produced no less than four hit songs (with "Money for Nothing" reaching number one on Billboard). In typical Knopfler fashion, however, the musician quickly turned his attention to smaller, less mainstream projects, such as his work with The Notting Hillbillies. Since that time, Knopfler has concentrated on writing film scores, producing other artist's albums, recording with other guitarists like Chet Atkins and Buddy Guy, and writing material for his own solo projects.
The immense influence of Mark Knopfler's guitar playing, and songwriting is reflected by a huge web presence. There are currently over 50 Dire Straits and other Knopfler-related websites in operation, many of which are in varying languages (illustrating his international appeal). The following represents the best of these websites.

Dire Straits Biographies
Detailed information on each member of Dire Straits (including Knopfler), from the official Mark Knopfler website.

Mark Knopfler Discography
An excellent resource that provides detailed info on Knopfler's work as a frontman, sideman, producer, film scorer, and more.

Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits Tablature
A great resource titled "The Three Chord Archive", this page offers tab to all of Dire Straits' albums, plus many of Knopfler's solo recordings.

Dire Straits Guitar Info
Incredibly thorough website which details the guitars, effects, amps, strings, etc., of guitarists Mark Knopfler.

Mark Knopfler Lyrics
Words to a large number of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler solo recordings. Songs are listed alphabetically.

Mark Knopfler Licks
A collection of tabs which illustrate some of Mark Knopfler's favorite riffs. Some of these examples include mp3 files.

More Knopfler Licks
Various Knopfler riffs, which appear to have been scanned out of some sort of publication. Available in both tab and standard notation.

Mark Knopfler Mini-lesson
A video clip which illustrates how to play a particular riff from the "Sultans of Swing" solo. Just takes a few minutes to learn, and it's a neat riff, so this is worthwhile.

Mark Knopfler Lesson: Audio Clips
From Guitar One magazine, this page features audio clips from a Knopfler guitar lesson. Unfortunately, tabs/transcriptions of the clips are not available.

Mark Knopfler MP3s
Various live recordings of Knopfler, in differing musical situations. Some good music is featured here.

More Mark Knopfler MP3s
This page isn't in english, but if you can navigate your way on instinct, you'll find hundreds of downloadable mp3s on this page.

Mark Knopfler Videos
Live video clips of Knopfler with Dire Straits, The Notting Hillbillies, and in solo performances. The video clips range in size, but some are immensely big, and will take a long time to download.

Mark Knopfler Downloads
A variety of interesting things to download on this site, from mp3s, to pics, to fonts used for Dire Straits album covers.

Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler Diary
Want to know what the day to day activities of Knopfler and crew were in 1987? This is a thorough documentation of all public appearances, and studio sessions.

Mark Knopfler Tour Dates
From the official Mark Knopfler website, here are up-to-date listings of the guitarist's upcoming performance schedule. Tickets are not available on this site.

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