After ordering the Mark Knopfler Strat today I did some checking on You Tube and found a great clip of one of the Dire Straits concerts at Wembley from 1985. If you watch even most of the clip it shows what an amazing amount of talent was in that band. Perhaps some of our friends from across the pond were there in person.

Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re9qdd6GdTg

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

Nah saw em on the brothers in arms tour 86 or 87(i think, long time ago for this old brain). Randy please check out the first 2 albums Dire Straits and Communique. That to my mind is classic Knopfler

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No no and no

If you saw them on the BIA tour it must have been in 85 or 86, and I agree with you on the two first DS albums, get them they are great!
Also check out Alchemy, fantastic live album.

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It's a mix between Jazz and Funk, it's called "Junk"

Now then, gentlemen. Someone tell me: the famous phrase that begins at 9:01 - is he picking every note or doing it with hammer-ons and pull-offs?

Sultans is the first number I ever learnt and I naturally taught myself to do that bit with hammer-ons and pulls. But years and years later I took a look at the Lick Library DVD and Jamie Humphries insists in that passage every note is to be picked.

I've tried and tried and I'm damned if I can do it at that speed!

Thoughts?

Cheers - C

PS Boy, all those wrist bands and jackets with the sleeves rolled up bring back some mixed memories...

I think theres atleast one pulloff in that phrase, on the descent. "9.01 eh? You really played along to that alot didnt you mate?

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No no and no

Ceri,
This same discussion came up Monday night when Greg Koch came to Sweetwater for a guitar clinic. According to him the thumb plucks one of the notes while he is muting it and immediately after he plucks the muted note he then picks the string with his finger. He made it look easy, for me it is thus far impossible.

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

Hi Randy - Dang, I wish I'd been there!

I want to get what you're saying - and I don't quite have it clear yet. Do mind if we go over it in detail, please?

It's a repeated four note phrase; one note on the B string and three on the E.

Way I always played it was to pick the B string with the thumb, then the E with the finger, then hammer-on for the third note and pull-off for the fourth. Easy.

However, Jamie Humphries claims that Knopfler picks all four notes with an alternate thumb-finger-thumb-finger pattern. I can do that - and on a good day I can just about keep up with the original album track. But no way can I do it as fast as on this and other live recordings. Not a hope!

So I'm studying that footage and just can't tell 'zactly which way MK's doing it there.

Can you elaborate on what Greg Koch said about it, please? You're helping out an old man here!

Cheers - C

Ceri,

I think the key to what you are looking for in this is that he holds the B string between the thumb and finger muting it with the finger. He then plucks the B string with his thumb for that 1st note in the 4 note scheme and then immediately strikes the B string with the upward finger which was originally muting the B string when the thumb plucked the percussive note. I wish I could be more precise, but unfortunately I'm more of a rhythm player than a lead player, so some of this does not come easy to me. I believe Greg Koch has and in depth DVD regarding Mark Knopfler style in his work with the Hal Leonard guitar method. I hope this helps.

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

Oh does he? Excellent - I'll have a search for that immediately! Thank you very much.

...Of course, not that it really matters. We're not out to produce a facsimile of someone else's playing. But once you're curiosity is running...

Thanks Randy: appreciated.

Cheers - C

Your welcome. I'm not sure if there is an artist specific DVD or if some of Knopflers work will be in one of the licks DVD's. Certainly someone on the forums can tell us for sure. I know Mr. Koch went over alot of licks and mentioned many DVD's. I wish I had caught more specifics on this, but there was a large group of people in the performance theater and was difficult for this brain to process all the info.

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

A couple of years ago I went to a Greg Koch Fender promotional thing.

If I remember correctly, he mentioned this Dire Straits song and that it was really played with the "Chicken Picking" technique (of which Greg is a World-Class Master).

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.