Check out my latest Youtube video where I am playing guitar over a backing track inspired by Tunnel of Love from the third Dire Straits album. I built both of these guitars myself, the one with the birch body is actually the very first guitar I built ever in my life. The specs of this guitar are like the stolen sunburst Schecter that Mark played on the Making Movies album. […]
In this Youtube video I played some licks and sounds taken from the Dire Straits song Communique, and from the song Lions (ending solo, live versions played around 1978-79). I blended these with some improvisation to a mixture-tune over a backing track. The guitar is my ‘Part-o-caster’ with early Japanese Squier neck and body. The pickup in the middle position is a DiMarzio FS-1. All effects and the amp simulation […]
This article is about a “two-strings scale” sometimes called Memphis Scale. Normally these two strings are not adjacent strings, instead you skip one string and play licks e.g. on the D- and B-string (as in the video examples below), or on the G- and high E-string. With the help of these licks you will increase your vocabulary on the guitar. Whenever you are in danger of running out of ideas […]
What I mean with double-string bends are licks that are played on two or more strings and one or more of these are bent. Such licks appear in countless Mark Knopfler or Dire Straits songs. The following video clip demonstrates how to use such licks, and their relation to the chords they are based upon. Note that the last licks (Once Upon a time and Sultans of Swing) were covered […]
(At the end of this article you will find a matching video for all who prefer watching to reading) An acoustic guitar has normally heavier strings than an electric guitar because you want a loud and rich sound. With an electric guitar you don’t need that much volume because you can adjust the sound easily with the amp. Consequently playing the acoustic requires more strength and finger pressure, and some […]
Remember the guitar lick In Sultans of Swing following “and Harry doesn’t mind..” ? In songbooks or tabs you will find something like: (play b-string at fret 8, plus g-string at 7th fret, bend g-string one whole note, notes g and d, the d is bent to e) In fact this is the way Knopfler seems to play it on many old or new live recordings. I suspect that on […]