How good a guitar player is Mark Knopfler?

[CreekDog]

If there was a list with him on it, who would be near him on that list?

Curious. :hi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB3b1W6rEDw&feature=channel_page

[Robeson]

1. Dead or alive?

[CreekDog]

4. doesn't matter ;)

just curious on your thoughts.

[Robeson]

6. In that case, see post #3. They're all good.

[LeftyFingerPop]

2. He was perfect in his style...

but I do not think he could break out of that one sound, and by that I mean...

Guitar players all have their signature sound... but I do not think he could play in another style with nuance.

[CreekDog]

5. let me ask you

do you think someone like Fogerty could play and successfully mimic someone else's style?

i'm thinking yes, but i dunno. :shrug:

[LeftyFingerPop]

7. Good question...

Not sure.

Take Garcia... when he got into some big meltdown jam or something, he could play so you could not even recognize that it was him.

Fogarty...I'm not sure?

I would love to hear all the greats loose in rehearsal just shitting around...

[driver8]

17. I am not a Dead fan, but I love Jerry Garcia's playing!

That is an interesting comment that you made -- that you could not recognize that it was him.

[pokerfan]

3. #27

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/print">The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time (Rolling Stone Magazine)

[SoxFan]

22. This is an interesting list

Usually, the lists of great guitarists overemphasize speed and chops and downplay innovation, meaning you see the likes of Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai near the top.

This list wisely references blues legends like BB King and Robert Johnson as well as guitarists who changed the rules, innovators like Tome Verlaine and The Edge.

I have only two complaints. First, where is the Peter Buck, the godfather of jangle-pop?

The second is that this list ignores country completely. Where's Chet Atkins? Pete Anderson?

[eyepaddle]

25. I know it is pretty much impossible to ever put forth a list which tries to be all inclusive, but

that has never stopped Rolling Stone from giving it a shot.

In fairness they had more worthy contenders on this list than I expected, and at leas they had the class to put Jimi at number one.

[SoxFan]

36. It was better than I anticipated

I thought it would have a handful of no-brainers (Hendrix, Page, Clapton), and a bunch of speed-noodlers.

[southpaw]

27. David Gilmour is number 82?

I'm not saying he should be number one... maybe not even in the top ten, depending on what criteria are being weighed.

Still, though... I think Gilmour should at the very least be in the top half of the list rather than halfway down the bottom quarter.

Of course, this is a Rolling Stone list...

[old mark]

30. Thanks for the link - this is a great list, and pretty accurate, at least

to my mind.

They even included Leigh Stephens from Blue Cheer!

mark

[PVnRT]

40. Clapton in the top 10? No Mick Jones?

[Eurobabe]

8. I love Mark Knopfler

but I can't make any judgments on the perfection of his playing -- I am no guitar hero.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

9. He is to the guitar what Zamfir is to the pan flute

an absolute master

[malta blue]

10. I am a huge Dire Straits fan

But I suck at lists :shrug:

[underpants]

11. Any idea where the FULL version of Sultans is available?

I have looked high and low but haven't been able to find the loooooooooong version. The one on the radio always tails off-there is a full version in which he gets to dizzying heights of playing

:shrug:

[malta blue]

12. Have you tried the live version on Alchemy?

There stuff is pretty hard to come by lately

[underpants]

13. No I will check it out

:bounce:

[tigereye]

14. not as good as Richard Thompson, IMHO, but better than people tend to

give him credit for. A lot of people don't know that he paid quite a few blues dues, prior to becoming known for one thing...

[driver8]

16. I think Richard Thompson was one of Knopfler's guitar "heroes"...

I think I remember reading that somewhere.

Richard Thompson is amazing, isn't he?

[tigereye]

20. definitely! Funny, smart, humble, good politics... and an amazing player!

:hi: I've seen him twice - I stood in the rain to see him. Incredible.

[Iggo]

15. And he's a finger picker.

That's how he gets those banjo-like arpeggios goin'.

[driver8]

18. He is also left handed, but plays the guitar right handed.

I always found that very interesting.

[Bake]

21. I'm a lefty, but play guitar "righty"

Actually, I don't think there is a "handedness" to guitar. It takes both hands, and they do different things.

Oh - I fingerpick with my right hand, although I'm left-handed ...

Bake

[Iggo]

29. Best guit teacher I ever had was a lefty who played lefty.

We could sit right in front of each other and it was like looking in the mirror.

Quite effective.

[cemaphonic]

34. I've often wondered about this.

Especially with rhythm guitar styles, it would seem like the left hand needs *more* strength and dexterity than the right, and thus lefties would have an inherent advantage. And for fingerpicking, lead or classical styles, both hands would have equally difficult jobs.

So what's with the left-handed stringing? Is it a Hendrix thing?

[Iggo]

37. Left handed or right handed...

...standard stringing is fat string (low note) on top, skinny string (high note) on bottom.

I hear Dick Dale strings his the other way around, skinny string on top, fat string on the bottom. Which would help to explain his dexterity and proficiency at rapid picking (known as 'tremolo picking') on the low E string, the fat string.

[MissMillie]

19. I don't know much about guitar players, but I know what I like and

I think Knopfler is under-rated. He is often forgotten when people talk about good guitar players and I think that's too bad.

Lindsay Buckingham too...

[driver8]

31. Lindsay Buckingham is one of my favorites!!

Is there anything that guy cannot do with a guitar?

I like that what he plays isn't flashy -- he always plays what is needed, and it always sounds incredible!

[Bake]

23. He's excellent. Don't know where I'd put him in a list

My list stops at three: Hendrix, Clapton, SRV.

But Knopfler is an excellent player.

Bake

[gmoney]

24. Ry Cooder of Black Flag?

Uh, someone check me on this, but I'd bet the house that Ry Cooder was never a member of Black Flag. LOL...

Nice proofreading (research?), RS.

I'd put Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera on this list probably in the mid-30s. Max Eider of the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy probably in the 60s. Dave Gregory of XTC in the 20s or 30s as well.

[driver8]

33. I saw Ry Cooder at a benefit concert a couple of months ago.

Jackson Browne was the main act, but Bonnie Raitt, Ben Harper, and Joan Baez also played.

Ry Cooder sat in with everyone -- the guy is not human!!

[mitchum]

39. Dude, Cooder is playing all over "Slip It In"!

Didn't ya know that? :)

[Iggo]

26. Wrong place...oops.

[WCGreen]

28. He was inspired by perhaps one of the best guitarist in the

second half of the 20th century; Chet Atkins.

I would say This about knofler, he abandoned his Dire Straights persona and went off to Nashville to play what he wanted to play.

[Iggo]

38. A great many of us are inspired by Chet Atkins.

He's Guitar George, after all. (He knows all the chords.)

[Schema Thing]

32. He created his own delicious sound

unless there is some obscure music out there that he copied and I'm just unaware of it.

[SallyMander]

35. Good enough to have a dinosaur named after him!

:D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masiakasaurus

[SteppingRazor]

41. I've often called him the most underrated guitar player of all time.

After all, his name never comes up in the "Who's the Greatest Discussion," but by all rights it should be in there somewhere. If you narrow it down to fingerpicking rock guitarists, he's easily top 5, possibly best ever.