My Guitar Hero
Everyone’s got their idols and influence. I’ve got mine too. Just wanna share a little on my favourite guitarist, who taught me rock music is not about noise, distortion, loud volumes, whammy pedals, funky effects and SPEED. He takes his music the clean way, perfectly melodic and rhythmically creative. He plays rock.He’s Mark Knopfler of the band, Dire Straits. 80′s rock band, who rose to fame from their single Sultans of Swings.
He’s not very young now. But let’s take a look at his pictures, era-wise accordingly. And hear some story from lil’ old gramps, will ya?
- Mark Knopfler during his very young days. Hint: The guy with the red Fender Stratocaster. The rest are obviously his band mates from Dire Straits.
Did i mention he sings too? He has a very good command of his voice, and he takes the job as a lead guitarist close to his soul. How do I prove this?
That’s Dire Straits’ first hit, the Sultans of Swings. At first I had a very taboo kinda thingy. I thought it to be a strange sounding title, but sure the songs hints out good melody. Not noisy, but just sweet.
He plays the electric guitar with his fingers. Most guitarists use picks, fingerpicks, or plectrum, whatever you call it; for a the same reason, achieving top speed and get a hold of a solid sound. Unlike Marky, he uses his fingers to create dynamics in his guitar, making it sound very very his style.
- Still going strong and young, with signs of ageing, yet still rockin’
Although Knopfler is well-known for his rockish attitude, it is quite obvious one would notice a flavour of country in his style of playing. And at some points, it turns out the be rather bluesy. I can say he’s influenced by Celtic background. Check out Walk of Life, Dire Straits. I bet you heard this on Mix FM or Lite n Easy before.
That song really shows his colours of country, or some may call it folkish.
- Well, this is how he looks like these days; still going strong.
That’s a little bit on my favourite guitarist so far in my life. There are really other great guitarist like Saul Hudson (Slash), Eric Clapton, Randy Rhoads, David Gilmour etc. But in my biased opinion (imbo), I seriously feel that Mark Knopfler is the only one person who can tell a story so sad, with his guitar. It’s just a few notes, but it is so melodic that it really drives into your soul. Let’s end this with my favourite Mark Knopfler song. Please please do check out the ending solo. It’s also known as the most heart-breaking solo ever in history. (I know it’s very old fashioned, so I suggest you get the audio file for a much modern take on the song)
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