Soloing Secrets - Mark Knopfler

Hey everyone! Here's the next episode of Soloing Secrets with Mark Knopfler. Mark's a total guitar legend and we've featured his music and ideas in both a Three-For-All lesson and a Chordplay episode, so I figured it was time to finally tackle his elusive and signature lead guitar style - which is exactly what this deep-dive lesson is all about, so let's dive in!
The ideas in this episode target some very specific areas of Mark's playing - including insight into his signature chord-tone soloing approach, his elusive fingerstyle picking technique, hybrid pentatonic scales & mutations, various string bending moves, expressive melodic phrases, and much more!
There's a lot you can gain from studying a player as tasteful and expressive as Mark Knopfler, as his ideas and approaches can open multiple musical doors for you, once you're more aware of where some of these musical ideas are coming from. Give this episode a view, leave some comments/feedback, and please subscribe to Late Night Lessons - THANK YOU!
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[@samsonthecurrent]

Late Night Lessons are consistently the best taught lessons out there.

[@RakelaK67]

MK's solo in the live version of Sultans from the Alchemy Live albums still gives me as much inspiration now as it did when I first played the cassette in my car in 1984. Its got to be up there in the top 5 with all the other "best solos of all time" lists

[@babylemonade2868]

Totally and one of the few true love albums in existence. Right down to the buzzing of the amps in the background

[@Mikeyorkmusic]

Spot on. The extended middle/end solo is superb. It’s a shame that they changed the arrangement from the Brothers in Arms tour onwards.

[@PawpawJamz]

Mark is an absolute Monster. Hands down. Seemingly lost in the modern world. His technique, especially his right hand...the finger dexterity is absolutely phenomenal. Btw..your strat sound 🤘

[@ThePitch63]

I’ll need to watch this a few times. The lightbulb is flickering!!!

[@davidsmith6976]

Mark is such a great character,humble,and still loves his music ,didnt he do a tour with Robert Plant? Loved the album he made with Chet ,the documentary ,where they picked his favourite guitars ,was such a joy,hes so down to earth ,and yet a really dedicated musician,loved the song with James Taylor,and his dobro playing ,too,such a well rounded person and musician,and youre right ,hes a thinking player ,but sounds so natural,too,versatile ,too.Thanks for this Dave ,good call.

[@petew.1418]

Have you done a "soloing secrets" on Roy Buchanan yet? His harmonics, and volume knob work were huge influences on me.

[@stevec9972]

Another jam packed show with useful stuff. I have watch your channel since early on, I appreciate the effort mixing entertainment, journalist research/history with music theory technique etc. 👍 Big Thanks from australia

[@christian-van-e]

One of my great influences: he is very unrrated by the younger generation guitarists; listen to his Alchemy album; its superb, a master piece in soloing. Once upon a time in the west, the ending solo of Sultans of Swing or Telegraph Road. Guitar-music hardly does get any better.... Thanks DB for giving him attention!

[@greg77hot]

Thanks Dave ... Loved him since I heard the first notes of that solo...It was really fresh from the punk scene at the time .

[@joefoster9303]

Brewster has more gears than Jaime Fox. Deep dive into Far Beyond Driven has to happen. Keep doing whatever you want. It is all very good. Best channel. That Doors episode was really good. That one caught me off guard. I missed some of the nuances in Robbies licks.

[@vicmorrison8128]

Always appreciate your experience!

[@johnc.mitchelljr.2716]

MK , one of my heroes , , thanks for another excellent demonstration ✨

[@pmcalvao]

Another great lesson. This one on one of my two all time favorites (Slash being the other one). Thanks a lot, Dave! Still, if you ever want to do ten or twenty more lessons just on Mark Knopfler (or Slash, btw) we won't be bored. Cheers from Lisbon (PT)!

[@chedhead3278]

Thanks for this Dave, love Mark's intelligent melodic lines. Your breakdown of some of the ideas behind them was useful and approachable. If you felt like unpacking a few more at some point ... 😊

[@Krullmatic]

"Plucky Clucky kinda thing" _The_ _Brewsmeister_ *2022*

[@Reckefisch]

Always great to see someone take the time to dissect Mark's playing, because very few do so correctly (frankly, there's you and Pavel Fomenkov and that's pretty much it) and there's so much stuff to unpack. So, thank you so much for that lesson, it was great to watch! It feels like Knopfler is often overlooked and I really don't know why, he's such a great songwriter and plays so tastefully. Such a shame that the guitar world will probably only ever start to fully acknowledge his genius after he passes away. Anyway, his song "Junkie Doll" from the album Sailing to Philadelphia is what made me fall in love with his music and inspired me to pick up the guitar. Can't play this song to this day, because the turnaround and the little run that leads into the solo are just close to impossible to figure out correctly. So, if someone's looking for a nice little challenge, give that one a listen.

[@Wileylikethehawk]

Well, I have a show to play in an hour - maybe I can learn something here! :D

[@normjones6916]

beautiful lesson, Thanks so much

[@easter_sunday]

Yes! More fingerpicking! Thanks Dave! 🎸

[@easter_sunday]

I need to watch this 15 more times . 🔥

[@williamhurrelbrink3324]

Third vid I’ve seen Late Night lessons… I have to go to the start of em all. So much good stuff thank you for the great lessons!

[@STAMPER-DESIGN]

So much great information in this lesson. Thank you!

[@earlthornton5689]

You make me weep Thank you

[@PastorJohn_KingdomKeysToWin]

Nice approach to capturing Mark's style of playing. Big Knopfler fan.

[@Breakrite]

Perfect timing. I just finished recording all the fills and solos over a Sultans of Swing backing track I found on KZbin. It’s literally the song without MK’s guitar parts. You get to pretend to be him. Key word “pretend”.

[@ransbarger]

Thank you so much for this. You're the best.

[@frankfichera456]

Had to save this one!

[@nmartins1221]

AAAHH THANK YOU DAVE!!

[@brockam]

I've heard that three fingered picking approach referred to as a "Piedmont Claw" which makes me wonder about the reference there. Im assuming that could be a bit of pre war blues thing. i guess I am wondering if there is a school of player that has a certain sound that was sort of regional. The name would imply as much. I feel like Mark probably arrived at that approach on his own as being something that felt natural to him. I do wonder how that impacts one's phrasing. I am inclined to think of Robert Cray as well, as it matters to cats who use their fingers to pick. Seems like there is a rake and pinch thing they both use from time to time.

[@aleji0]

First, apparently. Fuck yeah Brewster. Outstanding.

[@cobravinci]

Hi David, great lesson! You seem to have swaped your neck pickup... Can you tell me about this new pu and the previous one (it seems it was somthing like a Duncan Cool Rails) and why you decide to change it? Cheers!

[@johnkleingebbinck6970]

0:32 Akerfeld enters the chat

[@waynegram8907]

Chris Rea had to be influenced by Mark Knopfler. Chris Rea has the same type of style as Knopfler just not using a bunch of chord tones, CAGED, etc. LATE NIGHT, 1-3b-4-5-7 = harmonic minor is wrong because its missing the "harmonic minor tetrachord" which is 5-b6-7 that is the main part that makes harmonic minor sound like harmonic minor. Adding the raised 7th to a blues scale doesn't make it harmonic minor because its missing the 5-b6-7 tetrachord. For the minor chord progression i-V or V-i = harmonic minor, yes that is true but if you're using the formula 1-b3-4-5-7 then it will be the same for MAJOR chord progression I-V or V-I when you can also use 1-3b-4-5-7 which blues players will do often over the V7 dominant chord is use 1-3b-4-5-7 or 1-3-4-5-7, either can be used over the V7 chord. Leaving this information out might not make it clear to others.

[@jar4584]

I don't know what it is but I never like using a pic doesn't feel comfortable holding it. Plus when you use your fingers you don't have to worry about losing the pic