The guitarists Mark Knopfler grew up “wanting to play like”
What is the greatest guitar solo of all time? A simply unanswerable question that will have your in pub discussions with friends bleeding long into the night.
One might feasibly say Prince’s performance of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ while another might simply suggest Jimmy Page’s effort on ‘Stairway To Heaven’. But maybe, just maybe, a more muted member of the friendship group, clutching the warm exterior of a brown ale, might suggest Mark Knopfler’s performance on ‘Sultans Of Swing’.
It’s a fundamentally less cool option than the majority out there, but one rooted in absolute legitimacy. Taken from the band’s self-titled debut album, and immediately outlined Knopfler as one of modern rock’s finest guitarists. It was a spellbinding solo, that essentially created another song, inside of ‘Sultans Of Swing’ itself and to many, is largely more recognisable than the main melody.
It was a true craftsman’s solo and maybe one reserved for the friend in the group, who clutches said brown ale but also understands the nuanced role of the guitar in creating a sound. Because, as Knopfler recalls, the essence of the solo’s beauty lied in the instrument itself. He remembered the 1961 Fender Stratocaster that he bought in 1977 and how “It just came alive as soon as I played it on that ’61 Strat.”
It was a guitar that blues legends before Knopfler held dear. The most notorious commander of the instrument was legendary blues artist Rory Gallagher, who is often cited as a major influence by the likes of Eric Clapton. As an instrument, it was at the eye of the storm in the 1960s blues scene, a scene that gave way to major influences for Knopfler.
“I grew up wanting to be playing in a blues band like Eric [Clapton], you know with John Mayall Blues Band and so I wanted to be like Peter Green or Eric, you know.” The virtuoso-like influences of those two blues-rock titans can be heard on ‘Sultans Of Swing’, as the guitar line bends and traverses the rhythm.
So it would have been somewhat of a fitting full-circle moment for Knopfler, who cut his teeth as nothing more than a student of the game. To then be in a band of his own, a decade later, with the same guitar in hand, but writing something that would propel his own name to greatness and allowing him to be shared in the same breath as his icons.
But while Clapton and Green made their mark, they seemingly had nothing on another legend. When asked about his ultimate influences, one guitarist simply took the words out of his mouth. “But I must say, Jeff Beck is, he’s a tremendous loss, Jeff Beck” Knopfler recalled, struggling to fully articulate what his greatness meant to him.
Beck was a virtuoso guitar player indeed, but he had an acute ability to blend it with personality and heart. Like what Knopfler achieved in ‘Sultans Of Swing’, Beck could write solos and licks that extended beyond technical brilliance — it was about genuine expression.
