Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms turned 40 years old in May. It was a record that solidified Mark Knopfler’s reputation as one of the finest guitar talents of his generation The band became poster boys of an all-new MTV era, and it has shipped 30 million copies worldwide.
That landmark anniversary has seen Knopfler on the campaign trail, and after telling a Spanish publication that he deems a guitar solo he wrote for a movie as his greatest slice of lead work. Now he’s said those clamoring to define him as a guitar hero, as the band’s fifth studio album hit fever pitch, were “just awkward.”
Granted, the 75-year-old is known to be a self-effacing interviewee. Apart from laughing about his ability to play Dire Straits’ most challenging song without looking, the guitarist has downplayed his picking techniques and said the songs of his hero are “enough to make anybody want to retire.”
So it isn’t a surprise to see him react humbly to such a thought. But speaking to Guitar World, he said he believes those who crowned him as a guitar god were barking up the wrong tree.
“The world is bursting with fabulous players,” he says. “Whether I’ve written a good song or not, that’s what counts to me. I gave up trying to be a great guitar player.”
Indeed, he’d rather be ranked for what he can do as a songwriter than solely for his electric guitar talents. The fact that Brothers in Arms is one of the best-selling albums in U.K. history — The Dark Side of the Moon, Rumours and Sgt. Pepper’s… are the only guitar-based albums that top its 4.5 million sales — speaks volumes about his craft.
“I have enough to get by in the studio — that’s how I see myself as a guitar player,” he continues. “Not much more than that. But I can get away with it. If you’re the one who wrote the songs, you’re kind of allowed to be crap.
“The other guys are there, really standing by their instruments: ‘I play piano,’ ‘I play bass.’ Like, ‘I’m good at this and that’s why I’m here.’
“And boy, they are. I got away with murder.”
Knopfler has previously named one player far more deserving of a place in the guitar hero pantheon than he: Jeff Beck. The late great had featured on his all-star re-recording of “Going Home,” and Knopfler has revealed the pair were planning a collaborative album together before his death in January 2023.
During his conversation with GW, however, he turned his attention to the unsung guitar heroes: the session players.
“Those guys that really know their business,” he says. “Making a living with their instruments — that’s a whole other kettle of fish.
“I remember, in the solo band one day, I said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry about the [mistake] in so and so.’ And Richard [Bennett, guitar] said, ‘Well, the singer is always right!’”
Tim Pierce, one of the busiest session players in the business, might be prone to agree, and he’s previously spoken about the demands of being a jobbing studio musician.
“We had quite an arms race in our neighborhood,” he reveals. “People would go, ‘Okay, that sounds good, but do you have a Fender Jazzmaster? Do you have an old Tele? How about an old Supro baritone?’ If I didn’t bring everything and they asked for something, I’d have this sinking feeling because I wanted to say yes to every request.
“You try to be smart enough to judge what the artist wants from the guitar,” he continues. “Do they want it big and distorted? Do they want it clean and in the background? These are decisions you have to make, often in the first few minutes.
“Sometimes you’ll play something that you believe in with all of your being, and they’ll say, ‘Nah, we don’t like that. What else you got?’ Your ego gets crushed, but you have to bring it back and try something different.”
Those situations can lead to horror stories, as another accomplished session player, Steve Lukather, knows all too well.
Meanwhile, Knopfler has discussed the moment he discovered the power of fingerpicking, and a somewhat overlooked pedal in the architecture of his sound, which helps him mimic the human voice.
Neil Dorfsman, who was behind the desk for Brothers in Arms, has also revealed that one of the record’s most famous guitar tones came to be after a stroke of dumb luck. Perhaps that’s what Knopfler alluded to when he said he’s gotten away with murder.
