Mark Knopfler is such a talented guitarist that you might wonder what song, if any, gives him a run for his money. Better still, which of his own songs gives Knopfler the most grief when he performs it live?
You might think its "Sultans of Swing," DIre Straits' 1978 breakthrough hit. After all, everyone is completely tuned in for his electric guitar solo, a remarkable piece of work that Guitar Player's readers placed in the top 10 of our Greatest Solos of All Time list. What guitarist wouldn't be on edge when attempting to replicate that milestone?
But in fact, the Dire Straits tune Knopfler calls his most challenging is “Telegraph Road” from 1982’s Love Over Gold,. But as he explains, it’s the instrument he plays, rather than the part itself, that makes it such a hard mountain to scale.
Typically, Knopfler employs a 1930s National Style O to perform the song's intricate fingerpicking parts. And, as he tells Vulture, playing such an old guitar — rather than his usual Stratocaster-style model — can be very difficult.
“Some of the guitars are pretty hard to play,” he says. “Playing the beginning of 'Telegraph Road' always seems hard when you’re going from a spiffy electric to that old war horse. You’ve just got to brace your hands for an old guitar from the 1930s. So that’s all part of the challenge of that song, when the guitar itself doesn’t want to play pretty”.
He says the problem was worse in the past, when stage lighting relied on bright lights that generated a ton of heat. Back then, presenting the 14-minute tune was particularly daunting.
“Learning to play those longer songs before the modern lights came in was difficult,” he explains. “They got rid of the big old heavy lights, because if one of those dropped and hit you, you’re a dead person. And the new lights seem as though they don’t generate any heat at all.
"The old lights generated so much heat," he continues. "We were always drenched when we came offstage — literally soaked to the skin. Sweat would be stinging your eyes, so you learn to play with your eyes squeezed shut. I’m pretty sure I played a lot of that stuff without looking. That’s all part of the fun of it: figuring out ways around things.
When you’re going from a spiffy electric to that old war horse., you’ve just got to brace your hands for an old guitar from the 1930s.
Mark Knopfler
“I remember someone putting a little note up at the front row that said, ‘More liquid gumption, please.’ I was spraying the audience with so much sweat that it was stinging them. I always used to think, Only rock and roll could do this.”
As Knopfler once said, “Having good chops definitely helps, but it’s not the whole story”. Playing an intricate epic on an instrument now approaching 100 years old when you're blinded by sweat is certainly one way of proving your mettle in less-incendiary circumstances.
In related news, the guitarist last year parted with 123 electric guitars as part of a huge $11 million auction. However, he told Guitar Player that there were some instruments he couldn't bare to part with.
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