How to Play Guitar Like Mark Knopfler

How to Play Guitar like Mark Knopfler Hey everyone, this is Brian from activemelody.com. In this lesson, we’re going to learn a Mark Knopfler style guitar solo. There is a little something for the beginner, intermediate and advanced players. So, let's take a look at what we’re going to learn. [Demonstration] All right, so let's breakdown this Mark Knopfler inspired mini guitar solo. Now, it's important to point out that when Mark Knopfler plays, he doesn’t use a pick. He uses his thumb, index and middle finger on his right hand. He’s playing a lot of scrug-style banjo rolls. He’s usually also always playing on a Les Paul or Paul Reed Smith. However, I'm using a Stratocaster with the select your switch here on the bridge pickup tone controls, mostly bass. I won't go into amp settings but just trying to get a little heavy overdrive created sound. And so the first thing that happens is we’re going to bar the fifth fret here, the first three strings to create this little run that sounds like this— [Demonstration] So again, I'm barring the first three strings in the fifth fret and the first note is actually the third string or the G string. [Demonstration] I'm going to hammer on to the seventh fret to play the second note. [Demonstration] Then we’re going to play the B string— [Demonstration] Or the second string there on the fifth fret. So the first three notes sounds like this. [Demonstration] Then keep in mind, I'm leaving my ring finger down on the seventh fret when I hammered on. [Demonstration] Intentionally, to create a real heavy overdrive— [Demonstration] And come back to the seventh fret. [Demonstration] To the fifth fret— [Demonstration] Down to the fourth fret— [Demonstration] This is all happening on the third string or the G string— [Demonstration] And we land and close it out on the seventh fret D string or the fourth string— [Demonstration] Now, like I said I've got that overdrive— [Demonstration] But then, notice I'm muting. [Demonstration] To kind of close it out— [Demonstration] The way I'm doing that, I'm just kind of let my fingers rest on the strings. [Demonstration] Okay? So there is that first part. Now the second part sounds like this. [Demonstration] And for that, I'm on the second string now or the B string, still on the fifth fret and I'm going to hammer on— [Demonstration] To the sixth fret, I’ve got rattle going there. [Demonstration] Then we’re going to do a hammer-on and pull-off like this— [Demonstration] See, I'm picking it once— [Demonstration] Seventh fret— [Demonstration] Fifth fret [Demonstration] So there is that part. Then we come up and we do this. [Demonstration] What I'm doing there is I'm barring the first two strings starting on the fourth fret and sliding up to the fifth fret. [Demonstration] Just like that— [Demonstration] See I'm playing— [Demonstration] B string— [Demonstration] E string— [Demonstration] D string— [Demonstration] Just like that— [Demonstration] Then we land here on the eighth fret, B string, your second string— [Demonstration] And then we do this. [Demonstration] And for that, we’re going to start on the eight fret, second string— [Demonstration] We’re going to come to the fifth fret, first string— [Demonstration] Seventh fret, first string— [Demonstration] And we do the slow hammer on— [Demonstration] Pull off— [Demonstration] And that’s going to between the fifth fret and the sixth fret here on the first string— [Demonstration] I'm playing it once— [Demonstration] Picking it once I should say— [Demonstration] We land back on the eight fret, B string— [Demonstration] So now we close out the solo with this little run that looks like this— [Demonstration] But don’t let that intimidate you. There are a lot of notes there but you can do this. Trust me. If I can do this, anybody can. I'm going to break this down note-for-note so you'll see that it's not too terribly complicated. This is going to take a little practice. So the first note is— [Demonstration] On the eighth fret, B string, then we come back to the fifth fret B string. But when I played that, I'm going to go ahead and bar the first and second string there on the fifth fret. The reason why is we’re going to play those two notes quite a bit in this little run. So, go ahead and bar that and then what we’re going to do is we’re going to drop down to the seventh fret, third string or the G string and we’re going to bend— [Demonstration] What you're trying to do is bend up to this note. [Demonstration] So they kind of match, so if I play this slowly, it looks like this— [Demonstration] There are your first three notes. [Demonstration] So, seventh fret— [Demonstration] Fifth fret, B string— [Demonstration] Fifth fret, E string— [Demonstration] First three notes. Then we’re going to do a pull-off— [Demonstration] So while you keep that barred, we’re going to pull-off here. We’re going to go up to the eighth fret— [Demonstration] Playing that note and then— [Demonstration] Pull it off, see? And playing it once— [Demonstration] We’re picking it once— [Demonstration] And then we’re going to come down and put our finger back on the seventh fret there, third string— [Demonstration] And we’re going to play that note and then we’re going to play the fifth fret, D string— [Demonstration] So it looks like this— [Demonstration] These are your notes— [Demonstration] Okay, so then, we come back to the seventh fret and we do a bend— [Demonstration] So we’ll just going to bend up— [Demonstration] And down— [Demonstration] Fifth fret— [Demonstration] Third string— [Demonstration] Land on the seventh fret, fourth string— [Demonstration] But when you land on the seventh fret, fourth string, with your ring finger here you're going to go ahead and bar. I’d pretty much bar all of those. So it looks like this— [Demonstration] Because what you're going to do is play the note above that or the string above it which is the third string, seventh fret— [Demonstration] And we’re going to come back to the fourth string— [Demonstration] So it goes like this— [Demonstration] So it looks like— [Demonstration] Okay, so, up to this point, we have this— [Demonstration] Then we just close it out with this; we go to the fifth fret, third string— [Demonstration] Seventh fret, third string— [Demonstration] And then keeping that bar there on the fifth fret— [Demonstration] We’ll play that B string and the second string on the fifth fret— [Demonstration] Those are your last three notes. So it's— [Demonstration] That’s what it looks like and up to speed, it's— [Demonstration] Okay? So just practice that and you can do it. And then we end this solo with this— [Demonstration] And so for that, again, I'm barring those first three strings of the fifth fret. You see that a lot. Right here, I'm playing two strings— [Demonstration] The first, I'm playing the third and second string— [Demonstration] And I'm hammering on the seventh fret, third string— [Demonstration] We play those two strings again— [Demonstration] We’re going to come down to the seventh fret, fourth string— [Demonstration] Fifth fret, fourth string— [Demonstration] And then end on the seventh fret, fourth string— [Demonstration] Okay? So there is that beat. All right, so hopefully, that’s everything you need for this lesson. You can go back and watch any of these parts again if you need to and slow them down or whatever. If you want to download the tablature, you can get that and a jam track that you can practice with for free if you go to activemelody.com, to the guitar lesson section. Make sure you look for the Martin author lesson and you can download those assets. All right, well, see you next time.