I see so many people 'TEACHING' this riff on RUclips and they can't even play it correctly themselves. I'd suggest listening to this track over and over and over and then watching some close-ups (plenty on here) of Knopfler's right-hand technique. And I don't just mean his two fingers on the guitar body. It's ALL about the percussive technique of his right hand.
This shit is absurdly complex.. it seems like he goes in and out of tempo.. i think no one ever managed to cover this with all the details Mark put in there.
Exactly, the pocket. Ive been trying to play this riff for years. I got 30 years of playing but it dont matter. I dont have Mr Knopfplers fingers. All the notes, plucks and almost dead notes is just so rythmic and groovy its just guitar nirvana
I am not sure most people realise how truly groundbreaking this riff is aside from being of course a major hit. Nothing like it had ever really been played before in terms of the type of technque and the groove it produced and nobody really knew exactly how to play it. It's a high point of exploration of taking folk based acoustic technique to the electric guitar and putting it in a quite unique context. And it is done so effortlessly and naturally that it's like listening to someone just pulling it out of their ass at jam session. And of course the nuance and energy and sheer attitude of the groove is just astounding, it's like listening to a percussionist in context.
The percussive smacks were the most important thing for me when it came to learning this song. It’s actually very easy to play this riff generally, but extremely hard to really understand and play it accurately (if that makes sense). You can learn all the notes rather easily. But once you realize Mark is using his finger nails for a sort of percussive downstroke (or more of a smack where the notes still manage to ring out), it becomes much more difficult to imitate. It reminds me of John Mayer’s Neon lesson he posted to TikTok, actually. You are not trying to just pluck the individual notes, really. You are trying to use your right hand like a metronome, and hold a percussive rhythm with notes still ringing out. It’s definitely not the first time this has been done, but using it for this particular style of 80s radio rock riff is really cool lol It adds that level of background squeakiness to the downstrokes that you will miss if you don’t imitate him correctly.
@@ToddSoloStory Well said, thats exactly it. And then on top as a detail there is a certain quick mute you have to do on the overtones to bring out that signature choked, hoarse schreech on the return to the G in the first round - people tend to leave that out also …
So interesting, that he played the same part twice, with slight variations and then afterwards the put one on the left and one on the right. Nice way to mak the whole thing way broader, while keeping it just different enough to make it even more interesting.
You’re incredible, Mark! This is the first song I’ve heard by him and Dire Straits. It will always have a huge place in my heart and will never get annoying one time in my lifetime mitre life
Off topic, but I remember as a teen listening to this the first time and the (now called) "f-word" was used as a lyric 3 times in a verse and even back in 1985, it was pretty crazy. But it played on the radio that way and on MTV, of course. Now, it's like the world has been stripped of the original version. Just kind of funny how things change..
Mark was set up in the control room with a line-through to his new Laney Combo (2 x 12, I think) out in the studio. On a Les Paul Jr, with the amp mic’d by a single SM57. One key element was that Mark was playing through a Morely Wah Pedal which was partly open. A good deal of time was spent adjusting amount of wah filtering by “opening” the pedal in minute increments until it sounded great. Greatest Guitarist Ever!
@@thomasspencer2731 He used a Les PauL Jr? I always thought he used a Les Paul Standard. I'm actually not sure if that is the correct nomenclature - Im no expert - I'm trying to say that I thought he used a Les Paul with 2 humbucking pickups (like the photo in your video) - not a Les Paul with a single P90 pickup.
@@humanbeing2420 I believe he used a 50’s style Gibson les Paul, where the pick ups were wired in a way that allowed phasing, and it was in the bridge position of the guitar. He used a wag pedal and had it adjusted just to get the sound we hear now, while plugged in a Marshal Amp, which he stated in a interview, and the way the mic was set, it moved over night so the sound was all by accident.
@@thomasspencer2731 - You mean the guy imitating Billy Gibbons? That's what he said he was shooting for in a Guitar Player Magazine interview. Billy said he liked it.
In really simple words, it usually consists of a technique which involves isolating the sound "in the center" from the sound on "the sides". It's actually not very complicated to do, but can't be done with every track on any song because it depends on the way the stereo effect was mixed :)
@@spinozo.official I see how you could maybe find something in a recording where all parts are panned out to their own dedicated spot in the stereo image, if that's what you mean but wouldn't there still be some overlap in places?. EQ-wise the individual part probably does not get to completely occupy a slot in the spectrum for itself so I isolating everything between x and y Hz is not feasible either?
@@isaaccameron7852 Sounds reasonable. I seem to remember once having more or less just the rythm track for Hej Joe coming out of one speaker because the other one was broken and the panning was apparently that brutal. Still I think I have heard of some songs where they removed the vocal so people can sing on top of the original. But maybe it's the same deal with the originals ...
This confirms something I had always heard, there are more than one guitar parts or tracks. After hearing this, I realize Mark's track often splits into two parts, "overdubs". But, clearly there's a second guitar track that I hear in the original version. This means that, to be fully able to play the song note for note would take 3 guitar players. Yet, there's some impracticality to that. One guitar part would only play sporadically throughout the song. So, you would have to use only 2 guitarist. I think that could be done and be nearly completely note for note. If that level of performance is desirable for a "tribute" to Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler. 😀
i heard years ago that part of this song was written about motley crues nikki sixx. i think i read it i sixx's book. dont remember. anyway, the state police where i live reminded me not long ago that this isn't a good song to listen to while driving down the interstate 🤣🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
This “Chacca chacca effect” with his thumb is something of incredible. We can hear it only in this isolated track! He could play the song without the rest of the band….amazing
Everything is recorded separately, then mixed together to make the songs that you know now. Somehow these individual tracks have leaked out (or been put out with permission). There are heaps of these on RUclips. Search ‘Isolated Vocals’ for some truly raw stuff... David Bowie, Freddie Mercury etc... Merry Claytons vocals from Gimme Shelter are unreal...
A lot of famous producers "collect" isolated track and exchange one for another in their close circle - sometimes some of them leak. I also think big chunk of the ones on RUclips come from Guitar Hero game that uses them and people rip them out.
What ive seen alot of people do, is extract the files from guitar hero or rock band, because the games actually have the isolated master tracks due to the nature of the game, and then they just upload them. The more recent games over the years have been able to acquire the rights to use the original songs and not just covers. Rock Band 3 has Money For Nothing. Obviously the tracks could exist elsewhere, but from the games it's easier to find. Like Eddies guitar tracks from Van Halen are readily available due to one of the games being dedicated to them.
@@kingnothing2161 Oh yeah. I've done it before. I recorded a cover of the Whole Lotta Love solo that way. Turned out great! I never knew how to get the tone right for Money For Nothing though. Makes total sense now, thanks to you sharing the knowledge.
it IS double tracked (or even quad), that's not the point, most songs have layered instruments, it's what makes them sound they way they do, and throw more filling frequencies out there. :)
His Les Paul sound has been a mainstay since BIA. Money For Nothing, Ride Across the River, Brothers in Arms, calling Elvis, Heavy Fuel to name a few, then much of his solo work as well.
@@guitaristssuck8979 a lot is made of using the wah pedal to create the sound but double tracking the guitar does just as much to get that unique sound imo.
@@Samana009 I'm sorry but you're wrong. The album was recorded in Montserrat, at Air Studios, with overdubs done in New York. Eric Clapton did not play at all on the album. Also, here is the link to Mark's website with the footnotes of the BIA album : www.markknopfler.com/discography/brothers-in-arms/ The only time Eric played on the track was on tour in 1988 and on a few charity gigs.
@@seb250cr i have the official sheet music. And it is very specific in every detail. If you play a string with the wrong finger it sounds different and is played wrong. At least thats how i learned it.
What am I listening to this yo-yo for? I better get back to installing microwave ovens...
One of the greatest intros of all time.
agreed
One of the greatest riffs, period!
THE greatest intro.
The Claw, doing what it does best
@@ssm445 this song is joint greatest intro with Layla
What an absolute gift to the world. Mark you are loved the world over.
I see so many people 'TEACHING' this riff on RUclips and they can't even play it correctly themselves. I'd suggest listening to this track over and over and over and then watching some close-ups (plenty on here) of Knopfler's right-hand technique. And I don't just mean his two fingers on the guitar body. It's ALL about the percussive technique of his right hand.
Yup nobody even gets the flamenco technique in sultans of swing right.
Only a german/austrian guy got it right on YT.
Perhaps you could show us?
@@dennisneo1608 I could but, instead, here's the lesson I followed ruclips.net/video/SmAX_GoXizs/видео.html
All talk
To think we have two delivery men who didn't think a musician is a "real job" to thank for this gem.
Its so ridiculously in the pocket. It never falls out of time
This shit is absurdly complex.. it seems like he goes in and out of tempo.. i think no one ever managed to cover this with all the details Mark put in there.
Don't forget the track has TWO guitar parts.
Exactly, the pocket. Ive been trying to play this riff for years. I got 30 years of playing but it dont matter. I dont have Mr Knopfplers fingers. All the notes, plucks and almost dead notes is just so rythmic and groovy its just guitar nirvana
I am not sure most people realise how truly groundbreaking this riff is aside from being of course a major hit. Nothing like it had ever really been played before in terms of the type of technque and the groove it produced and nobody really knew exactly how to play it. It's a high point of exploration of taking folk based acoustic technique to the electric guitar and putting it in a quite unique context. And it is done so effortlessly and naturally that it's like listening to someone just pulling it out of their ass at jam session. And of course the nuance and energy and sheer attitude of the groove is just astounding, it's like listening to a percussionist in context.
Mark Knopfler is my all time favorite guitarist but look at some chuck berry stuff. He definitely had similar riffs.
@@qaipak1 I am talking about THIS riff
The percussive smacks were the most important thing for me when it came to learning this song. It’s actually very easy to play this riff generally, but extremely hard to really understand and play it accurately (if that makes sense).
You can learn all the notes rather easily. But once you realize Mark is using his finger nails for a sort of percussive downstroke (or more of a smack where the notes still manage to ring out), it becomes much more difficult to imitate.
It reminds me of John Mayer’s Neon lesson he posted to TikTok, actually. You are not trying to just pluck the individual notes, really. You are trying to use your right hand like a metronome, and hold a percussive rhythm with notes still ringing out. It’s definitely not the first time this has been done, but using it for this particular style of 80s radio rock riff is really cool lol
It adds that level of background squeakiness to the downstrokes that you will miss if you don’t imitate him correctly.
@@ToddSoloStory Well said, thats exactly it. And then on top as a detail there is a certain quick mute you have to do on the overtones to bring out that signature choked, hoarse schreech on the return to the G in the first round - people tend to leave that out also …
There’s a lot of Billy Gibbons in that riff
But yes, killer tasty licks
Could listen to this man and his guitar for years ...oh i have!!!😃
Thats the way you do it
One of the very very best musicians ever. And he is still all that. Tomorrow 08-12 is his birthday. ♥️♥️♥️♥️
So interesting, that he played the same part twice, with slight variations and then afterwards the put one on the left and one on the right. Nice way to mak the whole thing way broader, while keeping it just different enough to make it even more interesting.
I can hear all the details now
Thank you so much
Epic!
@@thomasspencer2731 The leads fills at 2.21... they don't sound like what I hear on the record at 3.50 ruclips.net/video/JRDgihVDEko/видео.html
You’re incredible, Mark!
This is the first song I’ve heard by him and Dire Straits. It will always have a huge place in my heart and will never get annoying one time in my lifetime mitre life
Genius writing and executed perfectly
I never really thought about this guitar part so much, but this is a crazy involved piece. Wow
Cant wait untill i can play this awesome riff, at least 99% correct. Would bee soo cool. Its soo damn good
check out Pavel Fomenkov's tutorial. Probably the best out there
@@alchemygarlet1542 for sure
That opening riff always makes me think of Marty McFly hitting one guitar chord and getting thrown backwards into the wall. 😂
Lmfao!! My girls (8 & 10) just watched back to the future for the first time last weekend. They laughed their asses off.
Playing since 1975....still cannot get this riff down.....fuck.....hello VooDoo Chile.
That one always gives me goosebumps.
amazing, wish we had these for all of Johnny Marr's stuff too
Off topic, but I remember as a teen listening to this the first time and the (now called) "f-word" was used as a lyric 3 times in a verse and even back in 1985, it was pretty crazy. But it played on the radio that way and on MTV, of course.
Now, it's like the world has been stripped of the original version. Just kind of funny how things change..
Guitar sound superSuper rock on Mark
I love how you can see the harmonics on the graph !
Awesome track!!! I've played it so many times, he should've made an instrumental version too!!!
absolutely stunning!
Excellent ! Love it !
pure distilled swagger
Imperfectly genius
Wow! Terrific! This sound like he was using a Les Paul in the neck position + wah + slightly overdriven Marshall maybe?
Mark was set up in the control room with a line-through to his new Laney Combo (2 x 12, I think) out in the studio. On a Les Paul Jr, with the amp mic’d by a single SM57. One key element was that Mark was playing through a Morely Wah Pedal which was partly open. A good deal of time was spent adjusting amount of wah filtering by “opening” the pedal in minute increments until it sounded great. Greatest Guitarist Ever!
@@thomasspencer2731 He used a Les PauL Jr? I always thought he used a Les Paul Standard. I'm actually not sure if that is the correct nomenclature - Im no expert - I'm trying to say that I thought he used a Les Paul with 2 humbucking pickups (like the photo in your video) - not a Les Paul with a single P90 pickup.
@@humanbeing2420 I believe he used a 50’s style Gibson les Paul, where the pick ups were wired in a way that allowed phasing, and it was in the bridge position of the guitar. He used a wag pedal and had it adjusted just to get the sound we hear now, while plugged in a Marshal Amp, which he stated in a interview, and the way the mic was set, it moved over night so the sound was all by accident.
@@thomasspencer2731 - You mean the guy imitating Billy Gibbons? That's what he said he was shooting for in a Guitar Player Magazine interview. Billy said he liked it.
I was always told to put it on the bridge pickup of a les paul turn the tone to 0 and set a wah pedal to press 5% of the way down
Thanks a lot. This is priceless
I can't get my head around how people isolate these tracks if they don't have a separate original track or sound file ...
In really simple words, it usually consists of a technique which involves isolating the sound "in the center" from the sound on "the sides". It's actually not very complicated to do, but can't be done with every track on any song because it depends on the way the stereo effect was mixed :)
@@spinozo.official I see how you could maybe find something in a recording where all parts are panned out to their own dedicated spot in the stereo image, if that's what you mean but wouldn't there still be some overlap in places?. EQ-wise the individual part probably does not get to completely occupy a slot in the spectrum for itself so I isolating everything between x and y Hz is not feasible either?
@@isaaccameron7852 Sounds reasonable. I seem to remember once having more or less just the rythm track for Hej Joe coming out of one speaker because the other one was broken and the panning was apparently that brutal. Still I think I have heard of some songs where they removed the vocal so people can sing on top of the original. But maybe it's the same deal with the originals ...
@@isaaccameron7852 @Isaac Cameron ..and the simple fact that the uploaders never talk about how this was done speaks volumes 😉
The labels sold them
When you hear likes this you realise no else one plays it 100% correct. There is so much more to it then you think l, and then some.
Its like pouring heaven down thru a Marshall.
This confirms something I had always heard, there are more than one guitar parts or tracks. After hearing this, I realize Mark's track often splits into two parts, "overdubs". But, clearly there's a second guitar track that I hear in the original version. This means that, to be fully able to play the song note for note would take 3 guitar players. Yet, there's some impracticality to that. One guitar part would only play sporadically throughout the song. So, you would have to use only 2 guitarist. I think that could be done and be nearly completely note for note. If that level of performance is desirable for a "tribute" to Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler. 😀
Love it! Sounds beautiful when isolated! Can you do one on DMX - Where the hood at? Thanks!
Depends if you make a Brian May or Golf video
Guitar trackS.
Genius
He never ran of ideas...
i heard years ago that part of this song was written about motley crues nikki sixx. i think i read it i sixx's book. dont remember. anyway, the state police where i live reminded me not long ago that this isn't a good song to listen to while driving down the interstate 🤣🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
There's two guitars.
Nah
@@m14ninja 04:15 . You're welcome.
@@MarcusJean13 no that's just mega sustain
What was done to the sound to soften the attack?
Probs his Orange Squeezer on the way in...potentially a bit of studio compression as well
Where did you get this stuff from?
is that you playing Thomas ???
This “Chacca chacca effect” with his thumb is something of incredible. We can hear it only in this isolated track!
He could play the song without the rest of the band….amazing
wow
Who else is playing drums and singing along with this?
Movuh movuh
The only person that nailed his tone to this day was the floppy disc guy.
how do they isolate tracks like this?
They're from the original multi tracks.
Everything is recorded separately, then mixed together to make the songs that you know now. Somehow these individual tracks have leaked out (or been put out with permission). There are heaps of these on RUclips. Search ‘Isolated Vocals’ for some truly raw stuff... David Bowie, Freddie Mercury etc... Merry Claytons vocals from Gimme Shelter are unreal...
A lot of famous producers "collect" isolated track and exchange one for another in their close circle - sometimes some of them leak. I also think big chunk of the ones on RUclips come from Guitar Hero game that uses them and people rip them out.
@@toasterboy708 we truly live in a great time. Back in the 1980s basement, you could only dream of hearing the isolated tracks.
What ive seen alot of people do, is extract the files from guitar hero or rock band, because the games actually have the isolated master tracks due to the nature of the game, and then they just upload them. The more recent games over the years have been able to acquire the rights to use the original songs and not just covers. Rock Band 3 has Money For Nothing. Obviously the tracks could exist elsewhere, but from the games it's easier to find. Like Eddies guitar tracks from Van Halen are readily available due to one of the games being dedicated to them.
He did this with a wah pedal that he didn’t wah.
Thanks for the tip.
It's called using the wah as a filter. Turn it on, move it to where you like the tone, leave it
@@kingnothing2161 Oh yeah. I've done it before. I recorded a cover of the Whole Lotta Love solo that way. Turned out great! I never knew how to get the tone right for Money For Nothing though. Makes total sense now, thanks to you sharing the knowledge.
Clássico do rock in roll!! !!
I got blisters on mi fingers!
😎😎😎
This sounds double tracked to me
it IS double tracked (or even quad), that's not the point, most songs have layered instruments, it's what makes them sound they way they do, and throw more filling frequencies out there. :)
It's all good. Perhaps a better (or clearer) title might have been... 'Mark Knopfler - Isolated/Overlaid Guitar Tracks - Money for Nothing'.
It is, but even when Mark plays solo it can sound like two guitars because of his complex fingerpicking.
@@TheOmnipresent12 No. it’s a title not an essay.
It's like the song didn't lose anything at all by having only the isolated guitar tracks.....
Knopfler with a gibson🙀😸
Yeah he used it a lot, especially on the Brother in Arms album.
@@FlorentChardevel He even played Once upon a time in the west ( a pure strat song...) on a Les Paul during the last tour.
@@strato9223 blasphemy!
His Les Paul sound has been a mainstay since BIA. Money For Nothing, Ride Across the River, Brothers in Arms, calling Elvis, Heavy Fuel to name a few, then much of his solo work as well.
I am a Strat guy, but really, this riff shines with a LP.
Damn
pretty sure that's 2 guitars.
They are!
@@guitaristssuck8979 a lot is made of using the wah pedal to create the sound but double tracking the guitar does just as much to get that unique sound imo.
Quel bonheur !!
Another person using free stems available for all. FYI you can all download these for yourself. Cheers.
That's two blended tracks, not one.
Who downvoted this? Come ONNNN......
this is just a ripoff of the beavis and butthead opening riff
My gooooood.... You're right
😂
This is before Beavis and Butthead
Eric Clapton also plays on this track. Maybe the second line is He?
No he doesn't.
@@raphaeldube7008 yes, he does. Not only Mark Knopfler told that, as you can go to the technical details in the record and read
@@Samana009 I'm sorry but you're wrong. The album was recorded in Montserrat, at Air Studios, with overdubs done in New York. Eric Clapton did not play at all on the album. Also, here is the link to Mark's website with the footnotes of the BIA album : www.markknopfler.com/discography/brothers-in-arms/
The only time Eric played on the track was on tour in 1988 and on a few charity gigs.
Isolated track? I hear 3 tracks sometimes..
People have no clue how hard this is to play. It sounds easy but the technique involved makes it harder than sultans
Absolutely, it's incredibly difficult to play. Is the only one that can play it that way.
@@seb250cr i have the official sheet music. And it is very specific in every detail. If you play a string with the wrong finger it sounds different and is played wrong. At least thats how i learned it.
@@psych0CS2 I have played that song for years. I have played it so many times....but I have never succeed to play it perfectly like him .
He ain't no yo-yo
Sounds like it's in open g.....
Nope
Sounds like open g! It’s true! But it is not!
Dire Straits are Shite but credit where it's due regarding the guitar work.
Yeah, one of the greatest bands and guitarists of all time are "shite". LOL!
Thanks for your input. LOL!
Great riff, boring song