The #30 Guitarist of the Rock Era: Mark Knopfler

Here are 70 of The Top 100 Guitarists of the Rock Era*:


100. Mick Barr, Orthrelm
99. Jerry Cantrell, Alice in Chains
98. Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield Blues Band
97. Danny Kirwan, Fleetwood Mac
96. Daron Malakian, System of a Down

95. Sam Totman, Dragonforce
94. Kerry King, Slayer
93. Robbie Krieger, Doors
92. Ted Nugent
91. Jason Becker, David Lee Roth
90. John 5, David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson
89. Jake E. Lee, Ratt, Ozzy Osbourne
88. Michael Wilton, Queensryche
87. James Munky Shaffer, Korn
86. Uli Jon Roth, Scorpions
85. Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi
84. Rick Derringer, McCoys, Edgar Winter Group, solo
83. Dave Mason, Traffic, solo
82. Warren DeMartini, Ratt, Whitesnake
81. Synyster Gates, Avenged Sevenfold
80. Jack White, the White Stripes
79. Alex Lifeson, Rush
78. Chuck Schuldiner, Death
77. Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, solo
76. C.C. DeVille, Poison
75. Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rossington-Collins Band
74. Peter Frampton, Humble Pie, solo
73. Neil Giraldo, Pat Benatar
72. Keith Richards, Rolling Stones
71. Michael Schenker, Scorpions, UFO, Michael Schenker Group
70. Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine
69. Neal Schon, Santana, Journey
68. Vivian Campbell, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Thin Lizzy
67. Dave Mustaine, Metallica, Megadeth
66. Danny Gatton
65. Timo Tolkki
64. Allen Holdsworth
63. Dave Murray, Iron Maiden
62. Nuno Bettencourt, Extreme
61. Ace Frehley, Kiss, solo
60. Reb Beach, 28 years
59. Allen Collins, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rossington Collins Band
58. Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
57. John Petrucci, Dream Theatre
56. Richie Kotzen
55. Michael Angelo Batio, Holland, the Michael Angelo Band, Nitro
54. Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley
53. Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick
52. Fast Eddie Clarke, Motorhead
51. Vinnie Moore, UFO
50. Joe Walsh, James Gang, solo, and Eagles
49. Roy Buchanan
48. Chuck Berry
47. Rory Gallagher, solo
46. Steve Lukather, Toto
45. Tommy Bolin, Deep Purple
44. Frank Zappa, Mothers of Invention, solo
43. Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, solo
42. Stephen Stills, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash, solo
41. Mick Ronson, David Bowie, solo
40. The Edge, U2
39. Mike Campbell, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
38. Derek Trucks, Allman Brothers Band
37. Zakk Wylde
36. Dimebag Darrell
35. Lee Ranaldo
34. Kirk Hammett, Metallica
33. John Frusciante, Red Hot Chili Peppers
32. Slash, Guns N' Roses
31. Albert Lee

Up next, a great guitarist whose finger picking style lands him at #30:

#30:  Mark Knopfler

48 years as an active guitarist

Mark Freuder Knopfler was born in Glasgow, Scotland on August 12, 1949.  Over almost 50 years, Knopfler has been the singer, songwriter and leader of Dire Straits, a highly sought session guitarist, a record producer and film score composer.  

Mark and his family settled in Blyth in Northeast England when he was seven.  He and his young brother David attended Gosforth Grammar School.  Inspired by his uncle's harmonica and piano playing, Mark wanted to buy a Fender Stratocaster just like Hank Marvin's, but had to settle for a twin pickup Hofner Super Solid.  


During the 1960's, he listened to Elvis Presley and guitarists Scotty Moore, B.B. King, Chet Atkins and James Burton and formed bands in school.  In 1968, after studying journalism for a year at Harlow Technical College, Knopfler was hired as a reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post in Leeds. 

Two years later, Mark went on to graduate with a degree in English at the University of Leeds. In April of 1970, Knopfler recorded a demo disk of a song he'd written called "Summer's Coming My Way".  When he graduated in 1973, Knopfler moved to London and joined a band called Brewers Droops, appearing on the album The Booze Brothers.  One night while with friends, Knopfler picked up an old acoustic guitar with a badly warped neck.  He found it impossible to play unless he finger-picked it.  Knopfler now attributes this experience for his development as a guitar player.


After a brief stay with Brewers Droop, Knopfler became a lecturer at Loughton College in Essex for three years.  During this time, he continued to perform with local pub bands and also formed a duo with bluesman Steve Phillips called the Duolian String Pickers.


By the mid-1970's, Knopfler devoted much of his playing to a group known as the Cafe Racers.  Mark's brother, David, moved to London and Mark moved in along with John Illsley, a bass guitarist.  The three began playing music together and soon Mark invited John and David to join the Cafe Racers.  That group would soon become known as Dire Straits.


The group recorded three sessions in 1977 with Pick Withers as drummer, David as rhythm guitarist, Mark on lead guitar and vocals and Illsley on bass.  In July, they recorded the now famous demo tapes of "Wild West End", "Sultans of Swing", "Down to the Waterline", "Sacred Loving" and "Water  of Love".  In October, they recorded "Southbound Again", "In the Gallery" and Six Blade Knife" for BBC Radio London and in November, demo tapes were made of "Setting Me Up", "Eastbound Train" and "Real Girl".

Many of these songs were featured on the self-titled Dire Straits album in 1978.  Initially, the album received little attention but when "Sultans of Swing" was released it became a hit in The Netherlands.  Soon, album sales took off across Europe and then the United States, but not until five months after its release.  To this day, the album remains as one of the most critically respected and best debut albums of the Rock Era and has sold six million copies.


Communique continued the group's unique sound, featuring the finger picking guitar of Mark Knopfler.  It reached #1 in France and Germany and sold seven million copies.  

Increasingly, Knopfler was the driving force behind the group.  Making Movies in 1980 represented a move towards more complex arrangements and production which would continue for the rest of Dire Straits' career.  Making Movies contained "Romeo and Juliet", one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*, as well as "Tunnel of Love", which appeared in the smash movie An Officer & A Gentleman.


Dire Straits released Love over Gold in 1982, which featured "Private Investigations", a #2 hit in the U.K. and "Industrial Disease".  The group then released a four-song EP called ExtendancEPlay in 1982, the first project to feature new drummer Terry Williams, formerly of Rockpile, who had replaced Withers.  


The group then set out on a world tour in 1983, which led to the release of the double album Alchemy Live, recordings of two shows in Hammersmith Odeon in London.  The album reached #3 in the U.K.  Knopfler was also involved with writing and producing music for the movie Local Hero, followed by his scores to the films Cal and Comfort and Joy.  He also produced the album Infidels for Bob Dylan and wrote "Private Dancer" for Tina Turner's comeback album of the same name.

Dire Straits had not had a blockbuster in a while, but in 1985, Brothers in Arms became the biggest album of their career, despite the fact that their debut exceeded it in quality.  The album has now sold over 30 million copies worldwide and is the fourth best-selling album ever in the U.K.  The album was led by the smash hit #1 hit "Money for Nothing", "So Far Away" and "Walk of Life".  Brothers in Arms was the first compact disc to sell a million copies.  The group's world tour in 1985-86, featuring over 230 concerts, was highly successful.


Nevertheless, after this tour, Dire Straits did not work together for quite some time as Knopfler concentrated on film soundtracks.  He took part in the charity project Ferry Aid on the remake of "Let It Be" to benefit victims of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster.  Knopfler wrote the score for the movie The Princess Bride in 1987.


Dire Straits regrouped for the June 11, 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in London.  In September, though, Knopfler announced that Dire Straits was splitting up.  

In 1989, Knopfler formed the Notting Hillbillies, a group which played folk, blues and country music.  The group's only studio album, Notting Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time was released in 1990.  The group toured that year, then Knopfler did a collaboration with Chet Atkins called Neck and Neck.  

Later that year, Knopfler, John Illsley and Alan Clark performed as Dire Straits at a concert in Knebworth and in January of 1991, Dire Straits reformed for what turned out to be their final album.  Accompanied by Jeff Porcaro, the famed drummer from Toto, On Every Street was released in September.  The album reached #1 in the U.K. and a tour lasted until the end of 1992.  It was a grueling tour and the album and the live performances were not as well received as in the past, leading to the final breakup of the group in 1995.  

In 1993, Knopfler received an honorary music doctorate from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.  The live Dire Straits album On the Night documented the group's final world tour.

Knopfler concentrated on a solo career, releasing Golden Heart, Sailing to Philadelphia and The Ragpicker's Dream before a serious motorcycle crash in Grosvenor Road, Belgravia in 2003 in which he suffered a broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade and several broken ribs.  A planned tour was cancelled, but fortunately Knopfler recovered and was able to return to the stage in 2004. 

Since then, Mark has released Shangri-Las, All the Roadrunning, Kill to Get Crimson and Get Lucky.    All the Roadrunning reached #1 in Denmark and Switzerland, #2 in Norway and Sweden, #3 in Germany, Holland and Italy, #8 in the U.K. and Austria, #9 in Spain and #17 in the United States.  It was nominated for Best Folk Rock Album at the Grammy Awards in 2007. 

In 1997, Mark recorded the soundtrack for Wag the Dog.  Knopfler has recorded and performed with many stars including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Chet Atkins, Emmylou Harris and Van Morrison.  He has also produced albums for Dylan, Tina Turner and Randy Newman.

All of this would be enough to place Knopfler in The Top 50 Guitarists of the Rock Era*, but a guitarist is also measured by how well he is respected by his peers. 

Knopfler has played on over 100 songs or albums by other artists, including the great album Break Every Rule and Foreign Affair by Tina Turner, Gaucho by Steely Dan, Slow Train Coming for Bob Dylan, Back Pages by America, Human by Rod Stewart, Deja Vu (All Over Again) by John Fogerty, Beautiful Vision by Van Morrison, Phil Everly's self-titled album in 1983, The Rock Connection by Cliff Richard, Damn Right, I've Got the Blues by Buddy Guy, two albums by Phil Lynott (the former lead singer of Thin Lizzy), Boys and Girls by Bryan Ferry, the parody of "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies" by "Weird Al" Yankovic, and the album Shouting Stage by Joan Armatrading.

Mark has been a rock legend, but he has also contributed to country music.  He wrote and played guitar for John Anderson on the song "When It Comes to You", played on The River of Time by the Judds and collaborated with George Jones on his 1994 album The Bradley Barn Sessions.  Knopfler is also featured on Kris Kristofferson's album The Austin Sessions in 1999.  

Knopfler, although left-handed, plays right-handed and is famous for fingerpicks, the style he first developed on that old bent acoustic guitar.  Knopfler owns about 70 guitars, but he favors Fender Telecaster and Stratocasters, including the Mark Knopfler Artist Series Stratocaster.  He also uses his original 1958 Gibson Les Paul regularly, both in the studio and in live performances.

Among the other guitars in his collection are the National Triplate, a 1930's National Style O 14-fret, a Pensa Custom MKII, Pensa MK-1, MK-2 and MK-80 guitars, named in Knopfler's honor, a red Melancon Pro Artist, a Hofner V-2 (his first guitar), many Stratocasters, including a 1962 Fiesta Red and a 1954 Sunburst (one of the first produced), a National Tricone 1928, a National Style O Resonator 1937, which he used to play "Romeo and Juliet", a 1952 Fender Telecaster, a Burns Baldwin 12-string and Martin Acoustics.

Knopfler has used several differed amplifiers, including the Crate VC512 with 2x12 cabinets, the Fender Concert, the Fender Vibrolux, the Fender Twin Reverb, the Gallien & Krueger amp, Marshall JTM heads and a Marshall 4x12 cabinet.

Knopfler uses several effects from Boss, the BF-2 Flanger, the CE-2 Chorus, the CE-300 Chorus, the CS-2 Compressor, the DM-2 Delay, the OC-2 Octaver and the PH-2 Phaser.  He also utilizes the Alesis Quadraverb, the DeltaLab Digital Delay, the Ibanez UE 303 Multi Effect, the Lexicon 300 Reverb and the Master Room Reverb.

Knopfler has won several awards, both with Dire Straits and solo.  In 1983, Dire Straits won the BRIT Award for Best British Group.  They won Grammys in 1986 for Song of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Money for Nothing" and Knopfler also won a Grammy that same year for Best Country Instrumental Performance (with Chet Atkins on "Cosmic Square Dance").  Dire Straits won a Juno Award for International Album of the Year and a BRIT Award for Best British Album (both for Brothers in Arms).  Dire Straits was once again recognized in 1986 with a BRIT Award for Best British Group.

In 1991, Knopfler won his fourth and fifth Grammy Awards for Best Country Vocal Collaboration with Chet Atkins ("Poor Boy Blues") and Best Country Instrumental Performance with Atkins on "So Soft, Your Goodbye".

In 1995, Knopfler was presented with the Honorary Doctor of Music from his Alma mater, the University of Leeds.  In 1999, Mark was honored with the Officer of the British Empire medal from Queen Elizabeth II in London.  He was honored in 2001 when scientists who had listened to his music while discovering a new species of dinosaur named the dinosaur Masiakasaurus knopfleri.  

In 2003, Knopfler was presented with the Edison Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Music Industry, the highest award for musicians in The Netherlands.  Dire Straits was honored with the 2006 Grammy for Best Surround Sound Album when Brothers in Arms was re-released for a 20th Anniversary Edition.  In 2007, Knopfler received his third honorary Doctorate of Music when the University of Sunderland honored him.  

In 2009, Knopfler received the Music Producers Guild Award for Best Studio for his British Grove Studios.  Dire Straits was honored with the Music Heritage Award, a ceremonial plaque installed to commemorate a link between a famous artist and the location in which they performed at (Deptford in London).

In 2011, Mark received the Steiger Award, presented in Bochum, Germany, which "reflects the qualities of responsibility, honesty, openness and hard work valued in the North Rhine Westphalia region of Germany.  
 
Knopfler's had a great career. Most rankings show him in the Top 50 and that's where we have him. Mark is #30 for the Rock Era*...