A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: LaszloB on August 04, 2022, 12:03:55 PM
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Hi everyone!
The other day I decided to make a quick little video on how I go about getting Mark Knopfler's lead guitar tone, the way it sounds in Sultans of Swing
There's been a few people asking me about my setup and gear, so here it is. Though we all know ofcourse that tone is in the fingers, this video is just about the gear.
I might do a video about his solo style and playing later.
Here it is, I hope you enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pknnHUjxb4s&ab_channel=LaszloBuring
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I think you'll get asked to move it into the "Almost Straits" section, but great work as usual. Especially for people like me, who have never had any pedals.
The "it's in fingers" argument is a popular opinion, but Mark is not playing air guitar, after all, so apart from fingers, there's also gear and it's important.
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I think you'll get asked to move it into the "Almost Straits" section, but great work as usual. Especially for people like me, who have never had any pedals.
The "it's in fingers" argument is a popular opinion, but Mark is not playing air guitar, after all, so apart from fingers, there's also gear and it's important.
Oh right! I should've posted over there. My bad, sorry!
Gear definitely plays a part in the sound. Maybe it's 50% gear, 50% playing style. Though gear can be bought, but playing style takes years to master.
You get a great MK tone by the way, for someone that doesn't use pedals!
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I think you'll get asked to move it into the "Almost Straits" section, but great work as usual. Especially for people like me, who have never had any pedals.
The "it's in fingers" argument is a popular opinion, but Mark is not playing air guitar, after all, so apart from fingers, there's also gear and it's important.
Oh right! I should've posted over there. My bad, sorry!
Gear definitely plays a part in the sound. Maybe it's 50% gear, 50% playing style. Though gear can be bought, but playing style takes years to master.
You get a great MK tone by the way, for someone that doesn't use pedals!
I never was a gear head... Partly because it's too expensive, partly because I'm too lazy to mess with it anyway, partly because I don't have a vehicle to use it, I don't play in a band, I'm not a songwriter, so I'm an archetypal bedroom guitar player. But I embraced that fact and now run with it lol.
I'd give gear fewer points though. It's easy to get overwhelmed by gear and start to care more about it, than actual musicianship. A good player will make a half-decent instrument sound good, but it doesn't work the other way. But that's true with any creative environment. Give an average John Doe a high-end professional camera and he'll take a picture with it a lot worse than a still from his iPhone.
I think somebody said something like your instrument performs on your level. I digress of course, as usual, hopefully, someone will write something about the actual video :lol
I bet you have a lot of requests on how you get that tone. I'm curious to see other episodes of this :D
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Here it is, I hope you enjoy!
Great tone!
Funny that your tone sounds more similar to the Robert Cray's one instead to MK's.
The Sultans tone that i pursued was from the First Album.
Most people use the bridge-middle pickups to play SOS, but, on the album Mark plays his strat using the middle pickup only.
And for rhythm too. :o
For those who uses BIAS FX, heres my Sultans Tone:
Sorry my poor english
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The Sultans tone that i pursued was from the First Album.
Most people use the bridge-middle pickups to play SOS, but, on the album Mark plays his strat using the middle pickup only.
And for rhythm too. :o
I think Ingo nailed it : on the studio version it's neck+middle but with the FS-1 pickup
https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/09/30/new-theory-on-the-sultans-of-swing-sound-dimarzio-fs-1-pickup-in-the-middle-position/
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I think Ingo nailed it : on the studio version it's neck+middle but with the FS-1 pickup
https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/09/30/new-theory-on-the-sultans-of-swing-sound-dimarzio-fs-1-pickup-in-the-middle-position/
Hi, JF.
I'm pretty sure that the SOS tone from the First Album is from the middle pickup only.
Thats no audio or video from Ingo's experiment.
There is a video of him playing the Dimarzio and comparing his sound (with different strings) to the SOS solo and its very different.
Now, about the early MK live tones, Ingo is a master.
And, for the Sultans album tone, i stongly believe that the Engineer (Muff Winwood?) was driving the desk mixing the 'Chorus channel' with the 'normal' one while Mark was playing.
Well, its just a guess because, on a studio, everything is possible.
cheers.
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Lol I just recorded Sultans on my little practice Squier guitar... I used the neck and middle pickups because I liked the sound, but for sure, on the record, it's more nasal. Either it really was middle pickup only, or this magic pickup Ingo has provided.
I'm baffled sometimes why nobody documents information like this. Even having a ~20K channel, I know I'll be bombarded with questions about how I did something, so I write everything down or at least remember it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9n0Npcxa2U
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I think Ingo nailed it : on the studio version it's neck+middle but with the FS-1 pickup
https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/09/30/new-theory-on-the-sultans-of-swing-sound-dimarzio-fs-1-pickup-in-the-middle-position/
Hi, JF.
I'm pretty sure that the SOS tone from the First Album is from the middle pickup only.
Thats no audio or video from Ingo's experiment.
There is a video of him playing the Dimarzio and comparing his sound (with different strings) to the SOS solo and its very different.
Now, about the early MK live tones, Ingo is a master.
And, for the Sultans album tone, i stongly believe that the Engineer (Muff Winwood?) was driving the desk mixing the 'Chorus channel' with the 'normal' one while Mark was playing.
Well, its just a guess because, on a studio, everything is possible.
cheers.
during years I also thought that it was the middle PU only
but when listening again after long discussions with Ingo, I agree with him that middle only would have sound sharper than what we hear on the record
of course we will never know for sure :)
and remember that in 91-92 and 96, Mark played Sultans on middle+neck on the Pensa-Suhr (mostly because he didn't want to use the bridge humbucker PU on this song I guess)
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during years I also thought that it was the middle PU only
but when listening again after long discussions with Ingo, I agree with him that middle only would have sound sharper than what we hear on the record
of course we will never know for sure :)
The middle pickup only has sharper sound. That's for sure.
But a little of compression and EQ solves this "problem".
I have a extremely poorly played test of sound here...
Using Middle Pickup only.
and remember that in 91-92 and 96, Mark played Sultans on middle+neck on the Pensa-Suhr (mostly because he didn't want to use the bridge humbucker PU on this song I guess)
You're right.
He played Why Worry using bridge-middle pickups and its sounded harsh.
My dear friend Brunno Nunes and i are always discussing about tone.
As a guitar player, my sound is always changing. New pedals, guitars, amps, cables...
With MK was not different. He always tried new gear into his sound.
The Boogies, Marshalls, effects rack, pickups, guitars, cables, wireless transmiters... And we (myself and Brunno) always remember ourselves that Mark was not pursuind vintage tones, he was on a modern form of his tone.
Those Schecters was difinitely not regular strats.
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I have a extremely poorly played test of sound here...
Using Middle Pickup only.
Great tone!
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Great tone!
Hey, Quizz.
Check this new sample.
I use the original backing track.
Middle pickup only.
Some dynamics are played wrong, but the tone is 80% closer to the record.
Maybe a little bit more of chorus... but it is what it is.
btw, the guitar is a custom made strat made here in Brazil.
Pine body, maple/pau ferro neck, stainless frets, Wilkinson parts.
Custom Shop Fat 50's pickups.
cheers!
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Great tone!
Hey, Quizz.
Check this new sample.
I use the original backing track.
Middle pickup only.
Some dynamics are played wrong, but the tone is 80% closer to the record.
Maybe a little bit more of chorus... but it is what it is.
btw, the guitar is a custom made strat made here in Brazil.
Pine body, maple/pau ferro neck, stainless frets, Wilkinson parts.
Custom Shop Fat 50's pickups.
cheers!
What can I say? It sounds amazing! I'll use your info for teaching purposes if you don't mind. I'm a complete noob when it comes to gear, but it's never too late to learn something.
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What can I say? It sounds amazing! I'll use your info for teaching purposes if you don't mind. I'm a complete noob when it comes to gear, but it's never too late to learn something.
Thank you, Quizz.
It's a pleasure for me to talk about gear.
Make yourself at home.
I'm here If you need something.
Cheers.
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indeed, very good tone Rolo :thumbsup :clap
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I know it’s a controversial topic but to my ears it’s always been clear Mark always played Sultans in position 2 when with a Fender Strat, including the studio version. One thing I think most people get wrong is playing it with no drive at all. You need a bit of dirt and mids to cut through the mix. If you play it clean all by yourself it’s ok but with a band you’ll disappear under the other instruments.
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I know it’s a controversial topic but to my ears it’s always been clear Mark always played Sultans in position 2 when with a Fender Strat, including the studio version.
Eddie, did you hear my samples?
Its middle only.
A little of saturation is nice. You are right about that.
cheers