The Mark Knopfler Songbook — Featured on MK's official YouTube channel

[TheTimeWasWrong]

Great work as always! I loved this song so much, from the moment I first heard it. The man is such a genius because the intro/outro is in the key of F-major (altering IV/V like the R&J outro), then the verse seamlessly transitions to C-major, and ultimately the chorus is in F-major again (but starting on the I instead of IV/V). It sounds like a simple song, but it's all very cleverly engineered.

One minor note: I think you missed the F#m to F#m7 at the start of the verse. It's very subtle (right before "but we're not watching it").

[quizzaciously]

Great work as always! I loved this song so much, from the moment I first heard it. The man is such a genius because the intro/outro is in the key of F-major (altering IV/V like the R&J outro), then the verse seamlessly transitions to C-major, and ultimately the chorus is in F-major again (but starting on the I instead of IV/V). It sounds like a simple song, but it's all very cleverly engineered.

One minor note: I think you missed the F#m to F#m7 at the start of the verse. It's very subtle (right before "but we're not watching it").

But I played it! In the lower position, not with the upper voicing, but I played it and wrote it down in my chords.

Great chord functions analysis, this is what I actually missed, but I'm not good at this. I can catch some things, but to go deeper you need some special knowledge. It's indeed a finely written song, can't expect different from MK!

[quizzaciously]

Another solo breakdown, this time — “You And Your Friend” from On The Night live DVD. On the surface, it seems like a simple blues, but the classic Knopfler touch makes it so hard to play right. Especially the “crying” parts, where Mark uses the volume pedal to turn the guitar into a second voice. But either way, I tried my best to explain what is happening in this solo. It’s only the 4th solo I’ve discussed so far, but already it’s too much fun! Pavel.

[quizzaciously]

I had so much to say about Mark’s wonderful version of “What A Wonderful World”, that made a 25-minute video about it. And I wanted to do this video for years. Hopefully, that’s not too tedious for my viewers, but to everyone who will watch the whole thing — thank you, I really mean that. Pavel.

[quizzaciously]

I recorded Sultans Of Swing! I can’t believe it myself. After 5 years of studying Mark's songs under the microscope, I’m finally ready to attempt playing his magnum opus, at least in the eyes and ears of his audience. Ask your questions about this song and I’ll answer them in a proper Songbook lesson. Obviously, not gear-related questions, please! It’s not easy to record, especially for a bedroom guitar player like me, so I chose the take with the least amount of mistakes. There are a few pretty unfortunate mistakes, but I like the way I dealt with them. How, you ask? I just don’t care! Pavel.

[Jules]

Very brave!

 

[quizzaciously]

Very brave!

 

Yeah, thank you. I know I'll get a lot of flack for playing it on this particular guitar though. But I'd say just try it, play Sultans on the cheapest guitar on the market. It's a great challenge!

UPD: And the cheapest amp.

[naif]

Great man, wish i can play like you, well done!

[quizzaciously]

Great man, wish i can play like you, well done!

Thank you! Well, hopefully with my channel I help people to play better. I'll make a video on Sultans with tips on how to approach it.

[Jules]

Let's start with the critics, lol

I think it would had been better if you recorded the rythmic by one side, and played the solos apart, this way is a little weird, as when playing solos, logically you stop the rythmic and is weird.

Despite that, again, congratulations, you have to be very brave to play his milestone song and upload, lol

So, you use a wireless with the amp?

[quizzaciously]

Let's start with the critics, lol

I think it would had been better if you recorded the rythmic by one side, and played the solos apart, this way is a little weird, as when playing solos, logically you stop the rythmic and is weird.

Despite that, again, congratulations, you have to be very brave to play his milestone song and upload, lol

So, you use a wireless with the amp?

I thought about this a lot, maybe recording an acoustic over, but at the same time, I felt there are too many versions of this on YouTube with rhythm already. And it made sense to me to play solo and rhythm as it's sort of a live setup, Mark always plays both rhythm and solos anyway. So I felt I needed to give this "naked" version a try.

Yes, doing it this way makes my playing extremely open and vulnerable, I cringe from my own mistakes like crazy. But I really don't know... It's on the verge of me not uploading it at all, to be honest.

It's a headphone amp! Fender Mustang Micro, that's the whole amp. You just connect it to the computer and record what's played, complete with effects and EQ.

[JF]

congrats Pavel ! 

I like the way you mix rhythm and lead, just like Mark

and I like your tone too !

[quizzaciously]

I plan to go live today at 09:00 p.m. Moscow time, so approx. in 6 hours from now (03:00 Moscow time). I want to talk about private lessons, custom videos, and transcriptions. Everything that's teaching-related, basically, and talk about the channel. The last time my stream went extremely well, the questions kept me going for 3 hours straight, but I think I'll make a shorter stream today. Pavel.

[Jules]

I watched a big part of it, really nice.

It always amazes me how much we have in common on musical tastes, I also like a lot "Practical Arrangement" from "The Last Ship", I was to say Sting's musical, but that song wasn't in the musical as the producers thought it didn't fit and asked Sting to write another song instead. I don't share that decision, as I think "Practical Arrangement" is a very nice song, heartbreaking, truly.

[quizzaciously]

I watched a big part of it, really nice.

It always amazes me how much we have in common on musical tastes, I also like a lot "Practical Arrangement" from "The Last Ship", I was to say Sting's musical, but that song wasn't in the musical as the producers thought it didn't fit and asked Sting to write another song instead. I don't share that decision, as I think "Practical Arrangement" is a very nice song, heartbreaking, truly.

Wow, thank you! I was extremely nervous for some reason, probably because I barely speak in my regular life, and needed to speak for 2 hours straight.

Yeah, Practical Arrangement and the whole album is great, I have very fond memories connected with this album...