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Dire Straits Down to the Waterline explained: licks – chords – solo – no tabs
Posted in: Easy stuff for beginners,MK guitar style and licks,Understanding music by Ingo on July 09, 2009
Summer is here and with it my summer holidays, so the ideal opportunity for some more song tutorials here in my Mark Knopfler guitar blog. This time I will explain the song Down to the Waterline – the first song on the first Dire Straits CD (1978).
Down to the waterline is surely another highlight of early Dire Straits. It is one of the oldest Mark Knopfler songs, one of 5 songs included on the demo tape Dire Straits recorded in summer 1977. It is the opener of the first album and was planned (however never released) as a second single, following the band’s first single success Sultans of Swing.
It is in the key of Bm and features many guitar licks and stuff that is typical for this key but also a lot of surprises like some unusual chord changes in the middle solo or some chromatic notes.
I am explaining the whole song in a youtube video or – to be precise – in two parts since youtube allows only clips up to 10 minutes. I am showing the song as I would play it – which is a mixture of the studio or some live versions. As always, it is not about the most accurate transcription of a particular version, but about the idea behind those licks, chords and solos.
Video Part 1 (Intro, verses, chords, first solos)
Video Part 2 (middle and last solo)
Knopfler probably played his Fender Strat S.-No. 80470 on the CD version of this track, possibly over a Fender Twin and/or his brown Fender Vibrolux amp. Besides some reverb and slight distortion from the amp, the guitar sound is compressed, possibly by the Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer. However, noone knows for sure about the gear actually used on the first two CDs, and there is a lot of rumour around.
Some notes on the gear I used for this video
self-built clone of the Mark Knopfler Fender Strat S.-No. 80470 (mainly of Fender parts) , into Morley Volume pedal, into MXR analog delay, into Music Man HD 212 amp
recorded by the mic of a digi cam.
"Buy me a beer" - donate for the site via PayPal. Or buy a backing track in my online shop :)
Ingo
Great explanation. I’ve been working on this song recently and your video filled in a few missing pieces. Thanks for providing this fantastic resource.
John
Comment by John — 11. July 2009 @ 10:04
Awesome job on the Down to the Waterline instruction… Thank you
Comment by m — 16. August 2009 @ 19:04
Thanks so much Ingo, great lesson!
Prost!
Comment by RobGordon — 30. August 2009 @ 14:28
Where did you find out some of the information about which guitar he played on the track – I’d seen him interviewed on BBC before in his guitar room and he must’ve had 40 guitars there — hard to track which he used without video or specific recording engineer notes.
Comment by Dave Allen — 15. January 2010 @ 16:11
In 1978 he did not have too many guitars…
Comment by Ingo — 16. January 2010 @ 15:37
Ingo,
That is an awesome strat clone and great playing. What colour red is the clone guitar. Also what pickups are installed in the guitar?
Thanks,
Chris
Comment by Chris — 13. November 2010 @ 08:12
Hi Chris, that guitar is just a part-o-caster, some parts are Fender, some are from a Japanasese guitar from the 70ies, the red is from a spraying can (nitro) but not exactly the colour I wanted it to have, the PUs are Fender 57/62 from the 80ies, from a JV Squier.
Comment by Ingo — 13. November 2010 @ 09:31
[...] playing but one that explains how to play a particular song again, similar to the ones I did about Down to the Waterline some time ago. As Down to the Waterline is the first song of Dire Straits’ first album, I [...]
Pingback by Dire Straits Water of Love guitar tutorial | Mark Knopfler Guitar / More Knowledge about the guitar — 27. January 2012 @ 15:00
Ingo, thank so much for this lesson which give us a really knowledge of MK technics and give us the felling to be less lost un this pièce of music.
Thanks a lot. Alain
Comment by Alain — 31. January 2012 @ 06:58
HI Ingo…First, congratulations on your work .. you play very much!
What pickups do you recommend for me to perform songs from Knopfler? What pickups would come closest to the sound of red strato Rockpalast 79?
Igon, thank you! a big hug from Brazil!
Comment by Raul — 13. February 2012 @ 22:34
except the pickups Haeussels because there is no sale in my country (Brazil), and the import is bureaucratic.
fs-1 neck + some fenders in the middle and bridge ? or all fenders, and what? help me, please ..
Comment by Raul — 13. February 2012 @ 23:51
The Rockpalast Strat had “normal” pickups, also in the neck position, probably early 60ies fender vintage so any vintage Strat-style pickup should do.
Comment by Ingo — 14. February 2012 @ 09:12