Today I was on the Fender website and accidentally found a nice little tool there: the online guitar tuner.

When you click on one of the six tuners of the peghead, the software will play a sample of the corresponding note, played with a clean Fender sound.

There are some very useful options: loop on or off (the note will be played again and again in loop mode), and you can select the tuning - standard or all different kinds of open or special tunings. You can even create your own tuning.

The only thing that is missing is the option to fine tune to another root pitch than 440Hz – but to be honest, not something many of us really need.

I like the idea to tune the guitar using your ears instead of a tuner device – helps to keep your ears fit

"Buy Ingo a beer" - Most people take it for granted to get top-quality content for free. Advertizing income covers less than 10% of the work I put into the site, so why not say thank you with a PayPal donation?

Related articles

• How to identify an original pre-CBS Fender Stratocaster body
• Features and specs of a ‘61 Vintage Stratocaster
• Red – redder – the reddest: fiesta, dakota, candy apple, hot rod, and more Fender colours
• Dream Guitar album on Strat-talk.com – real or fake?
• Amps and Gear on the Dire Straits Bootleg Leeds 1978
• Early Dire Straits: Which of the two red Fenders was used in which concert?

As many of you might already have noticed, I recently added a forum to this site.

We have the comment function below each blog post which has been used to discuss everything that is related to the post subject, but many times completely new threads emerged within the comments which became easily off-topic in a way. For this reason – and to make it possible for readers to start a new thread any time – I added a proper forum. The forum plug-in I found for this purpose is really great and offers a lot of cool functions. Almost every feature you know of other forums is here, too (like directly embedding youtube videos or pictures, PM’ing other members, and so on.

You can get to the forum via the link under ‘Pages’ at the top of the left sidebar. And there is a list of the latest forum posts a bit below in the sidebar, you can also get to the forum by clicking on one of the list entries.

You need to register to post but don’t be afraid, you will not be pestered with many newsletters or such. This is mainly to avoid spammers.

So after the last few days of testing I officially announce the new forum with this post. I hope there will be many interesting discussions, looking forward to it

"Buy Ingo a beer" - Most people take it for granted to get top-quality content for free. Advertizing income covers less than 10% of the work I put into the site, so why not say thank you with a PayPal donation?

Related articles

• No Related Post

Romeo and Juliet is a song I have been playing on my National for many years, but I never tried to play the wonderful ending of recent live versions where the piano leads through a rather unusual chord sequence. Yesterday I played around with the piano a bit and had a look at this.

After the last verse Romeo and Juliet features a two-chord sequence over which Knopfler plays solo: Bb (or Bbmaj7) and C.

When the drum stops, this sequnce (Bb – C ) is repeated two more times. Next comes a sequence of five chords, the piano is the dominating instrument here:

Bb – Am – G – F (9) – E

Note that Romeo and Juliet is in the key of F, so you would expect a sequence that leads to an F chord. This one however completely ignores the key – the G and especially that last E do not belong here in any way. Thus it functions as a surprising change in the mood of the sound, highlighting the carefully constructed composition. Wonderful.

To hear what I am talking about, check the following youtube video, starting from 8:55 :

"Buy Ingo a beer" - Most people take it for granted to get top-quality content for free. Advertizing income covers less than 10% of the work I put into the site, so why not say thank you with a PayPal donation?

Related articles

• The Circle of Fifths: What is it for? – plus: example analysis of Knopfler songs
• Eastbound Train: opening chord analysis
• Installing a Highlander iP-1X – The best pick-up for the National resonator guitar
• Mark Knopfler chord shape of Vic and Ray and for a lick in Money for Nothing live intro
• Backing tracks player to jam with at JamCenter.com
• Understanding songs – chords and structure analysis of True love will never fade

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 Ingo a beer" - Most people take it for granted to get top-quality content for free. Advertizing income covers less than 10% of the work I put into the site, so why not say thank you with a PayPal donation?

Related articles

• Rhett Davies and the sound of the first Dire Straits album
• Southbound Again riff
• Rehearsing Southbound Again
• Another key element of the Mark Knopfler guitar style: Quarter note triplets – with example tabs
• My Sunburst Schecter Strat Copy
• Old Geocities Dire Straits Guitar Page down – Please update links and bookmarks

I recently surfed into a nice site called JamCenter.com where you find a “jam machine” – an online loop player that plays backing tracks to jam with. Simply choose a key in the left sidebar, scroll down (the loop player appears at the very bottom of the page), select one of the styles (rock, cool, metal,…), and the player will play a loop of a certain length. The chords are displayed so you know what is being played. The sound of the recordings is alright and the styles are often tasteful and fresh. Have fun!

If you ever need an online guitar tuner or a metronom, these can be found there as well.

"Buy Ingo a beer" - Most people take it for granted to get top-quality content for free. Advertizing income covers less than 10% of the work I put into the site, so why not say thank you with a PayPal donation?

Related articles

• Chord changes for ending of Romeo And Juliet
• Mark Knopfler chord shape of Vic and Ray and for a lick in Money for Nothing live intro
• Understanding songs – chords and structure analysis of True love will never fade
• The one-man band – Playing both rhythm and lead guitar together
• Calling Elvis chord analysis – Major, minor, no-third, power chords
• Mark Knopfler licks around the 7/9 chord

Older Posts »