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

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Sultans of Swing from Dire Straits’  first album is surely one of THE songs that comes to mind when talking about fingerstyle guitar playing. In addition to Mark Knopfler’s unique playing style it also features some striking Spanish-sounding elements, starting from the chord  progression itself to some flamenco-like strumming techniques – which is this blog article, or rather the embedded video, is about.

The typical flamenco stroke is called Rasgueado (the Spanish word for strumming) – a particular “roll” of your right hand fingers. I am  really no master of the true flamenco style but I realized many years ago that Knopfler plays  something like this in numerous songs, and practised something that sounds similar – my version of the Rasgueado. I can do it in two different ways: pinky first to index finger, or vice versa. Both sound different but I am not completetly sure which one Knopfler makes use of (possibly both).

The video explains how I play it. I think the idea becomes clear. So, enjoy!

PS: The rasgueado sounds great with distorted power chords, too. Give it a try!

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• Rhett Davies and the sound of the first Dire Straits album
• Sensational: Sultans of Swing guitar track solo – without backing tracks – from Guitar Hero 5
• Sultans of Swing: Studio version vocals alone, karaoke track, plus the last seconds – unheard before
• Another key element of the Mark Knopfler guitar style: Quarter note triplets – with example tabs
• Sultans of Swing – The alternate single version and the demo version – sound and gear
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Here is a small video clip in which I play the Southbound Again riff, this time the studio version (I put another video online with the completely different live version a few weeks ago).

I played it in standard tuning. A few years ago I read an interview where Mark said that it was open G tuning (which somewhat surprised me here). Anyway, it works fine in standard tuning I think.

The amp here is a small tweed Princeton clone, no effects.

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I got a new camera for Christmas, so I immediately tried it out and filmed a few clips. Here are two acoustic guitar covers of Boom like that and Song for Sonny Liston. In both cases I did not play the complete song but a 2 minutes and something version (especially Sonny Liston has so many verses that I felt it to be a bit boring when playing it alone).

The guitar is a weird Gibson from 1976, a MK-81. The MK series was Gibson’s attempt to combine the latest physical research results with traditional guitar building. Basically the MK series was a flop and was soon dropped again, but I love this guitar. It sounds nice in all situations.

Boom like that

Boom like that is standard tuning with a capo at the 3rd fret. I don’t play the riff exactly as Knopfler plays it (e.g. he plays  a slightly different bass with the thumb). I simply started to play it this way for no particular reason. I also added a ‘c’ note to the second chord (Bb, so I get a Bb9). I heard Knopfler doing this and totally loved it, although he normally does not play it this way I think.

Song for Sonny Liston

Also standard tuning, this time with a capo at the 4th fret.

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I reported about the vocals only and karaoke tracks of Sultans of Swing in the last post. If you read all the comments there you will already have heard the latest news: a guitar-only track is also available. They all seem to be from the Guitar Hero 5 game.

It seems the makers of the game had access to the multitrack recording of Sultans. The guitar track does not only include the lead guitar but also the rhathm guitars, switching between both which means you hear the rhythm guitars whenenever the lead guitar is not playing. When it is, you hear only the lead guitar. I guess this was done with a gate using a sidechain input. A gate is a device that can shut down another track while the input signal is above a specified level.

It is really amazing to hear the guitar alone, after knowing the song for over 30 years. There are many details which you simply couldn’t hear in the mix – lot’s of “noises” like scratche and dead notes, some low level tones etc. Also you can clearly hear the chorus effect, probably from the Roland Jazz Chorus, and there seems something like a compressor or rather limiter that even introduces some distortion.

As it seems you cannot buy these tracks but they are part of a game software, and as it is only one instrument and not a full composition – I guess it does not inflict with copyrights when I put in a sound clip here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

"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

• Rasgueado and other flamenco techniques in Sultans of Swing
• Rhett Davies and the sound of the first Dire Straits album
• Sultans of Swing: Studio version vocals alone, karaoke track, plus the last seconds – unheard before
• Another key element of the Mark Knopfler guitar style: Quarter note triplets – with example tabs
• Sultans of Swing – The alternate single version and the demo version – sound and gear
• Sultans of Swing solo

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