https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Bm2xvuzCA

Here he is burning it up on the classic "Can't Find My Way Home." Took the cameraman 3 minutes that it was Knopfler and not Eric Clapton playing solo.

Great great guitar player.

Why yes, you are correct sir.
Plus a heck of a song writer.

This guy is good...
https://youtu.be/8ufEdxOrjcI

My rig without pedals.

Knopfler is one of the very best ever.............love his sound, more mellow & melodic than Clapton's harder, driving style.

Oh man Romeo & Juliet, Sultans of Swing, If This Is Goodbye, Brothers In Arms...

Genius...

So far away from you.

There was a special on tv a while back with Mark and Chet Adkins. It was something to see and listen to.

Chet Adkins said, “ this man can teach me a thing or 2 about guitars”.

Quite lofty praise.

Great video and some great sounding guitars!

Played a buddies '59 Les Paul Custom a while back but I sure couldn't make it sound like Knopfler.

Arguably the best guitarist ever.

I remember watching a Chet Atkins special where he played a duet with Mark and at the end, just barely audible over the applause, Chet could be heard to say, "You're pretty good." They went on to play many more times together.

Knopfler is a low key guitar genius and excellent songwriter. It seems that the guys who play screaming guitar get the credit and ranking, while Mark simply and quietly exhibits his genius, as he has for nearly 50 years.

No argument from me at all. I've been convinced for years.

He don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band.

It ain't what they call rock-n-roll.

Eric Clapton is pretty good too.

I like Knopfler's Brothers In Arms.

One of my favorite guitarists/songwriters. I have all of his solo albums and a decent selection of Dire Straits.

Excellent video if you play guitar and he summed it up in the first seven words if you want to learn.

I put him pretty high too; oddly enough most top 100 rankings put in mid-range or thereabouts.

MM

I think Clapton was best when he was riding the horse.

Lindsay Buckingham don’t suck.

I gotta agree; certainly when it comes to all around musicianship.

There is no one whose playing keeps so closely to the emotion of the song.

That album he did w/ Emmylou is in my top 5 favorite of all time. Just gorgeous.

Definitely one of THE best!

All The Roadrunning. Great album, play it regularly.

Agreed - just outstanding way to spend an hour listening to music

Great post Starman.
I love Knopfler.

He is the 2nd greatest of all time.

SRV.

BTW, I've probably watched the video the OP posted a dozen times. The enjoyment never diminishes. Like listening to a true loony with a lifetime of experience talk about rifles . . .

I guess Mark Knopfler is a guitar loony?

Bernie Marsden is a guitar loony.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/bernie-marsdens-guitar-collection-604826

Drop the “Arguably”.

Back in the 80’s Eric Clapton toured with Dire Straits. I saw their show at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Those two put on one hell of a show feeding off of each other, just jamming out.

Wild West End, Skateaway,....... the list goes on and on for this guitarist/songwriter genius.
While it's impossible to say he or anyone is 'the greatest of all time', Mark Knopfler is most definitely royalty.
Throw Mark Knopfler, SRV, Clapton, Hendrix, Chet Atkins, Roy Clark, BB King, Albert King, Duane Allman, and Jimmy Page in a room. Pick the greatest. Good Luck....


WB

I live in North Idaho and over the years have hunted a fair amount in Southern Idaho. Many times I've made that long drive through the night. My night driving music favorite is his 4th solo album Shangri-La. Always enjoy that part of the trip.

I've always gotten a chuckle out of his anecdote about the"Twiddly bits".

My top 5 ....... Not in order. Seen the top 2 live. Santana 3x.

Jeff Beck
Carlos Santana
David Gilmour
Mark Knopfler
Eric Clapton

Eric Claptop is the most over rated guitar player on the planet

Used to wear the Making Movies album out.

Here's one of my babies

No guitar pick here either, best guitarist out there currently in my opinion. Starts really getting down about the 5 min mark. Heck of a singer too...

Truly an amazing guy. Went to a couple Dire Straits concerts back in the day and saw Knopler in WA DC on the Privateering tour. As amazing he is on the guitar, he's a gifted songwriter and often the songs are of a historical bent that really resonates with me. For example, Done with Bonaparte about a soldier who has been injured, feels he's been led astray and is really ready to go home to France.


We've paid in hell since Moscow burned
As Cossacks tear us piece by piece
Our dead are strewn a hundred leagues
Though death would be a sweet release
And our grande armée is dressed in rags
A frozen starving beggar band
Like rats we steal each other's scraps
Fall to fighting hand to hand

[Chorus]
Save my soul from evil, Lord
And heal this soldier's heart
I'll trust in thee to keep me, Lord
I'm done with Bonaparte

What dreams he made for us to dream
Spanish skies, Egyptian sands
The world was ours, we marched upon
Our little Corporal's command
And I lost an eye at Austerlitz
The sabre slash yet gives me pain
My one true love awaits me still
The flower of the Aquitaine

This version with Emmy Lou

An absolute artist with the guitar.

At the top of the heap! One thing that always impressed me about him is that he doe all that guitar stuff WHILE singing the lead vocals. The guitar playing just goes on automatic while singing and it doesn't suffer at all!

Good stuff

Whenever I try to make a list somebody else pops up.
Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, Joe Walsh, Buddy Guy, Van Halen and everybody else mentioned should be on that list.
.

Thanks Starman for starting this thread. Very enjoyable!

He is great musician. One of the best for sure.

Where is Leo Kotke on the list? He’s pretty good.

Those are all great.

Oddly enough, most professional ratings put Jimmie Hendrix at the top of most lists..................not one of my favorites, nor really that versatile or flexible in his music, IMHO.

MM

I always like "the greatest guitar player" discussions.
Everyone comes up with names of players that have a few good songs or they have a bigger library of music but they rely on their one or two good riffs.
One man has gotten the name "the riff master" from his peers. Kieth Richards has come up with more memorable riffs than anyone else. No he doesn't go off on 5 minute wank sessions, he plays for the song. You only have to hear three or four bars of any of his riffs and you know the song

One of my favorites:



Then this one is OUTstanding: (the pure music is fabulous)

I 1000% agree with what whackem posted about Keith Richards.
'Before They Make Me Run' is gold.

WB

I always thought JH was good but over rated. I like his blues album.

He always seems to be the sentimental favourite like you'd be tarred and feathered if you didn't vote him #1.

Maybe so to some degree, but the total pkg with his songwriting and bluesy voice is a very good one.

Jimi Hendrix said Terry Kath was a better guitarist.

My favorite guitar player is the truck driver from Smokey and the Bandit.

No doubt Mark is right there to, along with Chet Atkins and a guy from the show Hee-Haw.

Kinda like this version...

You're thinking of Jerry Reed, (Smokey and the Bandit).

Glen Campbell was also an excellent guitarist.

I saw Hendrix live at the Atlanta Pop Festival, singing The Star Spangled Banner at midnight on the Fourth of July. I also saw him once live at the Atlanta Civic Center.
Once again he wasn't around for long you had to be in the right place and right time to see him live.

Starman, Thanks for posting. That was pretty interesting. Loved the Les Paul!

I generally don't go for that skinny string stuff though.

Wild West End was always a favorite of mine.

Knopfler is easily in my top 3. His sound is just so pleasant to the ear. His stuff with Chet is legend. Love Over Gold might be my favorite album of theirs. Listen on a quality system, lights down, just enveloped in sound. I wore my copy out along with a pair of Sennheisers in college.

Telegraph Road, a song written about a road in Detroit, is 14 minutes of bliss. Enjoy.

Brilliant video.
Much Insight graciously provided by a master guitarist.

I just went to the Rolling Stone. Jimi Hendrix Number 1 / Eric Clapton Number 2 / Mark Knopfler Number 44

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-153675/jimi-hendrix-7-37992/

Absurd. Johnny Ramone # 28. I like Johnny but, WTF?

I remember the first time I heard Sultans of Swing.

Was lying in bed at about 2 in the morning listening to the radio. Song came on and it seemed like Knofler's guitar washed over me like rain in the dark.

It wasn't a hit yet. Didn't know who it was. Went about a month and I didn't know if I'd dreamt it or not because I hadn't heard it again. Really bugged me.

Finally heard it again while driving, got the name and promptly went out and bought the album. Awesome!

Knopfler and Clapton are good - they learned a lot from JJ Cale.

Terry Kath was as powerful as they come! Hell of a guitarist....

The most popular gets #1. Kinda like the Grammys.

It's interesting that Knopfler as a Brit would have so many American themes in this music. It's a constant through his DS years and solo music.

This!

Alembic Distillate - early '80's
Ric 4001
'62 Precision - Reissue?

Good taste, what amp do you use?

Clapton is a pioneer of the instrument. Everyone after him, learned something from him.

Clapton's major flaw was telling Pattie Boyd that he wasn't as big a drug and alcohol abuser as her then current husband George Harrison.

That's probably why he is my #1................everything he does is just melodic & easy to listen to.

Clapton is my #2................Layla may be the best R&R cut ever.................ever. And his early work with Cream is incredible.

MM

Jimi Hendrix said his favorite guitar player to listen to was Billy Gibbons.

Yep. Those idiots that write for Rolling Stone Magazine once listed that hack Kurt Corbain in the top 10 of all time greatest guitarists.
He wouldn’t rate in the top 500 in the real world.

Besides, everybody knows SRV was # 1. 🤠

Seen SRV live when he was still sweating cocaine out of every pore. Seen Clapton live long after he he had cleaned up and was playing with more like an “orchestra”. Seen Gilmour play when I had no sense to recognize what I was hearing or seeing. Never saw Paige play live, nor Hendriix. I did see EVH. I like knopflers sound a lot, but never seen him live either. Tween whom I have seen live, it’s SRV or Gilmour.

Out of all listed, I would probably say David Gilmour and Knopfler are most closely comparable in their devotion to tonality, how it relates to ‘The Song’, and their mastery of The Song whether they wrote it or not. True Artists.

Yep, was seeing if anyone would know who we was.

Jimi Hendrix said Phil Keaggy. I agree. All mentioned except Cobain are really special but Phil Keaggy takes the cake in my opinion.

Did anyone mention Steve Howe? The guy is incredible.

Steve Howe:

Alex Lifeson is my favorite.

I'll add Joe Bonamassa in as another great guitarist but Knopfler is right there near the top with SRV.

Neal Schon from Journey can flat out play. He is way under rated.

All this guitar talk and no mention of Albert Lee?

G.E. Smith is, to be cliche', one of the most underrated guitarists ever. He's always generally been attached to backing bands like Dylan or Hall & Oates. Super humble guy too. Check it out.

Was really hoping Knopfler would pull out
a garden-shed variety 3 string shovel ..

Dont forget some of the country boys can play...........

I think you guys are being too tough on Cobain. Sure, he wasn't technically proficient but he could come up with simple riffs that absolutely rocked.

I must agree with this - - - - and then someone posted
and must say good luck with such an argument, because there are so many types, and styles, and great guitarists of various sorts - so never will that encompassing claim be settled.

Thanks for the OP. Very oood stuff from a master.

A couple of greats.

Vidovic on a Redgate.

Believe it or not Charo was/is really good. Don Felder is ok too!

Maybe I missed the comments, but did not see anyone say anything rough about Cobain as a guitar player. But, I will. His stuff is like coffee grounds compared to any one of a hundred guitar artists. And, those are not actually riffs in the original sense.

Cobain was a no talent hack. Should’ve used the shotgun sooner.

That guitar really speaks - quite full and vibrant - not a big hall, so can't figure why they used the double Bose setup in that situation. She is a very good and entertaining player, but still lacks the subtlety of phrasing and needed dynamics for a piece like that. Heard her do a Piazzolla and it was flavorful, but rhythmic steadiness absent at times. Seems to leap ahead once in a while where such is not in the vein. In older times the greats were more singular - Segovia, the Romeros, J. Williams as time passed - today there are so many fine classical players - some very young - time will sort them out.

Well he's got one video on YouTube with 1.2 BILLION views. Not too bad for a hack.

As often said, there is no accounting for poor taste. How many such views do the vulgar rapper guys have - and are you impressed by those numbers to the point where you would praise them as well? Cobain had a niche due to the listening preferences of some fans - lots of them - and he was a junkie, and he offed himself - all of which seems to have added to his "mystique" and none of which made him a great guitarist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eex1aqbfP08

Manitas de Plata--- "Little Silver Hands"

A Spanish gypsy Flamenco guitarist.

Danny Gatton was better than all of'em

There's many, many truly really good guitar players that we will never ever hear from. Your waiter in Nashville could be a unreal talented player and just hasn't had the break that he or she needed. Many of the truly greats, Vince Gill, and others have stated that they had great timing and luck. Les Paul himself was a absolute unreal gifted player but he was best known to be the first to develop mult tracking on records along with the solid body electric guitar. The Gibson Les Paul is known to be the most famous "rock" guitar ever but ask a Fender Stratocaster player if that's so...........Guitars are like guns. Lots of different types that make it interesting.

Have a good one!

Good eye.

'82 Distillate
'69 4001
'62 slab board P (real one)

At home I use an Ampeg B-15R loaded with a EV speaker.
Gigs I use a Mesa Subway D-800+ with a 2X10 and a 1X15 with a customized '92 Rick 4001V63.

BINGO !! This is the first time I have ever seen Danny's name mentioned in one of these "greatest guitar player" threads and I cannot count how many times I have been tempted to post comments and some of his recordings here. Many of the guitar "experts" probably would be heavily jolted when listening to some of that stuff. Technique !! Taste !! Versatility some would not believe !!

He stayed fairly local in his perfoming and I was fortunate to hear him and sit in a bit when we lived near DC. His versatility - hear the jazz album with Joey DeFrancesco on organ, the Hot Rod Guitar album with his own group (then cite one of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90,s rockers that could cover all of that playing.) Good to find there is another Campfire guy who gets it with Danny Gatton. This is why the proclamations about Cobain, Hendrx, Prince, etc,, etc., etc. tickle my bones.

For those who have not, try a listen.

What is best at entertaining folks is subjective.
I don't see the point in putting Cobain or anyone else
down to prop up one's own favorite.
_We could also argue who is the best comedian
and it would vary according to one's own sense
of humor and subject matter.
_Let's just say music is a "broad church" but there
are those intolerant and judgemental of others in
the same church.
_Interesting that respected masters like Knopfler
don't spend their time degrading others like some
here do.

_Would any CF critics like to offer an assessment
of Angus Young?..I find him entertaining and have
for over 40 yrs , but maybe that's not enough..

Angus_Y. explaining guitar ...

Oh quit being an arrogant pompous prick. I never said he was a great guitarist. You seem very impressed with yourself, and I don't like that at all. I'm not going to argue this but comparing Nirvana to some dumbass rappin negro is pretty funny.

Knopfler, Gatton, Peter Green, Gary Moore, Roy Buchanan, Rory Gallagher, Duane Allman, Dicky Betts are among my faves, with a couple of others previously mentioned, that should inhabit the top 10 of any best guitarist list, IMO. There are many good guitar players, only the greats can make em weep.

Someone posted this here the other day. This, too me, is pretty fuggin incredible.

Yes - some folks do need to be entertained - which is just fine, and that may be their operating sphere. However, more sophisticated thinkers usually entertain themselves. They certainly realize the very fundamental and serious differences between entertainment and the acts of understanding /appreciating the realm of art, and proficiency of skills, and sensitivity to nuance in musical endeavors.

Some "entertainers" are good at what they do - which is to help create enjoyment for the consumer, and those are acclaimed. Other entertainers are less liked and some are simply panned because they are not so enjoyable. Yes, subjective judgement. So, putting down entertainers is the work of critics and the common crowd as well. This grading and panning happens every day. It is not "church" - it is human behavior.

Beyond personal entertainment, artistic creativity, high levels of artistic skill and ability to perform exquisitely are the point of focus. The wise observer can objectively evaluate and assess while setting aside the need for "entertainment" - even though the experience may be highly entertaining. Still, performers are judged - some score high,others not so high, and some are "put down", usually because they do not meet some criteria. Discriminating beings understand these natural acts. Some do it with food, others with trucks, some with music.

It is not surprising that you would bring "church" into the discussion and take opportunity to claim that some in the "church" of art/music/etc. are intolerant and judgemental of others in the "church". Nice try - but it does not work.that way - not at all. For the thinking person, it is not at all a matter of intolerance. Aesthetic evaluation (judgement) is not a religion - it is an intellectual and artistic endeavor. Why not try it?

Why don't you simply resort to low-level name calling - because you don't like what someone else posts?? I never said you claimed Cobain was a great guitarist - I simply pointed out the criteria you used (number of views) to uphold the guy - and wondered if you used the same criteria for rappers. You don't like that? Surprise ! You said " comparing Nirvana to some dumbass rappin negro is pretty funny." I agree - that is why I used that example. Maybe try having fun instead of resorting to ad hominem rant.

Nobody in the broad church of their chosen field
is intolerant or judgemental ?

Surely you don't believe it only exists in one's religion ?



Human behavior that extends well beyond a religion
or any one chosen field.

I've also heard politicians use the term 'broad church'
to describe the conflicting differences of opinion within
their own party.




Well Knopfler is on record saying he still likes
cheap guitars...which might not sit well with highly
developed sophisticated types such as yourself.

"Loving guitars means you’ve got to love the cheap ones as well...
Boy, I loved them and I still do. You never escape that.”

-Musicradar Dec. 2918.

You still can't seem to resist showing your heavy proclivity for ignorance of normality in the human condition - your bias and disdain show like a beacon, as well as your dedication to punch at those who worship other than do you.

Your use of the term "church" for any sort of field of study or endeavor is obtuse and inapplicable. The object there for normal humans is not worship. Keep in mind, you inserted the term "religion" into this discussion - it was never in my thoughts.

Do you really think it is germane in the least - even worth a tick - to know what terms (church) these politicians apply to their party troubles? Really?

I admire Mark Knopfler's playing and his musical taste (not so much his singing) and so the "accounting for poor taste" is not applicable in your example. Knopfler is like any other accomplished and well-traveled musician - at times he happens to try to make music on an inferior instrument. Most have done so at one time or another - ever really use your ear to listen to an old club or bar piano - it's the only available tool that night. I started my learning on a really rotten clarinet. Try this - taste is internal human judgement - it is not the quality of the tools available to you. Try reading this post again - you might learn something new - and tasteful - and not church-like.