How to Do The Gypsy-Mark Knopfler Sound on Guitar

So we’ve got this Gypsy-Knopfler kind of music
here going on. We’re in the key B-minor and I want
to show you a few of the licks that I did in here,
the key licks.

We started out with an A-minor and we’re going
to play this version up here, up high. What I do is,
I do like a little splattally-do, we call it.

It almost sounds like echo, doesn’t it? So what I’m doing
is I’m taking just that part of the A-minor chord here.

You see what I’m doing? From the G, the G string
I’ve got an E note following the E-minor chord,
just a partial version, the last three notes of
the A-minor chord, ending with the high B.

What I do is, I do like sort of a flamenco.
And what I do is I repeat it three times,
four times, and I do it softer each time.
So it starts our strong and I go…

So it sounds like it’s echoing. And then I go
back to the B-minor. It’s working out in B-minor there.
And then I go back. What I’ll do is, I jump up
to the octave E on the A string. I use my volume
pedal to bring it in.

And then when it starts in, you hear me count it in.
One, two, three, four. To the G chord;
B-minor chord. Kind of a bouncy rhythm.

I’m going to show you what I do there.
The melody goes… Or simply go…
That’s even better. So what you’re doing
is you’re running off the G chord here.

So you start out with your B on the G string
and then the next note is the D note. Okay?
And then… Classic Knopfler lick, that one.

I’ll slow that down for you. To the E note.
I’ll stretch the E up. F-sharp, E, D. So it’s…

Got that?

Now, we’re going to stretch the E up to the F-sharp
and include the high A on the E string. Okay?
Almost a country lick, but it’s got such a gypsy
quality to it. A little vibrato at the end.
So here’s what it sounds like up to speed.

And then here I’m going to do a double-stop.
In the G position, stretching that D on the
B string and up to the A position. Okay?

Double-stop. Now, here comes the money shot.
That’s the money riff. Very, very Mark Knopfler.

So I’m going to take this one slow because
it’s a really important passage in this song.

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