Rare Photos of Mark Knopfler as a Young Boy, Long Before He Co-Founded the Rock Band Dire Straits
Mark Knopfler got his first guitar, a red Hofner V-2, when he was 15. Never having taken music lessons, he relied on listening to various guitarists on records and on the radio to develop his chops. “Besides listening to the blues players,” he recalled, “I picked up the basics from people like the Shadows, the Everly Brothers, Duane Eddy, Rick Nelson, and Elvis.”
While in high school he played his Hofner in local bands. “I played with different groups in and around London,” he said, “and we did some real diabolical stuff. I even played bass for a while. Besides playing electric guitar, I’d also get asked to play some acoustic stuff. But, since I didn’t have an acoustic guitar at the time, I used to borrow one from a friend so I could play folk joints.
“I was into playing American music, especially the blues. First, I learned how to fingerpick, just the basic stuff, and then I began developing a clawhammer style. And all during this time I was playing my solidbody without an amp of my own. While I was into many different types of music, and played with many different local groups, I really didn’t have a band to call my own until Dire Straits was formed in 1977.”
Many professional players are asked what advice they’d give to aspiring musicians, and often their responses reflect the ethic of hard work and practice. But Knopfler approaches the question from a different, and some might say unique, angle: “Advice for young players? Well, I think they should learn boogie woogie piano. It’s very rudimentary, and no matter how you do it, you should just get familiar with it. I bad a piano long before I bad a guitar, and the practice I got just playing those three chords in a basic 12-bar blues song was very important. And another thing: Stay responsive to any environment that comes along, and try to reflect what you feel in a wide variety of styles and songs. I just want to be able to play and make people feel good with what I do. When you’re thinking that way, anything can happen. And, usually, what happens is good.”
