It’s so enjoyable to just noodle about on the guitar that it’s easy to forget that the origins of the guitar’s 20th century boom in popularity lie in songs, not soloing. You can find evidence of this in the tiny frets of Les Paul Customs back in the 50s, built to make moving between jazz chords up and down the neck easy. Likewise, the beautiful Byrds-era Rickenbacker electrics of the early 60s could be seen really as a kind of amplified acoustic guitar, in terms of the intent behind their design, rather than soloists’ instruments. I’d argue that even the most famous solos in modern rock, such as Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, only work as beautifully as they do because they have as their springboard all the emotional weight and poignant power of the song itself to launch off from.
Therefore, guitarists who focus solely on soloing as opposed to songcraft can miss out on what is really the main reason people listen to music: because they feel moved, compelled and involved by songs. Few guitarists understand that as well as Mark Knopfler (see interview, page 56) whose post-Dire Straits solo career has seen him find yet more depth and subtlety in his songcraft over the years, to the point where crafting lyrics can dominate his working hours. But fans of his playing needn’t worry – there are some vintage Knopfler guitar moments on his new album, One Deep River. Clearly, the sale of much of his guitar collection hasn’t been a farewell to the instru
