(Credits: Apple Music)
Fri 16 January 2026 6:00, UK
Lots of guitarists make the mistake of thinking that exerting lots of effort and energy is what’s needed to produce the finest guitar solos, but Mark Knopfler will tell you that this often isn’t the case.
Rarely ever going into gut-busting territory, Knopfler’s lead guitar work has frequently been complex and knotty, but never overdone in a way that feels like he’s needlessly showing off his chops for the world to see. If ever there was a master of making things feel understated, it’s him.
The sort of player who preferred to be calculated rather than chaotic when it came to performing these more intricate parts, Knopfler’s playing style was a perfect fit for the overall sound of his band, Dire Straits, who established themselves in the 1970s and ‘80s as one of the most formidable roots rock acts, but also injected a little bit of an artsy flair into their output.
However, having wowed with his extraordinary fretwork on some of their earlier releases, shortly before their penultimate album, the universally adored classic Brothers in Arms, Knopfler contributed a soundtrack for the film, Local Hero, which had one moment where Knopfler went a little further with his showmanship, almost pushing it into territory where it collapsed under the weight of its ambitiousness.
Speaking to Spanish newspaper El País in 2025, he reflected on ‘Going Home’, the film’s theme song, and its legacy, hailing the track for rearing its head as one of the defining moments of his career. Despite it being a song he and many fans adore, he would go on to admit that it seemingly came about by accident, and that it almost didn’t work out as he’d imagined.
“There’s something about ‘Going Home’ that seems to work,” he told the publication. “It’s [recorded on] a cheap guitar, it sounds very direct. I did everything wrong, but I think they’re perfect notes.”
While the quality of the gear being used shouldn’t have had too much of an adverse effect on the song, the fact that he messed up the solo could have been catastrophic, potentially ruining a song that became an iconic moment on their most acclaimed release. Knopfler further delved into how this beastly solo ended up working in the context of the song, and how his understated guitar style is ultimately what helped it.
“I think it turned out well because I didn’t take it to the extreme of getting into trouble,” he remarked. “I just said what I had to say. I didn’t go too far. I tried to portray the place, the people, the rocks, and the water. For me, it was a portrait of a place, an idea, a local hero.”
When given the context, the guitar work on ‘Going Home’ stands out against large portions of the rest of his work for how it manages to capture an environment rather than just a mood within a song. There’s a filmic quality to the track that simply highlights just how delicate Knopfler could be, but the lead break is what tips it over into being such a brave piece of work, helping it reach the point where the song bursts into life.
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