Mark Knopfler: “I haven't forgotten how to play, I'm rusty”

The 74-year-old guitarist Mark Knopfler – who will release his new album on April 12th “One deep river” (click here to preorder) – in a recent interview with the British magazine Guitarist he spoke about his future projects, especially his farewell to the scene.

The former frontman of
Dire Straits
He explained that his guitar skills have worsened since the start of the pandemic, but he has written more songs during this period. “The musician part of me has gotten a lot smaller, I think, but the writing part is as solid as ever. If a song wants to happen, I let that happen, but I think the playing has gotten a little worse… I think I'm ready to sit down and look at a song on the computer, but then I wouldn't play enough.”

But Knopfler thinks he can get back into form as a guitarist with practice: “But it's something that seems to have happened recently, I should really take steps to spend more time behind the instrument, just to start playing. It's not that I've forgotten how to play, I'm just rusty.”

As well as having worked on the album
“One deep river”
,
Mark Knopfler
committed to recording a cover of his 1983 song,
“Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero”
involving over 60 musicians, most of them quite famous guitarists, in a project called Mark Knopfler's Guitar Heroes aimed at raising funds for Teen Cancer America and its British equivalent Teenage Cancer Trust.