Dire Straits - Sultans Of... METAL! - Live at Guitar Summit - Guitar Cover

About Sultans Of... METAL! - Live at Guitar Summit

Few fingerpicking pieces in rock sit as comfortably under the fingers as this one, yet few are as easy to play badly. The core challenge is the rolling, thumb-driven fingerpicking pattern in D minor that weaves through the whole performance. Keeping that pattern even at 120 BPM while also fretting clean chord shapes takes more coordination than it looks on paper, and the natural tendency is to rush. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the opening verse pattern slowed right down until your picking hand moves without thought. Dire Straits built their reputation on exactly this kind of deceptively relaxed groove, and the live setting here means the dynamics shift more than on a studio take, so watch for those swell points. For fans of Hard Rock approaching this from a pick-first background, putting the pick down entirely and committing to bare fingers is non-negotiable if you want the tone to sit right in E Standard.

• The signature part is a fingerpicked arpeggio pattern in D minor, played with bare fingers rather than a pick to get the warm, rounded tone.
• At 120 BPM in E Standard tuning, the main challenge is keeping the picking-hand pattern steady while smoothly transitioning between chord shapes.
• Looping the verse riff slowed down is the most effective way to build the right-hand independence this song demands before bringing it back up to tempo.