Songs By Dire Straits & Knopfler
On The Acoustic

Songs By Dire Straits On Guitar

Here on this songs by Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler page you'll find a collection of demo covers, free chord sheets, some rhythm tips and some background info on these songs. There are free chord sheets and some rhythm tips as well.

If you need a full lesson tutorial, those are available for purchase for a few bucks each or cheaper (see discounts in right menu).

Jump menu to quickly access the songs on this page.

How Long On Every Street Our Shangri-la Poor Boy Blues The Bug Walk Of Life

Songs By Dire Straits & Knopfler
Chords, Lyrics, Demos, Tutorials

1. How Long

How Long is a track on the "On Every Street" album which was a 1991 release. 

This track never made it out as a single.

  • Drop D Tuning: No
  • Capo: No
  • Rhythm: root down root up down up and repeat
  • Picking: Yes
  • Chords: D, D7, G, A7
Chords & Lyrics

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2. On Every Street

On Every Street was a single release back in 1992 from the album of the same name.

The song hit #23 in Ffance and #42 in the UK. The song did not chart in the US.

  • Drop D Tuning: No
  • Capo: No
  • Rhythm: mainly just downstrokes until the end then use a down up stop up and repeat
  • Picking: No
  • Chords: F, C, G, Am, G6, E, Em, Dm, A+, Gsus
Chords & Lyrics

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3. Our Shangri-la

Our Shangri-La is a track from Mark Knopfler's 4th studio album which came out in 2004 called simply "Shangri-la".

To my knowledge the song was never released as a single.

  • Drop D Tuning: No
  • Capo: No
  • Rhythm: 1-2-3 up down up down up and repeat where 1-2-3 are arpeggio notes on the chords
  • Picking: Yes
  • Chords: E, A6/9, Asus2, B7, A, Abm, Gb, Esus
Chords & Lyrics

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4. Poor Boy Blues

Poor Boy Blues was a duet track between Mark Knopflier and Chet Atkins from an album they did together in 1990-91 called Neck and Neck.

The song won a Grammy for best country vocal collaboration. I'm not sure how well the single did on the charts.

  • Drop D Tuning: No
  • Capo: No
  • Rhythm: down down up down up down up and repeat or use root down up root up down up
  • Picking: Yes
  • Chords: B, Gb, A, B7, E
Chords & Lyrics

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5. The Bug

The Bug hails from the last Dire Straits album in 1991 called "On Every Street" and was released as a single. Mary Chapin Carpenter had more success with her single the following year reaching #16 on the country charts.

  • Drop D Tuning = No
  • Capo = No
  • Rhythm = down up down up down up ... just a steady up and down
  • Picking = Yes
  • Chords = E, A, D
Chords & Lyrics

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6. Walk Of Life

Walk Of Life is a track from the highly successful "Brothers In Arms" album which was released in the spring of 1985. It was first a B-side to So Far Away before the album came out.

But eventually was released as an A-side single and peaked at #7 in the US and hit #2 in the UK. The song almost never made it onto the album but their manager Ed Bicknell convinced Knopfler to include it.

  • Drop D Tuning: No
  • Capo: 2nd fret
  • Rhythm: down up down up and repeat
  • Picking: a few riffs
  • Chords: D, G, A
Chords & Lyrics

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Thanks for stopping into my songs by Dire Straits page. I'll be adding a few more selections to this page over time.

If you liked this Dire Straits page you might also like ... (click images)

Dire Straits Documentary



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