# The Best Dire Straits Guitar Solos

> The 19 best Dire Straits guitar solos, ranked. #1 is Sultans of Swing (1978), then Brothers in Arms and Telegraph Road. Every video starts at the solo.

Canonical URL: <https://greatestsolos.com/list/dire-straits-guitar-solos/>

Dire Straits arrived in the punk era with something unfashionable: clean, articulate fingerpicked lead guitar that sang like a second vocalist. Mark Knopfler's thumb-and-fingers attack and restrained, melodic phrasing made the band's long outro solos some of the most recognisable in rock.

Informed by: [Wikipedia: Dire Straits discography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_Straits_discography), [Wikipedia: Mark Knopfler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Knopfler)

1. [Sultans of Swing](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-sultans-of-swing/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1978
2. [Brothers in Arms](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-brothers-in-arms/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1985
3. [Telegraph Road](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-telegraph-road/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1982
4. [Tunnel of Love](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-tunnel-of-love/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1980
5. [Money for Nothing](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-money-for-nothing/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1985
6. [On Every Street](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-on-every-street/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1991
7. [Once Upon a Time in the West](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-once-upon-a-time-in-the-west/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1979
8. [Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-going-home-theme-of-the-local-hero/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1984
9. [Private Investigations](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-private-investigations/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1982
10. [Lady Writer](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-lady-writer/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1979
11. [Down to the Waterline](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-down-to-the-waterline/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1978
12. [Calling Elvis](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-calling-elvis/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1991
13. [Where Do You Think You're Going?](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-where-do-you-think-you-re-going/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1979
14. [Solid Rock](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-solid-rock/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1980
15. [Wild West End](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-wild-west-end/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1978
16. [Six Blade Knife](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-six-blade-knife/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1978
17. [Industrial Disease](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-industrial-disease/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1982
18. [Heavy Fuel](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-heavy-fuel/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1991
19. [Ride Across the River](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dire-straits-ride-across-the-river/) — Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1985

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GreatestSolos ranks the greatest guitar solos by consensus across published lists. Agent guide: [llms.txt](https://greatestsolos.com/llms.txt) · [Sitemap](https://greatestsolos.com/sitemap.xml) · [Dataset (CSV)](https://greatestsolos.com/data/greatest-guitar-solos.csv) · [How we rank](https://greatestsolos.com/method/)