This video is so incredible.  If you’re used to the normal doldrums that is guitar instructional videos, you may have to watch it a few times to get the brilliance.  In roughly six and a half minutes, Mark Knopfler gives more incredible creative advice than hundreds of shredders have given in hours and hours of hot lick DVDs.

What makes this so wonderful?  Watch.  Pay attention.

Mark doesn’t bother telling us how to play Sultans of Swing.  He doesn’t explain the fingering for any of his favorite solo licks.  He goes into something far more important.  He tells us “why.”

Way too often (nearly always), we hear guitarists telling us how to replicate what they’re doing (or what someone else did).  That’s pointless unless you’re in a tribute band.  The process behind their creativity and style is far more interesting.  This is how they became to be.  Why would you want to know how to play one little fill in one Dire Straits song when you could know how Mark Knopfler thinks about all of his playing?

That, my friends, is priceless instruction.  Even if you’re not a fan of his music, getting anywhere close to that level of insight on how a world-renowned creative mind works is worth paying attention to.  Even a split second insight into the process is worth savoring.

I’m making such a big deal about this, because it’s so damn rare.  Enjoy.