Chords for Unbelievable! Can YOU Play Dire Straits' "News" Perfectly?

_ _ [G] _ _ [C] _ _ [Bm] _ _
[Am] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
[Am] _ _ _ [F] Hi everyone, welcome back to the channel.
Anybody who's a fan, like I am, of Mark Knopfler
or Dire Straits music will recognise that instantly
as the introduction to the song News,
which is off the Communiqué album,
second Dire Straits album from the late 70s.
And I've been wrestling with how to play this
for a long time.
Sometimes I've played it with a kind of a full bar chord
of C, sometimes I've been [Bm] playing it with the [F#] B minor seven
and the A minor seven down there.
But recently I've had a really concerted look,
well, listen really, at the song on the album.
And I've come to the conclusion that the way you heard it
in the introduction is exactly the way it's played.
So if you too have been wrestling with this one,
come with me and we'll have a look at how to play it.
Let's dive in.
Okay, here we are looking at the neck.
[Em] And as you would imagine, you're starting on the seventh
fret to _ _ [Bm] the B minor.
_ [G] _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ [Em] And here is where I used to have all the issues.
So [Bm] did I go down to here?
Did I go down to here?
I don't know.
Where did I go down to?
So [E] my listening has [F#] drawn me to the conclusion that we [Em] go,
_ [Bm] _ _ [C] _ _ [C#] _ _
_ did you see [C] that?
So it's the bar of C and then _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ [E] slide up
into that B minor [C] configuration.
And _ [Bm] _ _ _ [D]
here's a really interesting thing.
The more I listened to the introduction of the song
on the album, [F] the more I'm hearing,
there's a slight timing delay between [Bm] that chord
and when the slide down from the B minor seven
to the A minor seven [Am] happens. _
_ [Em] I've got a theory as to why that is.
Let's just go back to that close shot of the neck
and I'll explain what I mean.
So [C] we've gone to that six _ _ [Bm] _ _
[F#] and it's really,
really difficult to slide down with any certainty
_ [E] _
from there to there using this bar.
_ Very, very difficult.
I think even for a genius like Mark Knopfler,
I think a better option when the guitar,
as it [F#] is in that introduction is massively exposed
is to do this.
So we've gone [C] from, _
[B] _ and I think he does this.
_ [Am] _ _
And I think that's what generates the slight delay
in the timing.
Watch [C] again. _
[Bm] _ _ [Am] _ And [E] then there's a really kind of imperceptible change
back [A] to using this bar chord here.
Let me show you what I mean.
I'll go [C] slowly. _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [D] Okay, so I'll go through that _ [F#] neck first,
then I'll go through picking hand
and then I'll split the screen and go through both.
But I think that's the secret to this one
is to just pay attention to the sliding up
and the sliding down from that B minor to the A minor.
I think that's where the secret is.
It's actually not needed further on in the song
when you get the full band coming in,
when Pitt Withers comes in with the drums
and the bass comes in and so on,
because you don't need that certainty
and that accuracy of the fingering [Bm] on the neck
to deliver the song as it's heard on the recording.
So let's just have a look at that again.
Neck, picking and then split.
And then we're done.
Here we [Em] go.
_ _ _ [C] _ _
[Bm] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ [Bm] _ _ [C] _ _
[Bm] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ [Bm] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ [Em] _ And that's it for this video.
[C] It's an itch I've been wanting to scratch for a long time
is to really properly work [Am] out how that one works.
I'll do another video [C] maybe in the future
that takes all the lead parts.
There's some [Em] absolutely beautiful stuff in there.
Very, very typical MK.
[C] But in the meantime,
I hope you got something out of this video
that [Am] can help you in your playing.
So for now, happy practicing.
See [C] you next time.
Bye for now.