Terry Williams (Dire Straits)

Terry Williams used to be a member of the Welsh Band Man, but the reason why he is one of my featured drummers is his contribution to the career of the Dire Straits, which he joined in 1982 for 6 years to come. This tutorial refers to Terry Williams’ interpretation of Sultans Of Swing as recorded on Alchemy Live. To me, this particular concert (get yourself the Live DVD if you haven’t got it yet!) is one of the highlights of Rock. In particular I love that live version of Sultans Of Swing. Due to the fact that the drumless track I found refers to the original studio version this is a bit of a dilemma but I decided to play on top of the studio version in the style of Terry Williams, which is a lot more wild and energetic compared to the original subtle studio drum part of Pick Withers, original drummer of the Dire Straits from the very beginning until 1982.

On my YouTube Cover there are are many comments saying I messed it all up, being completely different than the ‘original version’. I tried to explain that I did not intend to cover the original version as played by Pick Withers but the Live version as played by Terry Williams. Some people just don’t wanna get it and they think I’m disrespectful towards Pick Withers. No! That’s not my intention! I am going to do a Dire Straits cover in the style of Pick Withers later this year, promised, I really like his style! But as far as Sultans Of Swing is concerned, this is the way I like it and I tried to get close to what Terry did. However, it’s not note by note but if you like that kind of drumming, you might pick up some licks and tracks!