Hi and welcome to MKSB, my name is Pavel Fomenkov. Over the past 18 years, or more than half of my life, I've been learning guitar, finding inspiration in blues, jazz, classical, and folk music, studying and playing hundreds of songs and tunes ranging from medieval chants and Bach's fugues to Blind Blake's blues and Bee Gees. It's impossible to list all the songwriters whose music I admire, but only one songwriter made me study all of his songs—Mark Knopfler. He said it better: "What I try to do with a song—is craft it. I try to craft a song with pride and I try to make something that's going to last."

This is the reason why I wanted to create a place, where I'd listed my breakdowns and lessons on how to play his songs, as Chet Atkins used to say, "as the composer intended". At least come as close as possible to it. Hopefully, in the process, I will share my passion for Mark's music and also will debunk some prejudices for aspiring musicians about guitar playing, mainly that it's hard. Surely it's not—because I'm not even a professional musician.

I was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia—a city famous, apart from its history and architecture, for Mark cancelling his show there in 2013 and also for a sensation called "bad weather". But let's concentrate on the positive stuff! Pavel.