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John Carnie - The Scottish Guitar Tutor Book
The book highlights the guitar as a melody instrument for playing traditional Scottish jigs, reels and slow airs and is the first book of its type to concentrate on Scottish tunes. It received funding from Creative Scotland and is published by Taigh na Teud Ltd. John Carnie's CD of traditional Scottish tunes played on the acoustic guitar has garnered great reviews from music fans and critics over the past couple of years. The album Far from Home, which has has been a described as a "treat for all fans of the acoustic guitar" features 12 tracks and 29 individual tunes of Scottish traditional music played in the flatpicking style on the guitar and showcases just what a powerful instrument it can be when playing jigs, reels and slow airs.It is the first album of its type to feature entirely Scottish material on flatpicking acoustic guitar and covers the entire spectrum of Scottish fiddle and traditional tunes, adding a jazzy and bluesy twist to many of the compositions. Recorded at Castlesound studios near Edinburgh the album celebrates the traditional roots of Scottish music and the acoustic guitar. It also features the jazzy double bass playing of Brian Shiels and some bluesy twists of long time cohorts, Dave Moir & Spider Mackenzie on guitar and blues harp.
He says of the album: "In Scottish and Irish traditional music the guitar is usually found as rhythm instrument and there is no long history of it in the Celtic tradition as there is with the fiddle or the pipes. There are even some purists who say the guitar has no place in the music! But it can be a superb instrument to play tunes on. There is a lot that can be done with the guitar either solo or if you treat it like an orchestra - creating a whole palette of sounds".
Around the same time John joined Desperate Danz Band as lead guitarist and recorded their debut album in 1990. The outfit proved to be a greatly popular electric ceilidh rock band who played at festivals and concerts throughout the country and recorded the criticaly aclaimed album "Send three and fourpence....we're going to a dance". These bands cemented John's reputation as one of the top guitarists playing in the traditional & folk scene in Scotland and allowed him to draw on his love of playing traditional tunes on the guitar. He cites major influences as being Dick Gaughan, Richard Thompson and Rory Gallagher as well as the more traditional and jazzier flatpicking guitarists from the States.
He is involved in teaching and was a guitar tutor at the Scottish Culture and Traditions ( SC&T)classes teaching flatpicking guitar. He is a Director of that Charity. In the late 1990s he formed the Mountain Blues Ramblers -an acoustic trio featuring Dave Moir on guitar and Spider Mackenzie on harmonica. This group played at venues throughout Scotland culminating in 5 nights at 2005's 'Cork Rocks for Rory 'Festival in Ireland.
The Far from Home CD features an eclectic mixture of old and new traditional tunes from Shetland, the West Coast, the Borders and the North-east. He adds: "
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