John Carnie - Flatpicking Scottish Guitar

Traditional Scottish Music on Acoustic Guitar. New CD "Far From Home" OUT NOW released May 2008.

Hello and welcome to my guitar website. The new album of  Scottish traditional tunes played on the flatpicked acoustic guitar has just been released (May 2008) and is available from:

MusicInScotland.com                                    Footstompin.com                                       MusicScotland.com                                                         Celtic-chords.co.uk                                     TradMusic.com      

"Far From Home" - features  12 tracks and 29 individual tunes that come from the treasure trove of reels, jigs, pipe and harp tunes that form the backbone of the Scottish musical heritage. ( Please go to "downloads" to hear tracks & "store" to buy).

STOP PRESS NEWS! - The CD has been getting a lot of airpaly BBC Radio Scotland's Iain Anderson Show and Robbie Shepherd show. "It is a box of delights"...."A splendid album"...."Lovely and soothing" - Ian Anderson, BBC Radio Scotland.

"Very tasty guitar playing and wonderful instrumentals" - Maria Hall, Nessmp3.com

"Very fine playing" - Robbie Shepherd, BBC Radio Scotland

The track "Rory Gallagher's Jig" written by Scottish  piper the late Gordon Duncan has been well received in Ireland.

The CD is being distributed through Highlander Music Ltd.  

There is now a short flatpicking clip on youtube 

An article on the History of Flatpicking Guitar has been published in the June Edition of "The Living Tradition" magazine.  

The album features the jazzy double bass playing of Brian Shiels and some bluesy twists of long time cohorts, Dave Moir & Spider Mackenzie. It is the first album of its type ever to feature an entirely Scottish selection of tunes flatpicked on the acoustic guitar and indeed one of the very few with Scottish only tracks. Recorded at Castlesound Studios near Edinburgh, it covers the entire spectrum of Scottish  traditional  from Shetland reels through to Borders jigs and from West Highland harp tunes to swingy East Coast hornpipes. There are new tunes such as Rory Gallagher's Jig and also tunes that are hundreds of years old.

The acoustic guitar adds many colours to traditional music but, with a few notable exceptions, is not played that much as a melody instrument in Scottish or Irish music. The guitar is a great instument for playing jigs and reels and I have long been a fan of some of the great Scottish, Irish and American flatpickers. With this album we have tried to capture something a bit different and also hope to help raise the profile of the guitar in Scottish music. We hope you enjoy the music !