"If you enjoy playing the guitar, and are also a fan of Scottish traditional music, then you are definitely holding the right book in your hands. What John Carnie has put together in the following pages amounts to an education in Scottish trad tunes, and how you can learn to play them on the guitar..."  Jack Evans (founder member of Jock Tamson’s Bairns, The Easy Club and lecturer on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's B.A. Scottish Music course).

The Scottish Guitar Tutor Book was published by Taigh na Teud and written by John Carnie. It is the first ever tutor book on how to play Scottish traditional tunes, jigs and reels on the acoustic guitar. It features a wide selection of popular fiddle tunes in easy to read tablature as well as notation. It has an emphasis on flatpicking the tunes in standard tuning. There is a specially written foreword by Jack Evans.  

There are handy hints on chords and accompanying the playing of Scottish music on the guitar and background on the various styles. A demo CD with all the tunes is included and links to instructional video clips. The book highlights just what a powerful instrument the guitar can be when playing jigs, reels and slow airs. It will be of interest to all guitarists who would like to develop a good technique for playing traditional tunes on the guitar - be they Scottish or Irish tunes. 

The tunes have been laid out in a fairly simple notation and tablature format. There are over 30 popular ( and some demanding) Scottish  more recent tunes. Some tunes are modern and others are literally hundreds of years old. An extensive introduction on playing flatpicking guitar, its history and its context in Scottish folk music is given. Exercises included to develop technique. CD included with 32 tunes and links to specially recorded video clips of many of the tunes. The publisher's are grateful to Creative Scotland for funding.

The 32 tunes include Far from Home, The Hut on Staffin Island, The Jig of Slurs and Rory Gallagher's Jig.

"Traditions are not passed on by accident and although the various processes may not be immediately obvious, there is little doubt that teaching lies at the heart of development.  Further than that, the passing on of skills by masters of their music inevitably raises the bar.  In time this book will make a significant contribution to traditional music and the guitar".  Pete Heywood, Editor, The Living Tradition magazine.