New Celtic-fingerstyle video: The Swan
The Swan LK243 (Catriona McKay)
Arranged for solo guitar by Ian Melrose
Tabs/score available at: https://melodic-muse.com/product/the-swanlk243/
I’m a fan of the amazing Scottish harp player, Catriona McKay. I recently ended up playing this piece with a friend and colleague, the excellent Colman Connolly (wonderful whistle and Uilleann pipes player), and got to thinking: this is such an achingly beautiful piece – I wonder if anyone has done a solo guitar version? I scoured the net and found a guitar quartet, and various people doing it on two guitars, but no solo. I checked the sites of some of my heavyweight Celtic colleagues but no – nothing there either.
So – I had a new challenge: could I manage to do justice to this glorious composition on one guitar? I feel very honoured and glad to be able to tell you that Catriona really likes this version!! (Made my day).
This piece was originally inspired by a fishing boat. Here you find information: https://www.swantrust.com/about/history.
Check out Catriona’s original version: https://youtu.be/n9hRub2BL-g?si=h2yMoXz34mdoLi3l