I was fortunate enough to see Sean in action and I also had the great honour of actually playing with him. He was the guest artiste at the 1982 Falkirk Folk Festival accompanied by the accordionist Dave Bulmer, and for the Finale, Sean invited all the musicians in the room to join him on the stage for "a stramash" as he called it. Since I had a tin whistle in my pocket, it was an opportunity I couldn't turn down. It should be remembered that not only was Sean an All Ireland fiddle champion, he was also an All Ireland champion on the tin whistle. This man was a genius of a musician and I will never forget that night, I played with him.
WOW what a fantastic fiddle player...he's the best I've ever seen! Thanks so much for sharing this music video, I'll definitely be listening to more of Mr McGuire's brilliance.
Wonderful ,God we really dont appreciate genius until we lose it!The only complaint I have about Sean is that I never saw him smile?Did he ever enjoy his talent ?He certainly knew he had it but was it his huge gift or his greatest burden?
@scottishfiddlelesson, Eh, this is Seán Maguire, he had more talent in the tip of his little finger than most players have in both hands, eh... i might add that he was also a classically trained violinist, so he'd have known a thing or two about the instrument and how best to keep it... if he wanted to paint shamrocks on it in nail-varnish, as long as he was still playing like this, i'd have let him... RIP Seán, the music is not the same without you...
@leonthebaker I think he used to clean the fiddle in his younger days ...remember seeing him play in the early 60s..he told me he had a beautiful fiddle ...he used his classical training in his playing.
Another great one! But I couldn't help but think something like: This week's headlines: Classical players cringe as trad players rejoice to Maguire's jigging of bow and frosting of fiddle!
Can anybody help me I'm wondering what tuning he is using, and if this is a tuning generally used in celtic fiddling, if any. And can you simply tune to it without problems? Im not a fiddler yet. Thanks
+carelessbear His fiddle is tuned to standard tuning (GDAE) And yes, This tuning would generally be that used in Irish traditional music. However, Some musicians wish to tune up by a semitone or tune to GDGD, Such as Zoe Conway. You should explore the different variations of Irish music, For instance a Donegal fiddle style (Brid Harper) would differ greatly from a South Kerry style(Padraig O'Keefe). I hope this helps you.
Fiddle Player Thank you so much!! I checked them out and its really beautiful. I am luckily aware of some of the different styles too, also the scottish strathspey or cape breton (oldest style i think) for example. I have my fiddle for a week now. Im learning by myself, its hard but I think I might manage. Coincidentally I came across the Donegal style yesterday on my youtube adventures. I also love the uilleann, flute, harp and accordeons, they are all magical c:
+carelessbear It really is lovely to discover so many different takes on such a wonderful style of music ☺ It might be worthwhile also to listen to Dezi Donnelly and the likes, Who are completely unique. Cape Breton style music is so beautiful, It has so much life in it also.
@Fiddle Player: Some of the fiddlers in Shetland tune the fiddle to AEAE to play the old tradition Shetland tunes to imitate the ringing strings of the Scandinavian Hardanger fiddle.
Au bon compte ça sonne pas terrible. Comment ils font pour pas cramer leur vernis ? La colophane, ça se nettoie. Guitare, on a fait beaucoup mieux depuis : discret quoi, plus subtil.
The only Campbell-sized person I see is too old and has too little hair. An older relative? The woman in the white jacket looks to me to be listening *very* hard… could she be a heavyweight too? (I was hoping for Julia Clifford, but a quick image search says no)
