Tab and Video for Princess Royal

I’ve got a new video up for my guitar arrangement of the lovely tune Princess Royal, also known as Miss McDermott. You can find it on my Youtube channel, and it will also be linked alongside the PDF notation on the TABS page.

Princess Royal was written by the blind Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738). The title of Miss McDermott apparently comes from the daughter of one of his many patrons.

Basic Technique

I’m playing this fingerstyle arrangement in the Orkney tuning, which is CGDGCD. It is in G minor, using the fifth string as the root. My arrangement is primarily melody and bass, with the thumb playing the sixth, fifth, and fourth strings. The index, ring, and middle fingers play the third, second, and first strings, respectively. This is my standard “home position” for fingerpicking, with the fingers shifting up or down to different strings as needed. For my celtic guitar pieces I play with a slightly arched wrist and keep my finger tips at a forty five degree angle to the strings, generally. This is the basic hand position from my classical guitar days. I am using Alaska picks these days, and have used natural and acrylic nails in the past. All are good options.

Technique wise this arrangement is pretty straightforward. Bass and melody are generally played on the same beat with a pinch. I play a few passaages up the neck to take advantage of the “harp effect”, which is playing consecutive notes on adjacient strings to they can sustain and ring out. The second time through the B part I added a bit of a moving bass line which may require some trickier left hand fingering.

Another Arrangement

My friend Doug Young also put together a very nice arrangement of the same tune, played here on a Lowden O-22. I really like the moving bassline in his arrangement, and general rubato feel.

Thanks

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about this tune! Or if there is another related topic you would like to see a post or video about.