Alasdair started playing the guitar at 14 (self taught), learning to play initially rock and pop music. He later became interested in fingerpicking acoustic guitar and was largely influenced by the playing of Bert Jansch and John Martyn among others. At age 18 he picked up a 2nd hand mandolin, quickly learned a few traditional Scottish & Irish tunes and was soon playing in the many pub sessions in and around Glasgow. In his early twenties he met up with well known local musician Sean McGhee. (Sean was and still is a great guitarist and singer in the style of Doc Watson with a large repertoire of bluegrass/Appalachian songs and tunes.) Alasdair spent the next 12 years playing in various line ups of Sean's group "Limited Edition" until they disbanded in 1993. Later that year he was invited to join The Moonshiners and has been playing with them ever since. He also continues to play regularly at many of Glasgow's traditional Irish and Scottish pub sessions playing mainly fiddle and tenor banjo.