So You Want To Play The Bagpipes

[JimB]

ohiopiper,

Thank you. I was considering the long Dunbar chanter made out of Delrin and wanted to make sure it was not a drastic compromise in quality for the sake of price.

All I know is that I started on a Dunbar plastic chanter. It was horrible. I couldn't get the thing to sound right at all.

Funny though, it has gotten a lot better with age
Hmmmm.

[English Bloke]

I have a delrin (plastic) chanter and have been practicing that for 10 months. I've also bought a set of McCallum P1's (poly pipes with a bit of extra nickle trim) and beautiful though they are, I do find it tough. For an instrument that can only play nine notes it's certainly complicated.



I'm thoroughly enjoying it though.

[crash]

Well tonight I go for my first bagpipe lesson. Not sure what I've gotten myself into.

[ohiopiper]

Welcome to the madness!

You probably know there is an initial hurdle to learning the pipes. You'll struggle for a bit, then everything will begin to click.

Then, of course, you'll hit a plateau at some point. Gut it out and you'll begin to improve again.

Just remember that even in the initial "gee, this is cool" phase, temper your practice time. When you begin making mistakes, stop for a while. If you keep on going, you'll begin to make a habit of those same mistakes. You'll find that when you stop and correct a mistake immediately, your practice sessions will go longer and longer and be more enjoyable because they'll be productive. work dilligently, but work smart, not just hard.

Speaking of which, I've got a gig on the 24th. Time to go to the barn and wake up some mice.

[Kilted Cole]

wish i would have read this 3 yrs agoe....