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How To Play the Bagpipe

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Whether you want to play in a military funeral in Scotland—or just annoy your neighbors—mastering the bagpipe takes a lot of dedication.
Added March 14, 2008

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You Will Need

A practice chanter
A bagpipe
Patience
Practice

Step 1.
Get a chanter

Get a practice chanter—the flute-like part of the bagpipe that contains the finger holes—and learn how to play notes.
Step 2.
Learn the pipes

Familiarize yourself with the bagpipe. There are several pipes, including the mouth pipe, which allows you to blow air into the bag, the melody pipe, which has finger holes, and the drone pipes, which make the instrument’s characteristic long, sustained pitches.
Step 3.
Arrange the drones

To put the bagpipe on, arrange the pipes so that the drones are on your left shoulder.
Step 4.
Tuck the bag

Tuck the bag securely under your left arm.
Step 5.
Place the mouth pipe

Place the mouth pipe in your mouth and blow into it until the bag is full of air. When the bag is almost full, tap it a few times to distribute the air to the pipes.
Beginners often have trouble filling the bag with air. You might want to block off some of the drones until you build up the stamina to fill the bag.
Step 6.
Grab the melody pipe

Hold the melody pipe with both hands. Put your fingers near the holes, but not covering them.
There are many different kinds of bagpipes. If yours has more than one melody pipe, hold one with one hand and the other with the other hand.
Step 7.
Squeeze

Squeeze the bag with your arm. This will cause the pipes to make noise.
Continue adding air to the bag through the mouth pipe as you play, since the bagpipe sounds out of tune when the bag is deflated.
Step 8.
Change pressure

Change the pressure with which you squeeze the bag under your arm to modulate the pitch.
Step 9.
Cover the holes

Move your fingers over the holes, making different notes. Remember, the bagpipe is always making noise, so there will be no silence between notes—but you were never going for quiet!
Original bagpipes were made from sheepskin.

Comments View all (3)...

You can get some pretty cool harmonics and distortion-esque effects with bagpipes! In fact, Celtic punk bands Dropkick Murphys and Real McKenzies feature bagpipers in their ensembles.

Reply about 1 year ago by henry

Take this video off. It is not accurate and is demonstrating bad habits.

Reply 2 months ago by Nick_Lundberg

Is this video a joke? In no way does this video demonstrate proper technique in playing bagpipes. Melody pipe? F*#kin joke, its called a chanter!! Take this off!!

Reply 2 months ago by Aaron_Lipinski

View all comments (3)...