How to Make Bagpipes Work

Part of the Video Series Bagpipes for Beginners

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Learn how to hold bagpipes and make them work with expert music training tips in this free online instrument instruction video clip.

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All Videos in the Series, Bagpipes for Beginners

Member Comments

Posted by redtubadog91 on Sunday, 13 January, 2008 at 6:20 PM

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Your awesome, you're the only person that i could find to teach me anything, but I cant get my bag to inflate

Posted by billkilpatrick on Tuesday, 21 August, 2007 at 2:20 PM

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thank you mike - as a beginner very far from any instructor, i really appreciate these videos.. i wish you hadn't allowed someone to doodle on your arms, however - you've got these things for life, mae ... ahhh well ...

Video Transcript

How to Make Bagpipes Work
This next segment will be about the function of the bagpipes, just how to make them work. What you need to do is hold the bagpipes on your left arm with all three drones placed over your shoulder and your arm. What you are going to need to do is put the blowpipe in your mouth, hold the chanter with your left hand and fill the bag with air… If the drones chime in then you will know your bag is getting pretty full. What you are going to want to do then is once the bag is completely full with the air that you need you are going to what we say tap the drones in which will give them a good tap. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 tries at first, but once you get to be experienced, you should be able to tap them right into the spot that they need to be. When the drones are tapped in, the three drones will be running and they will be constantly blowing through the pipe, filling it with the same air pressure that you will be able to feel after a while with your arm and with the sound that is coming through the drones. After enough air is in, you can tap then into the chanter. It takes a little bit more air pressure than the drones to tap the chanter in, but you will be able to feel that out too. It is a big process as you can tell but when you want to stop playing you will let the air go out as much as you can. Then remove your arm from the bag releasing what pressure is in there and you should get a good clean stop. If you try to stop your tune with the maximum amount of air pressure in the bag, you will have a squealing tone and not a nice fresh stop.

About the Expert

Expert: Mike Oberst is a professional musician living in Ohio. Read More