Chiff and Fipple Forums

ok, the whistle shop sells bagpipe practice chanters, and I was wondering if a bag pipe practice chanter would have the same fingerings as up. they are both bagpipes right? I can't afford a up practice set, but if the practice chanter's fingerings were the same, I could at least get the basics down.....

No and yes, but no you will be disapointed, sorely disapointed.

go for a david daye penny chanter. i've heard very good things about them.

So, how does it work in the U-Pipe arena? Can you purchase a wood practice chanter to work on fingering tunes and technique and then graduate to the bellows and bag once you have a few down?

The practice "sets" are as expensive as my GHB's...

Any cheaper alternatives that will actually produce a quality sound and train the ear?

How are you going to play a chanter without bag and bellows?

Build your own with plans from David Daye for the cheapest start or check out pre-made ones.

Irish Uilleann Pipe Penny-Chanters and Uilleann Pipe Starter Sets

No, there are no practice chanters a la GHB [1]. Short version: the reeds don't work. Long version: it's a bad idea, because the reeds don't work.

It's like trying to power a GHB practice chanter with a cane smallpipe reed. It'll sound beautiful for about fifteen-twenty seconds, then the reed will die. The alternative, plastic, isn't worth speaking about, or if it is, only in terms of the Clanrye.

A practice set in Uilleann terms is chanter, bag, and bellows - yep, it is a bit pricier than a PC, but it keeps the unmotivated at bay. They do keep their value better than GHBs - you can quite easily get more than you paid for them by selling them on Ebay, if recent auctions are anything to go by.

Cheers,
Calum

[1] - I think Shark in the Water sell a UP practice chanter, but then Shark in the Water sell *anything*. I heard where they sell didgeridoos, as well.

air pressure (not bag regulation, but air pressure through the reed) and fingering should take you about an hour, especially if you have musical experience. You'd outgrow your practice chanter in a week. Now, playing with the mechanics of playing AND the notes is a whole different animal and the hardest thing about the pipes to master (even harder, i think, than when you eventually try to add regulators).

My advice, especially if you have bagpipe experience and intend to stick with it is to get one of Tim Britton's rebuilt practice sets, and when you've mastered that, upgrade directly to a rebuilt full set. I always had a spiffy Bruce Childress chanter (Although Tim's rebuilt ones come with three keys standard), but I've got a Britton rebuilt full set. I keep the chanter as a spare, and am veeery happy with the drones and regs. And they look great, too. The only two things I did to them were 1) I replaced the belts on the bellows with some nice leather belts I bought at KMart, and 2) I put a tiny glob of FunTak on the drone reed tongues to stabilize them in changing humidity (even in the rain).

On Tim's pipe page they're listed aaaalll the way at the bottom, and he was the best quality to value ratio I'd found in my year of shopping for a full set. Plus he's available to call up and grill him with questions before, during, and after the rebuilding process.

The set he rebuilds is the cheaper "brown" set on the silverbushmusic.com website, or it also seems to be the ones they keep selling on ebay. Don't buy one straight, though, they're unplayable until Tim get's him hands on them. If you want to arrange a phone call to hear them I'd be more than happy to play them over the phone for you. We can work that out over private message...