Uilleann Pipes Basics

The solo playing of Uilleann Pipes has a special place in the Irish tradition. There is nothing quite like it to call a hush over a session when musicians give way to the pipes. Uilleann pipes, the Irish indigenous pipes, distinguish themselves from other bagpipes in their tone and range of notes. So if you’re intrigued by this somewhat strange breed of an instrument, that is said in lore to have evolved from a sheep’s bladder and pipe, then we have just the thing to wet your whistle.

Uilleann Pipes Basics is aimed at the absolute beginner. It is a really well thought out course, that will guide you skillfully step by step from zero to some of the most popular piping tunes on the circuit. Like all OAIM tutorials, the video quality is superb. You are presented with two shots of the teacher in the frame: one zoomed in to show the fingering and a smaller thumbnail to give you the overview of the poise of the musician as he plays so that you can mimic the style.

By the end of the course of 18 lessons, you will be very familiar with the instrument, you will have successfully mastered some great piping tunes, 12 in total, and perhaps you’ll even be ready to progress to the Uilleann Pipes Technique course. Don’t forget there are over 150 tunes that you can practice along with using our Play-Along Backing Tracks, so you can put your new skill to the test before venturing out for a session.
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Course Structure

This course is for the absolute beginner piper and so it starts with an introduction to the physical instrument. You are taught how to sound the chanter, control the bellows and airbag and, importantly, how to articulate between the notes.

The tutor then moves on to demonstrate the difference between playing pipes in an ‘open and ‘closed’ style. By lesson 5, you’re introduced to your first basic polka, then by lesson 8, your first solid pipe tune ‘Gander in the Pratie Hole’. With the foundations in place, you move onto other piping classics such as Fraher’s Jig.

Slowly upping the ante, ornamentation is introduced showing you how to progress from cuts and slides to rolls by lesson 10 with ‘Jimmy Ward’s Jig’. Two slower pieces ‘Dawning of the Day’ and ‘Southwind’ focus on long notes, bellow control and vibrato. Later on, you are introduced to techniques unique to piping such as ‘popping’ and the ‘staccato triplet’.

Finally, it’s not all fun and games, piping maintenance is discussed in lesson 18 and piper-toolkit essentials such as black tape, a tuner and guitar strings of all things… guess you’ll have to see the lesson to hear why they make a feature!

Sheet Music and Mp3s available to Download for each Tune

Sample Sheet Music

Download Britches Full of Stitches ABC Sheet Music.
Download Britches Full of Stitches Notation Sheet Music.

Sample Britches Full Of Stitches