Hello all. I was referred here from a fellow Mandolin picker named Glauber.
Hope that doesn’t turn some of you off on me.
No, really Glauber is a fellow picker over on the mandocafe and he referred me here because I’ve recently bought myself a cheapo tin whistle to see if I’m gonna like it. Well, I like it.
I found a website, www.guitarnut.com and he has tablature for whistle on his site. I can read notation somewhat but not really good to learn this instrument on.
YOu don’t need “tab” per se for a whistle. You do need to internalize how to play each of the notes. From there, you can use regular sheet music, or ABC files, or (The best option by far) recordings to learn music. Fingering charts aren’t as useful as they would be on a fretted instrument (like a mando) because there is only one way to finger each note. Learn the note, and you know the fingering.
I realize that you are uncomfortable with sheet music - which is fine. It’s not a bad idea to get familiar with it. You will find very few tunes written out with fingering charts because exactly the same information (more, actually) is presented much more succinctly with standard staff notation. Tab doesn’t get you anything more than more wasted paper.
Run a search on “dots” or “notation” or “sheet music” on this forum. Get a huge heaping bucket of popcorn while reliving all the old debates associated with this issue. Suffice it to say, if you want to play Irish music, you don’t really need anything more than your fingers and your ears. Eyes and notation (in any form) are optional.
Welcome to the CHiffboard and say Hi to Glauber for us! (Where has he benn lately anyhoo?)
If you can’t read music (dots, that is), I’d suggest you start by just learning by ear. Think of a simple tune that you know by heart (Christmas carols are perfect for this, as well as patriotic tunes and what not), and try to figure it out. It will probably be easier than you think, since whistle is a diatonic instrument.
Playing by ear is a wonderful ability to have, as most anyone on this board will tell you. I would also encourage you, at some point, to learn to read music, but that’s me. Some people hate those dern dots. To each his own.
The tablature you’ve found is fine, but you’re not going to be able to find much stuff written in tab like that. I’d really suggest either concentrating on finding melodies by ear, or just learning to read music.
welcome. i am a big proponent of sheet music and i agree with these folks. it would be way easier to learn notes rather than tablute but it’s even way easier to just figure out the the fingering for the notes and go from there. the first and only whistler that i ever met just needed to know what note to start the song on. when it comes to guitar and keyboards, i couldn’t play a whole song if it wasn’t for sheet music. with the whistle and flute, i can go an hour without needing music. hope you have as much fun as we do.
which whislte did you get? what are you planning on playing?
I know somewhat the dots. I learned it by FACE for the open and EGBDF for the lines.
I realize the more I use it the easier it comes to me. I was just thinking I may be able to find more like I saw there that would get me comfortable with fingering.
Wormdiet, Glauber posts every now and then over at the Mandolin Cafe in the classical and Celtic sections. He posted to a thread on converting from Bluegrass to Celtic music. I took the thought even further to get some songs and even the notion to take up the whistle. Someone threw his name at me that he played the whistle.
He has a website blog up for a CD that he and another fella put together. I’ll get it and post it over here. Some good music he put together, yes.
Mutepointe, I got a cheap little Williamsburg. It has rust all over it. But if I scrubbed it down with a brillo pad I reckon it would clean up. I didn’t give but a couple of dollars for it. I didn’t want to spend too much to start off and realize that I didn’t want to play. But then again, I saw some nicer ones for 10 bucks. How bad could that be?
I really want to get into Celtic. I have a Scotch/Irish background and have a small desire to learn the music of my people. But I also want to learn some Christian tunes. But I guess those really go together in ways.
http://www.abacci.com/music/whistle.asp This website has tablature for whistle similar to what you are talking about. Tablature for whistle isn’t used nearly as much as it is for guitar. So you will not be able to find almost anything you want to play written in it as you can on the guitar. I think that’s why people think it isn’t good to get dependent on it. Also, Irish music has a certain way of sounding that you can’t get from notes even, so listening to the tune you are learning being played by someone who is good makes a huge difference.
http://nigelgatherer.com/whist.html
This is a tutorial website. It has some tunes written out in notes with the names of the notes under them. It has MIDI’s so you can learn from them or see if what you are playing sounds right. It won’t sound like the real tune, for that you need to listen to a real player playing it. The notes give the skeleton of the tune, but you won’t sound like you are playing music just going by the notes.
http://www.whistleworkshop.co.uk/instruct.htm
This is also a tutorial website. It has tunes played on the whistle. They are played very slowly and then more quickly. Good place to try learning by ear and hearing how the tune should sound.
