Introduction & Review of My New Whistles

Whistle
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Greetings. Got my 1st whistles, a LBW and a Tweaked Sweetone, both reg Ds.
Been messing with them for a couple of weeks now, just a few min at the time throught the day. Probably adds up to an hr total.
I play guitar, bass, and some banjo, dobro, & fiddle.
Mostly a Bluegrass musician. Lately I’ve been fiddling and learning fiddle tunes, mostly US/Southern Style stuff. Course lots of these tunes originated over the waves. Thought since was learning these tunes anyway on fiddle, would be fun to learn to play them on whisle as well. Seemed a fun, very portable and cheap always available inst. to have in the arsenal.
There are no sessions or real Irish scene around here, so I doubt I’ll try to become truly proficient at that style. About as close as I’d hope to get would be a decent rendition of Red Haired Boy or St. Annes Reel at a local Bluegrass or Old Time style jam.

Progress: Not as easy as I thought. Still just messing with the scale and very simple tunes. Have only played real fiddle tunes in little snippits of each. Still working on embrochure and fingering for good sound. But its getting there. Fewer squeaks, getting better at fingering cleanly. Transitioning between octaves is hardest thing.

My thoughts on my whistles. Maybe some can read between the lines and tell if my comments indicate I’m doing something seriously wrong.

Ease of playing: The Tweaked Sweetone wins handsdown here. Fewer sqeeks and swawks, seems more forgiving. Also seems eaiser to transition octaves, but takes more air for the really high notes.

Tone: Like them both, but different. Sweetone is breathier and quieter, nice for practicing or solo. The LBW is stronger and purer(when blown/fingered correctly). I think it would cut through in a group situation better.

Tuning: As far as I can tell, both seem acceptably in tune with themselves(intonation). Seems off notes produced more a matter of technique rather than the inst. itself. As far as being right at 440, since I havn’t played with anyone else, or a recording, don’t know about that. Other than it seems close to my Instructional CD (McCollough). Once I get a tune down pretty good so as not to be embarassed, will check with a guitar player tuned to 440 to see if either needs to be tuned in that manner.

Sorry for the long winded post. Hope to learn more as I progress. Any tips are appreciated.

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Well hi there! It’s nice to meet you. I used to listen to lots of bluegrass, and I still love it but I don’t seek it out quite so much anymore. It sounds to me like you are doing fine. What makes me think that is that you said it wasn’t as easy as you thought! I sure don’t think playing the whistle is easy. Your other observations seem quite sensible. Make sure you are keeping your fingers as relaxed as possible—tense fingers won’t allow you to play more quickly. Don’t press down on the hole harder if the note sounds bad, move your finger to a better position. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. :slight_smile:

Oh, as for high notes. You do have to blow somewhat harder, but it isn’t just that. If you think of whistling a tune just with your lips, you’ll notice that you are changing things inside your mouth and throat and the shape of your lips as you change pitch. This is something you may want to try on your whistle to help you get better tones more easily. It sounds sort of complicated but it starts coming very naturally once you start doing it.

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Yes, I noticed that if you sort of narrow the air passage, it can increase the air speed and jump up the octave, sort of a venturi effect.

Easy to do if you do it right, esp. on the LBW. Just noticed required a little more airspped on the high a,b,c#, d on the Sweetone vs the LBW. But the LBW waSN’T as forgiving, you have to be more exaCT.