I’ve put on hold my desire to learn the tenor banjo, but I still want to learn ITM. I’ve decided to try out the tinwhistle. Does this set from Elderly look like a good purchase for someone just getting started?
http://www.elderly.com/books/items/01-010002.htm
There’s nothing wrong with that package, and I like Feadog whistles.
However, the tutorial I think is the best to start with is the Bill Ochs book:
http://elderly.com//books/items/01-810032.htm
This is a really great book, it doesn’t assume you know anything about whistle or music at all at the start, and it takes you right on through.
–James
I agree with James. I bought this set in the beginning and it was fun.
That’s the pack I got started with, and that’s the whistle I used in this song over at OCR. The upper octave sounds mediocre, but the lower one sounds quite rich.
Definitely a good buy if you’re just getting into whistling.
Hmmm, what if I already know how to read music? I was a saxophone player for 6 years.
The Bill Ochs book is still a good beginning to whistle playing & to Irish music, whether or not you know how to read music.
The price is right. I love Feadog whistles myself. Not everybody does. But tthen I don’t like Clarke originals and it seems everybody else does. The Bill Ochs book is the one I started with. It gets you into some tunes very quickly. When you get the whistles if they squeak and squawk just keep working at it. It is probably not the whistle. Have fun. In a month or two you will have a dozen or so whistles and feel that you need more. 
Ron
I’d say that of all the cheapies, the Feadogs seem to be one of the more consistent makes.
Although I think some of my Feadogs sound a little better than others, I’ve never had one that wasn’t perfectly playable out of the box with no tweeking (not true of either Walton’s or Generations). And they sound better (to my ear) than Clarke Sweetones, the other reliable no-tweeking-needed cheapie.
I’d say that a good Feadog or Generation D is about as good a whistle as you can get.
I’d recommend starting with the Bill Ochs tutor, a Sweetone, and a Feadog - gives you good introduction into the differences between conical and cylindrical whistles, and they sound different enough to make a good contrast when you trade off.
Get yourself a teacher as well. He or she can give you directions and prevent you from learning yourself things the wrong way. Then I’m talking especially about the ornaments(cuts, taps, rolls, slides, crans). I did and immediately I felt I was into whistling more seriously. Succes. Takes a long time though to learn to play well, but keep practicing half an hour a day, it’ll be worth it in the end.
Alrighty then, order has been made. The reason I was leaning towards that Feadog package was because my wife gave me the command to keep it around $20 since money is tight right now. Well, the final tally was about $32 with S&H.
I took the advice given and got the Bill Ochs book. That left just enough in my budget for one cheap whistle, so I got a Sweetone D. The only 2 Feadogs at Elderly were the one in the package and a tweaked one that was about $20. I figure if I stick with it and enjoy it I’ll get the tweaked Feadog in a couple of months.
Oh yeah, because of the budgetary restrictions, I’ll have to pass on taking lessons. However, I do have a friend that plays flute (primarily) and whistle at the local session. He could probably help me out if I had any questions. He’s pretty good, too. Went to Ireland last month to compete in Fleadh on flute.
Thanks everyone for helping to steer me in the right direction!