Hi folks,
practising for a while now, but whatever I do, after a short time of playing my right hand cramps and hurts devilish. I notice myself pressing the thumb on the chanter directly below the middle finger of the right hand for not losing the “grip” of the chanter.
Do you have any tips for me how to relieve my thumb of this pressure? Or is the answer - as so often - “practise. practise. practise.”?
Thanks,
G.
Try to play with your thumb off the chanter if you can, or tape a thumb tack to the back of your chanter, then I bet you wont press too hard… 
lol, okay. didn’t think about something like that until now. 
Could this be ‘death-grip’? Maybe you’re just squeezing too hard on the chanter - try relax.
Hi Gabriel—I’m posting a thread I bookmarked with some ideas from the UP forum:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=413373&highlight=thumb+relax*#413373
I don’t play UP. But I have had another type of problem with the whistle and have done some reading. I believe you are taking a great risk to continue practicing with pain. You could injure yourself to the point of not being able to play at all. No amount of pain is normal, something is wrong. It is very tedious, but you have to get your hand to be pain free before you practice again and then you have to solve the problem. That is your top priority. If your thumb only hurts when you play, that is good. Then you can start working on the problem.
Once your hand is free of pain, these relaxation exercises (sp) might help. They feel good and are fast to do. BUT, they are not for hands that are already injured, so I want to emphasize that!!!
http://home.mindspring.com/~shin-on/handcare.html
Sorry to sound so bossy. 
gabriel,
your problem has me wondering if your other fingers are placed correctly. if the others ARE placed correctly, the thumb can sit whereever it happens to be.
the notes you need the thumb for are low D and back D. so you can practice alternating low D and low E, taking thumb off the chanter for low E. the same with lower octave B and back D.
has an experienced player seen you play, specifically how you hold the chanter? if not, and if you could post a pic, we could help you. what you want is a head on picture of the right hand on the chanter as you honestly play it. we need to see 4 fingernails.
cynth doth protest too much, but in general terms she is right. when something hurts, stop, shake out your hands, and re-apply to the chanter in a more relaxed manner. also, if as i assume you are a beginner, i hope you are not playing more than 30 min- it would be diminishing returns.
meir
Thanks for your thoughts and replies so far!
Well, my right hand only hurts when I’m playing the UPs. I had the same problems when starting with the flemish bagpipe (it has a unergonomically placed 2nd thumb hole for the right hand), but I got into that quite fast. The pipes now are different in some kind…dunno what and why exactly.
Since I live alone and I can’t operate a camera while playing , I have to find someone who assists me in taking a photo of my finger’s placement. But I normally (think that I) use the typical “pipers grip” also used for the lowD whistle which I also play (painless!). My fingers are not stretched in a hurting way or so, it’s simply the thumb which seems to press to hard onto the chanter for not losing the grip of it, but I can’t control that…dunno why again. 
Maybe still the “practise. practise. practise” problem?
I normally practise 1 to 1.5 hours a day, splitted up into small units of 15-30 minutes. Too much?
Gabriel:
Really, try to play with your thumb off the chanter for now. Even the back D can be played that way, and it should help you relax the grip (and, eventually, find the “right” spot for your thumb). The pain is probably (judging from your description) from gripping the chanter too hard, which will cause problems of one kind or another.
Ignore any leaks and squeaks for now, they will eventually take care of themselves.
Bill