Hello all, this is my first post to this site, and im very keen on learning my feadog D whistle. I was wondering what u might suggest as a first whistlers book. Im actually a musician by trade, also a teacher, I play the double bass in Jazz bands on the weekends, so im hoping that my experience may help a little!??!
I actually bought a Joanie Madden CD two years ago as well as this whistle, just didnt get around to playing the thing.
Im really looking forward to learning this instrument, as the music and its history is so rich and colourful.
If anyone can stear me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated
See ya Andy
It’s the accompanying CD that helps make the difference … hearing the rhythms and phrasing, how the ornaments sound, where they can fall naturally (interestingly) in the tune.
It took me a while to get a handle on the fact ornaments often replace tune notes (in addition to embellishing them), so I’d be trying to insert some fancy ornament and still get all the basic notes in as well. Hearing how the ornaments interact with the tune made a big difference!
I’ma big fan of Bill Ochs’ The Clarke Tinwhistle ( will work with any D whistle). Starts very basic, works all the way up through fully ornamented tunes.
Hi Andy,
Another bass player here!! Of COURSE your bass playing will stand you in good stead…this music grooves too don’t ya think?
It’ such fun to have an instument you can keep in your pocket, and also to handle melody in a bigger way than we are usually allowed as bass players. You’ll love it, I promise.
The books recommended by oter contributors above are good, also check out Cathal McConnell and Geraldine Cotter’s tutors. Also pick up any general tune books you can find, there’s always something useful you can find.
Here’s the best bit…you can have a really world class instrument SO cheaply by comparison with a bass: it’s unreal!!!
Don’t forget to donload MP3s and stuff from the links on the C&F site…very handy. Good luck, and if you’re wondering…yes, I still love the bass!
Adrian
Hi Andy! Welcome to Whistledom! I started on a Feadog also and had some musical background (classical flute). It definitely helps. The above suggestions are all excellent. I’ll also add to the list of suggestions John Skelton’s “A Few Tunes” and “A Few More Tunes”. These books also come with solo irish flute/tin whistle CD’s. Volume 1 has 45 tunes and Volume 2 has 46. It would additionally be extremely helpful if you had some slow downer software so that you could slow your CD’s down to a manageable speed and gradually increase your speed as you got the hang of things. I use Amazing SlowDowner which is available through Roni Music. There are several different downloadable programs available.
whistlegal, that is a very useful post, not just for andy, but so many people with similar questions. There are many lurkers too, who may not want too be members of C & F, but who appreciate thoughtful posts.
On behalf of any Australian lurkers who are unable to post a thank you, I would like to post a thank you for all useful and thoughtful contribuutions.
I’m not a bass player but I stand next to the bass player in our folk group. Once you figure out how to play the whistle, use it for other types of music too. (I’m not fond of ITM.)
This thread has 10 posts over 7 years. If you resuscitate a thread that’s this old, please consider making it abundantly clear in the resuscitating post that’s what you’re doing. Else, people get confused.
