Long time string player (banjo, guitar, dobro) just picked up a Clarke Woodstock, which appears to be a Sweetone with a paint job in that is has a plastic fipple and a tapered rolled-tin bore.
My wife is NOT delighted at the prospect of listening to yet another instrument. Beginner sounds are not pleasant and the whistle is no exception. She is, however, small and unable to do real damage.
Q:
Are banjo pickers allowed? Will I be all right?
::==!===( )
A: -Yes and Yes! 
Welcome to the madness of whistles!
Cheers,
Anders
Welcome, jp! There’s a thread about the Woodstock whistle here:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=25530
Q: Are banjo pickers allowed?
A: Of course.
Q: Will I be all right?
A: Probably not. 
save yourself while there’s still time
Welcome to the fold. 
Even my CAT complained when I first started the whistle! She crawled up on my lap and cried, much to the amusement of my wife and daughter.
You’ll be okay, but you have just begun an insatiable addiction, to which there is no known cure.
Some will love your sound, and some will hate it. Be prepared!
Now Hold it right there mister! First you’ll need to fill in a Banjo Permit Application…
http://www.whitetreeaz.com/vintage/drvrapp.htm
We don’t like chancer hobos just busting in here you know 
and welcome to the otherside … enjoy!!!
Welcome!
Luckily for you and your wife, the beginner’s learning curve on whistle is fairly short and you’ll be playing enjoyable music pretty soon.
Why not get a second whistle for your wife and get her hooked too? Don’t let her give you that “I can’t play an instrument” cr*p!
I too, am a definite newbie… Am hoping I have some sort of head start, being a pretty competent flute player, ie classical/concert flute, but I’m rapidly realising that’s it’s not that much of a head start, beyond having good breath control.
Can noodle around easily on a high whistle and busk tunes, though I’m not very clued up on the ornamentation (anywhere I could find a beginners guide to that??
Have just been loaned (with the option of buying) an Overton Low D, so am wanting to get a bit more serious about this whistle playing lark, understand a bit more of this folky business, and get playing with some of my extremely talented folky friends!
Biggest hurdle thus far seems to be adjusting to the ‘pipers grip’, having been used to playing with the pads of my fingers for 14 or so years…
Any thoughts?
make you whistle noises even worse, then your wife and family will appreciate when you pick up the flute.
My vote is to allow you in.
\=,====O
http://mackhooverwhistles.com/reinstrumentpics/instrumwall.JPG
Mack
Tomsk,
There is a page on the Chiff and Fipple site describing ornamentation that might help out plus there are several online whistle tutorials showing how it is done. If that’s not enough, there are also quite a few whistle tutorials you can actually spend money on.
Ryan Duns has some tutorials on You Tube. Just do a search using his name and you’ll find them. You can also search these forums for tutorials and find quite a few suggestions. If you don’t have time for that, pm me and I’ll put a list of links together for you.
Thanks! Ryan’s videos have proved a really good starting point. Got invited to play ‘The Kid on The Mountain’ with some friends at a gig last night, so learned that thoroughly and got a fair bit of ornamentation in which has proved a good experiment!
More happy with my hand position now, so I’m just going to keep learning tunes that I enjoy listening to… maybe some Michael McGoldrick ones, for a good challenge.