stretching fingers?

Uilleann Pipes
1

I am a GHB player just starting UPs…

This is driving me crazy: I play fine for a while, then my fingers on the bottom hand cannot seem to stay “stretched out” - they tire and I get get air leaks galore…

My GHB chanter bottom hand holes are so much closer together.

I tried taping little rolled bit of paper with electrical tape to “remind” my fingers where to play, but that only caused more leaks (but did serve to confirm that my fingers were, in fact, “collapsing” into their closer GHB shape)

Anyone else have this problem? It is extremely frustrating. I suppose it is just a matter of time and practice as my right hand stretches out a bit, but I am very impatient.

thank you -

Dave Jones

2

Not to be facetious, but practise, practise, practise. Also, relax your hands. Play UPs with soft fingers, slightly curled around the chanter - not the straight, rigid fingers I often see GHB players using.

djm

3

Yes, patince,time and practice will get you there… but do not over do it and risk injury.

4

delete

5

Also the tone holes are so much bigger on the GHB’s so you know if your fingers are in the right place. Then when you play a flat set the holes get even tinier and even further apart.

6

You know what, I realised just before sleep last night that I was holding my thumb in the wrong place: I think so, anyway. I was holding my thumb on my “low” hand below a ridge that’s there for a key.

This made me stretch my thumb down below my middle finger, which became quickly uncomfortable and I think caused my fingers to tend to migrate.

When I held my thumb ABOVE this ridge so that it was lined up with my index finger, it was more comfortable and I was far more accurate covering holes.

This is what makes it so hard to work without a teacher, who would probably have caught this position error 2 months ago when I started.

It is also why I am enormously grateful for your responses. You are collectively my tutor substitutes.

I saw Paddy Keenan at saratoga last Sunday. He holds his chanter almost completely horizontally such that his left hand rests on his leg while playing! I wasn’t happy with it when I tried it myself, but I do keep a steeper angle on the chanter than with my GHB.

It is so humbling playing this. I’m really quite swift at my GHB’s… then I am a toddler on these UPs…

thanks again -

Dave Jones