I was analysing my current playing ability the other day and realised that a lot of the problems with my playing and timing where down to my left hand. Its just not as responsive as my right hand.
Beside practice, practice, practice, which I’m doing, does anyone have any other tips for strengthening hands and getting them more nimble?
Loosen up your grip and let the fingers move!
Loosening up did help. Really had to concentrate on keeping the hand loose. But its as I try to increase the speed of a tune the left hand seems to trip up first. Maybe I should give it a good workout on the guitar and see if that helps.
Anyone got the ABC for “Eye of the Tiger”?
Really wish I could get better over the course of a 2 minute montage!
If you came to me as a GHB player with this problem, I’d say the problem is grip and bag position. The muscles that control your fingers are on the inside of your forearm and if your position is not quite right you’ll be squeezing down on them. Not ideal. It’s quite possible, especially if you’re only working with a practice set, that you’re oversqueezing as well.
Calum is pointing you in the right direction, I think: I had trouble playing rolls consistently well on B and A before I started positioning the bag higher under my arm, which has made it much easier for me to relax my left hand. (Next step: trying a neckstrap connected to the mainstock, to keep the bag up there.)
Note that the person who told me to try this is a Highland piper (also an outstanding uilleann piper). 
Cheers,
Mick
Cheers guys I’ll try that out. Sort of makes sense to me as there a definitely days I feel like I’m quicker than others.
I find a neck/shoulder strap makes a HUGE difference for me. When I stopped thinking the pipes were going to hit the floor, my grip relaxed considerably. My left hand still has its own opinions about life, but things are getting better.
Another epiphany for me (thanks to Paddy Keenan and Torrin Ryan!) is that sitting properly really makes a difference. When you do it right the chanter sort of “floats” or balances between the bag neck and your knee; your hands basically keep the chanter from swinging to one side or another. In other words, there’s no real “grip” required! Who’dathunkit? “The chanter knee” is lower for a reason besides looking cool!?!
My efforts to loosen up that upper (left) hand have evolved around playing tunes that make greater use of that hand. In this case, it means shifting some common G and D tunes to A. It forces me to use that hand more than I would normally. It helps me get more comfortable with going over the break too. Your mileage may vary.
So i got a good forty minutes playing in last night after my 18 month old went to bed. It did feel like I was a little quicker and less stumbly when being more conscious of the bag position. My BCD triplet actually had a nice satisfying pop to it at last!
Haven’t tried the shoulder strap yet but planning on it. Tunes in A is a good tip too.
Thanks all.
Excellent news, Phil!
Footnote: At times, Seamus Ennis used a shoulder strap. 
Footnote #2: Last night I rigged a simple shoulder strap using a miniature (short, narrow) luggage strap, looped over my shoulder and under the mainstock near the bag. Now I need no longer wear a jacket made of high-friction fabric such as corduroy or burlap, to keep my bag tucked upwards.
Not quite cold fusion on the scale of human achievement, but we take our life-improvements where we can!
–Mick
Anyone have some pictures of the straps they are using to prop up the bag? I should very much like to see some and how they are attached.
Arbo
Hi, Arbo:
I’ll see what I can do photo-wise, later. For now, I’ll say that my strap is a simple, not very large, loop.
Imagine sitting with the pipes across your lap, bag deflated. The strap is suspended in space in front of you (never mind how) just above and to the left of the bag, with the plane formed by the strap’s “O”-shape perpendicular to the line of the mainstock/drones. To put it on, you pull the bag leftwards through the strap, and then stick your left arm through in the same direction, above the pipes.
The end result is that the strap supports the bottom of the mainstock ferrule, near where the mainstock is tied in to the bag. (The magical force that suspended the strap in space now dissipates, leaving the weight of the pipes supported by your left shoulder. Be ready for this.) You can now adjust the strap until the bag is right where you like it; in my case, jammed up against my armpit.
Get the picture?
At first I worried the strap might work its way into the crack between the butt of the mainstock and the bag, and thus weaken the tie-in, but when the bag is inflated it keeps the strap in place (i.e., normal bag-pressure helpfully pushes the edge of the strap so it stays flush with the mainstock’s butt).
You asked for a photo and instead I gave you lots more words, but hopefully a few of them help, for now!
Regards,
Mick