I’ve just got a low D whistle.
The holes,obviously, are quite far apart, and it’s quite a stretch to cover the 3 lower holes with the three middle fingers of my right hand.
Is that the normal way of doing it?
If not, which fingers cover which holes?
Thanks
Chris
Welcome to C&F. You may want to use the Super Duper Easy Grip (the grip formerly known as Piper’s). Check out this thread for the details.
Feadoggie
you’ll want to read this
Thanks to both, those links are just what I needed.
On the low D hole I found it easier to use my pinky finger tip instead of the ring finger of my right hand. First finger third pad over F sharp, second finger third joint pad over E. Top three holes I can play like a small whistle with finger tips… Bob.
So to play a high D you have to train your right hand fingers to play differently. Do a lot of people do this? It doesn’t sound very practical to me unless the piper’s grip is not just difficult but physically impossible for some reason.
For those using their little finger for the lowest hole on a Low D, a hole could be drilled for the ring finger for F natural. It might take some getting used to but it would be nice to have a good solid F natural under your fingers. Have whistles been made like this? I think 10-hole fifes use something like that.
For myself, I’ve never had any problem fingering the lower hand of Low D whistles using the index, middle, and ring fingers. I play pipes and the hole spacing isn’t much further apart on Low D whistles than it is on pipes. The problem I do have on Low D whistles is the hole spacing on the upper hand- I did the piper’s grip thing for a while but have recently reverted to fingering the upper hand of the Low D the same way that I do on a higher whistle.
So to play a high D you have to train your right hand fingers to play differently. Do a lot of people do this? It doesn’t sound very practical to me unless the piper’s grip is not just difficult but physically impossible for some reason.
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Jim I have only been playing low D for a month but so far because my hands are small I find it easier to use my pinky with the pipers grip. Because the Low D is so much bigger it feels like a totally different instrument so learning a different fingering method seemed natural. I can switch back to a high D and play it the way I and most folks always do. Its like going from a stick shift car to an automatic you just don;t think about it after a while… Bob.
That I can do but your whistle trick would throw me for a loop, I think. Good that it works for you though …it’s a good “if there’s a will, there’s a way” story.
It’s like when I go from uilleann pipes to Highland pipes to whistle- they all have different fingerings as well as different approaches to ornamentation and so forth but you don’t have to think about it- just pick up whatever instrument and your hands know what to do.
Jim, you are a guitarist, right? It’s really no different than going from a mandolin - to a concert uke - to a guitar in standard tuning - to a guitar in double dropped D - then to a banjo, a dobro or the bass. Which I am sure you could do. You don’t have to think about it, you just do it - provided you have spent sufficient time with those instruments to get your hands and mind used to the different scale lengths and tunings. We’re pretty much plastic when it comes to adapting to such things I find.
Feadoggie
It’s not that different or difficult to switch between pinkie and ring when moving between high and low whistles. I play with the pinkie on the low D as well.
I have short fingers. I use my pinky for the Low D as well. I would not like to add a hole - although there is plenty of room - because I’m holding the whistle with my right ring finger and thumb. If I went to the trouble of putting in a ring for a neck-strap, then an extra hole would not be a liability. But it’s taking the instrument to another level. The times you would have to cover all four right-hand holes… If I wanted that degree of complexity I’d be on the Uillean pipes. I’m having enough fun with the Tabor pipe, which has even fewer holes.
Which fingers for low D whistle?
There is only one rule here, always remember to use YOUR fingers. -No one else’s will work… 
hah! I know lots of people with fingers that work better’n mine!
I prefer not to use piper’s grip, and to use my finger pads, on all whistles if at all possible. I’ve got hole 3 and 6 offset on the low D to make this normal fingering more easy (and I have large hands). Just recently I made a G whistle with offset hole 6 for a woman with small hands, who found the inline holes too painful. I now prefer this even for myself on the G whistle. If it feels easier and is less strained it is all good for more enjoyable and better playing.
When I got my first low D, an Overton, many many years ago, I got the hacksaw out and chopped the bottom end with hole 6 off, and glued it back on again, with the hole offset, using a brass plumbing “olive” for strength over the joint.
Goes to show how differently we all approach things, Hans… I use piper’s grip and I want all the holes to be in perfectly alignment. When I was playing a Burke Low D, every now and then the bottom section would accidentally get rotated so that the bottom hole was out of line and it drove me crazy. I had to “deactivate” that feature.
I can’t ever get a decent seal on the holes on whistles that have offset holes.