Bagpipe Lesson 8: Learning the Primary Grace Notes!

[@ironman20150]

your videos are so helpful i used to take bag pipes lessons but i had to quit because my chanter broke and i couldn’t replace it. i just got a new chanter for christmas and i’ve been looking for good grace note videos for months and haven’t found anything. i found your playlist and now i get it! thanks so much dude

[@leetaylor6999]

Matt, mate your videos are first class. Loving learning the chanter with your guidance. The 18 yr glenlivet is an outstanding “ embelishment” 😀 to any piping lesson. Too notch my friend.

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

Much appreciated!

[@paulbill1078]

Your videos are top notch, Matt - indispensable for helping me learn the pipes. Thank you!

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

Glad to help!

[@matthewdenty7760]

Special thankyou for such an in depth discussion on this subject

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

You're welcome!

[@tylerdowie384]

I have been waiting for this

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

Glad you enjoyed it! Coming soon will be how to separate notes with tapping and sweeping gracenotes. Cheers!

[@williechuck]

Cheers! thank you for another very great video and recommendation on the Glenlivet.

[@loops4860]

Day 1 - Receives practice chanter in the mail. " Wow, I didn't think it'd be this easy." Day 3 - Starts hammering away at note crossings spending a few hours each day really getting note changes solid. Watches Matt's videos to see where I'm faltering. Day 5 - Enter the ego. "Ok, that took a little work, but at this rate I could have a solid foundation and really start building repertoire in just a few months!" Day 6 - *Starts grace notes. "Oooooor... I can spend the next year in a practice room with a metronome. I'd be happy with that." Ego obliterated. Back to the woodshed. I don't know why by when ever I encounter a run of repeated grace notes it's like I see an accelerando etched in above them. And, if I do manage to keep time, my grace notes become outlandishly sloppy.

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

Great outline of most every beginners thought process!

[@tbwpiper189]

Thanks Matt. I've come to enjoy and use even the most simple of your exercises to keep the basics true and clear. As a piper of more than twenty years it is still critical to keep the basics up front and centre...sorry...center. (Am Canadian)

[@stevebevelhymer3432]

Thanks Matt for another great video…well, all of your are great. Very easy to follow and understand.

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

I appreciate that!

[@joannedenison7650]

great video. those grace notes between B A and G are tricky because the ring finger and middle finger are joined together and they don't move as independently as other fingers

[@Firewalker9Laurence]

Thanks!

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

Many thanks!

[@johnnickpappanastos3382]

Magnificent!

[@willkelly6695]

Hey Matt. I’m struggling on remembering which fingering goes to which note without the finger chart on the sheet music. And I try and play the scales every day to try and drill it. Any other tips?

[@DavidofSteele]

Hi there, Matt. I have a question 🙋🏻‍♂️…. Why does C on the chanter sound so much like C#? I’m noticing it though out KZbin videos, but it’s somehow deemed ok?! Is it just a quirky characteristic of the bagpipes to sound slightly off? Regards Dave

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

If you look at the materials provided, you'll see there is a key signature with both F♯ and C♯, so yes, all of oour C's are C♯s, it just is a bit redundant to continually say C♯ when we don't readily have access to a C natural. Cheers!

[@lmd0687]

Howdy, sir. For the C gracenote, why is only the bottom middle finger used? To play a C, do you not need to place the bottom hand pinky finger down? The fingering for this gracenote has me confused. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

Gracenotes are always single finger motions. The g gracenote is only the top pointer finger, not all three top fingers.

[@ianmcintyre94]

Hey Matt, you say that the grace notes come on or after the beat, but when I slow down your video to 0.25x, particularly for the B grace notes at 14:04, you seem to be playing them before, tapping the following A on beat. Are the grace notes really played on or after the beat?

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

In listening to that section, I was rushing a bit on the gracenotes. They really should be sounding at the exact time of the chirp of the metronome. I was a bit ahead of that/early.

[@ianmcintyre94]

@@MattWillisBagpiper Thank you for your quick reply (and your videos). I was hoping you’d say that grace notes can be played before - it’s so much easier :)

[@padraigmacmillan8292]

Do you recommend any books for perfecting things like doubleings etc?

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

Hello! I'd start with my video on doublings here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6OzhqeBirWlbLs

[@johnarnold5410]

It would be great if you could play more sections of tunes demonstrating lifting and other grace notes for us real beginners having only practice chanters. You’ve also said there are effects you can do with the chanter not with pipes; would be nice if appropriate to hear examples on pipes as an inducement to practice the chanter. Great series 1

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

That's one of the next videos in the series. Stayed tuned, it should be out soon!

[@ericmathers4205]

hi ,Matt WHAT ABOUT CLOSED GD EXERCISES

[@ldv7996]

Hello, I'm a beginner and I can't blow on the first G Grace note. I have a Mc Callum pc4 practice chanter. When I blow out on that note I can't blow on it seems that the chanter is plugged no sound is going to be out. I have checked the finger position it seems find. Could you tell me what's the mistake I do? Thank your very much you are a good teacher.

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

Are overblowing? How does the high G sound as a note? Any obstructions in the top front tone hole?

[@zacharyrowe8395]

That high A grace note never made much sense to me. I am glad we don't use it very much how ever i tend to do more of a sweep then a tap. Thanks again i do love going back to the beginning some times to brush up on things I've taken for granted

[@hunters.5627]

When you been by dime. Do you mean by a a dime laying flat or upright

[@MattWillisBagpiper]

How about this… Upright when learning, laying down when mastered.