Every class replay here is rebuilt from its real transcript — searchable to the minute.
Most pipers spend more time on the practice chanter than on their actual bagpipes, yet the reed inside it gets almost no attention. I walk through…
I put a set of Selbie drone reeds through a hands-on demonstration to show why they've become known for being plug-and-play. Rather than just…
This session is a live, end-to-end demonstration of how I take a brand-new chanter reed from the box to fully tuned bagpipes. Prompted by member…
A small but lively practice chanter session: A member reports progress on bellows pipes, another member — six months into the full pipes — describes…
This session tackles the single biggest transition in a piper's journey: moving from the practice chanter to the full bagpipe. I frame it with my…
Every piper knows the feeling of not being sure what they're going to get when they pull out their pipes: some days the reed feels great, other days…
This Member's Choice open session runs entirely on member questions, and the first one launches a half-hour tour of the most beautiful slow airs on…
This session is built around member questions on Jock Wilson's Ball, a classic reel. A member emailed the sheet music in advance and asked about bar…
Pointing, pulsing, phrasing — pipers hear these words on judges' sheets and in lessons, but what do they actually mean? I untangle all three,…
I open by going around the room: members share competition histories ranging from grade 4 solos to the Worlds with SFU in 1999, and one member…
Every piper has faced pipes that just don't feel right without knowing why. I break down the two problems that get confused with each other: pipes…
I share a discovery I've never taught publicly before: a specific, measurable blowing pattern shared by the world's best pipers. It started with a…
In part one of a two-part series, I break down what steady blowing actually is, why it's one of the hardest skills in piping to master, and the tool…
Pipe bags are one of the most debated topics in piping, and I walk through the three main types up close: traditional hide bags (usually sheepskin),…
Most pipers can't say with certainty exactly what size pipe bag they're playing, or whether it's actually the right size for them. I set out to fix…
I open with a reframe that drives the whole session: pipers tend to think of doublings as sequences of finger movements, but a doubling is really a…
I address a frustration I hear constantly from students: chirps coming off the high A, trouble covering low G, doublings that never sound clean, and…
In this unboxing video, I open a sealed set of brand-new Peter Henderson Heritage Viking bagpipes, model PH1HV, sent to me by Alastair Dunn at R.G.…
I have been teaching my son the pipes entirely by ear — the way pipers learned for generations — and this session turns that experiment into a…
This practice chanter session runs on member questions, and they're good ones. I open with a quick rave about Stuart Liddell's new CD, then dig into …
In this hands-on experiment, I rig up four iPhones, each running a different tuning app and connected to its own InTune mic, so I can watch my…
This is a personal-development talk from me, stepping outside pure piping instruction to share the six principles I call 'the discipline of doing' -- …
In this session I share a personal list of simple tunes I believe every piper should know — melodies often filed away as beginner material that I…
In this video I explain the origin story behind one of my bestselling products, the InTune mic, by walking through the specific problems that make…
Every piper has struck up their pipes and thought: these are way too hard. In this session I show how to tell whether the pipes are actually too hard,…
I introduce my seven-point mindful practice checklist, a tool designed to stop pipers from wasting practice time on mindless repetition. My starting…
Setting up a new pipe chanter reed can feel shrouded in mystery. In this hands-on workshop, I demystify the whole pipeline — selecting a reed,…
I open with a look back at my front-page New York Times story on online bagpipe lessons, then dive into two meaty topics driven by member questions: …
In this personal, reflective video, I revisit a milestone from my career: a January 11, 2012 New York Times front-page story about the rise of online …
I open the new year with a complete, hands-on maintenance checklist for the Highland bagpipe, working through my own instrument on camera so you can…
In this session I open up my personal recording archive to explore six classic hornpipes by Donald MacLeod: Crossing the Minch, Pipe Major George…
In this small-group practice chanter session, members bring two live projects to the table: getting Peter MacLeod's tricky Major David Manson up to…
This live YouTube Q&A opens with a personal, reflective tribute to two major figures in the piping world who had recently passed away: Ian McLellan,…
Just in time for the holidays, I walk through my complete Christmas tune packet — highlighted, annotated, and waiting in the Dropbox — playing each…
Born in Edinburgh in 1883, playing for Queen Victoria at age ten, a Gordon Highlanders pipe major six years after enlisting, and dead in my forties:…
This is a get-the-pipes-out workshop: I tune my own drones live on camera and break down the exact process I use and teach. It opens with members…
This was a free online class I taught on setting up your bagpipes, and the whole session is about tone: the instrument as one complete system,…
Chanter reeds are the part of the bagpipe we love to hate, and this session is my complete playbook for making peace with them. I start with what…
This session is a full play-along technique workout — the kind of 10-minute daily routine I recommend every piper keep in their back pocket. After…
In this unboxing video, I open a set of antique Peter Henderson bagpipes that may date back to the late 1890s — possibly made while Peter Henderson…
This Ask Me Anything session opens with a deep dive into crossing noises, sparked by a member who only knows she makes them because other people tell …
I count down my personal list of the greatest 3/4 marches ever written, playing each one through on the chanter and digging into what makes it work.…
I frame piping in five big areas — technique, tone, musical expression, performance skills, and how to practice — and the group votes to dig into the …
Following up on my unboxing video of the new Peter Henderson PH01 bagpipes two months earlier, I introduce a sibling model, the PH02. It's built to…
In this live YouTube Q&A, I work through a batch of real questions submitted by viewers through my website, YouTube comments, and social media. After …
Every fall for two decades, I flew home from the Worlds and the big solo events in Scotland, unpacked my case, and put my entire competition binder…
To mark the eighth anniversary of the Tone Protector, I pull out the very first reed that ever went into one — an Infinity Chanter reed sealed away…
This Ask Me Anything session covers the questions Inner Circle members most wanted answered — from physical setup and sore elbows to tempo, dropped…
In this short live video, I tackle a question that has been flooding my inbox and piping Facebook groups: how do you set up your drone reeds so they …
In this unboxing video, I open a brand-new set of Peter Henderson PH01 bagpipes from R.G. Hardie & Co, sent to me by Alastair Dunn shortly after I…
In this hands-on review, I unbox a fresh shipment of R.G. Hardie P01 Poly bagpipes — the acetal (plastic) sticks I own myself, sell on my shop, and…
The top hand is where technique gets hard: it's most pipers' non-dominant hand, it belongs to the bag arm, and it carries the busiest embellishments…
Recorded casually on my back deck instead of my usual studio, this live video has me working through a stack of real questions viewers submitted…
This practice chanter session opens with hands-on help for a member whose arthritic fingers struggle to cover the bottom-hand holes. I share my…
This is one of our member video classes, and we had two videos to work through. The first came from a member who is getting back into piping after…
This session is a guided tour through the music of Gordon Duncan, one of the most influential pipers of all time — a player and composer so original…
This live pipes-on session pairs a finger workout with one of my most original pieces of research into bagpipe sound. The group starts with the Power …
In this hands-on workshop, I spread my own pipes across the bench and walk through the full maintenance checklist I use to keep an instrument…
In this listening-and-repertoire session, I take the Inner Circle on a tour of the bagpipe traditions of Galicia and Asturias in northern Spain and…
This session is built around Mockingbird Hill, a jig I brought back from my Hawaii workshop after first hearing Alasdair Gillies play it — and which…
This video grew out of a 47-second short that became the most-viewed, most-liked, and most-commented clip in my channel history — and also the most…
In this Inner Circle session, I dig into one of my all-time favorite tunes — the Cameron Quickstep, the springy 2/4 march I ha used to open recitals…
This play-along session turns into a relaxed practice chanter workshop on two classic 4/4 marches: The Pikeman's March and The Meeting of the Waters. …
This Member Videos session turns into a full masterclass in arranging, tuning theory, and multitrack recording. A member premieres my two-year…
I build this practice chanter session around Archie Beag, the well-loved Donald Morrison jig, and use it to demonstrate one of my favorite learning…
By member request, I take the Inner Circle behind the scenes of Bagpipe Revolution, my 2008 album recorded at the Sage Arts studio north of Seattle.…
In this hands-on tutorial, I demonstrate a permanent but low-risk modification anyone can do at home to make drone reeds fit more securely: cutting…
In this unplanned, spur-of-the-moment unboxing, I open a new set of R.G. Hardie O2AB African Blackwood bagpipes that just arrived from Scotland, which…
In this Member Videos session, I review three recordings sent in by Inner Circle members: a 12/8 march called The 6th of June being prepared for an…
This practice chanter session is built entirely around member tunes and questions, and it turns into a masterclass on two things every piper wrestles …
A member kicks off the final live session of the year with a request: help with back-to-back cut notes in 2/4 marches like The 79th's Farewell to…
Recorded in the run-up to the holidays, this session is my guided tour of the gear I actually use, sell, and believe in — perfect for building your…
In this first-ever live build, I assemble a complete set of R.G. Hardie Poly bagpipes from a sticks-only kit for a customer, working through every…
I share a first-of-its-kind video: a complete real-time recording of my full bagpipe tuning process, condensed into a fast time-lapse sped up more…
In this live launch, I introduce the Endurance Practice Chanter — a new product I designed and collaborated on with R.G. Hardie & Company in Scotland,…
This session grew out of an MSR that one of our member bands sent me for help, and in particular their strathspeys, so I turned it into my strathspey …
I put this class together because so many of you have asked what all these famous competition names actually mean, and I wanted to give you an…
In this video, I tackle a topic that is just as important to bagpipe ergonomics as blowpipe length and position: the pipe bag. I walk through what a …
I walk through my complete start-to-finish system for learning a new tune, using the classic 6/8 jig Archie Beag as a live example. The session opens …
In this Bagpipe Essentials Masterclass lesson, I teach the birl, one of the most important and most frequent movements in pipe tunes. I focus on the "…
What actually separates the sound of a top professional from everyone else? After playing the pipes of world-class players like Callum Beaumont and…
In this live Q&A, I open with a few housekeeping updates: an appearance with piper Carlos Núñez in Seattle, my Tartan and Taps workshop in Dallas…
In this video, I tackle bagpipe ergonomics, focusing specifically on the blowpipe, a component that doesn't get nearly enough attention despite its…
This session is a deep dive into one band's new MSR, requested by email with sheet music in advance: The Road to the Isles, Captain Colin Campbell,…
In this live Q&A, I broadcast from my kitchen instead of my usual studio and opens with a few updates: I'll be performing with virtuoso Galician…
AI is moving fast, and in this session I demonstrate live, click-by-click, how pipers can put ChatGPT to work right now. Members open with their own…
In this live Q&A, recorded right after the top solo competitions in Scotland and the World Pipe Band Championships, I catch viewers up on the biggest …
This member videos session works through two submissions, reviewing each in real time and building specific technique out of exactly what's on screen.…
This is a live "Get the Pipes Out" session, my informal play-along and open-discussion format where members bring their full pipes on camera to play…
In this second lesson from the Bagpipe Essentials Masterclass, I focus on the bottom hand, including a detail that is often overlooked: the position …
This practice chanter session runs entirely on member questions, and they are good ones. It opens with The Sound of Sleat and a deceptively deep…
In this short lesson from the Bagpipe Essentials Masterclass, I walk through how to find the ideal top hand position on the practice chanter. I start …
Strathspeys, along with piobaireachd, are the most distinctly Scottish tunes we play — and technically the hardest, with an unrelenting dot cut,…
In this video I introduce the Tone Protector, the digital chanter cap with two-way humidity control that I call piping's number one must-have piece…
In this video I step back from technique to talk about where music education is headed as AI tools like ChatGPT become part of everyday life. I trace …
In this live session, I answer a question I get regularly through my website: what's the actual difference between a practice chanter and a pipe…
This was a small, easygoing Member Videos session — only one submission came in, a two-four march sent in by a member along with sheet music. Before…
This practice chanter session zeroes in on two of the most-played movements in piping: the D throw and the birl. I break the light D throw into its…
In this video I answer the questions almost every new piper asks about blowing: how does the sound keep going when you take a breath, how do you know …
This is a live, unscripted Q&A session where I answer questions submitted through comments and email from pipers around the world. It opens with a…
Steady blowing is where bagpipe tone comes from, and in this session I break down exactly what it is and how to build it. Unlike trumpet or saxophone …
In this live Q&A session, recorded from my backyard in Seattle, I answer viewer questions submitted through YouTube comments, email, and social media …
I clear off a table, piles it with chanters, spools, tubes, canisters, and scissors, and walk through my real maintenance routine — the checks I do…
I call John MacColl my favorite composer of 2/4 marches, and in this session I play and dissect seven of them: Arthur Bignold of Lochrosque, Jeannie…
In this Inner Circle Live session, I walk members step by step through the pipe band style attack — the sequence a band uses to start up together on…
Sparked by a member's hand-built taorluath chart, this session becomes a complete tour of one of piping's core movements and its exotic piobaireachd…
In this detailed, hands-on tutorial, I assemble a set of bagpipes completely from scratch, walking through every step of turning a pile of parts into …
I dig into two of piping's more obscure embellishments — the rodin and the darado — movements born in piobaireachd that also spice up jigs and…
This live stream opens with me simply playing for the camera, testing my sound and streaming setup with two full sets of tunes, including the ground…
This session is a single deep-dive video review built around one member's recording of Glengarry's Lament, working on the crunluath variation — the…
In this live Friday Q&A, I answer real questions submitted by email and in the comments, working through three major topics for pipers of every level.…
With Highland Games season underway, I draw on more than three decades of summer competing — from the local games of the Pacific Northwest and the BC …
In this live Q&A, I work through real viewer questions about setting up and adjusting drone reeds, starting with a request to demonstrate the process …
This session opens with a deep dive into reed care. I introduce my new Precision Tuning Toolkit and tell the story of why I abandoned decades of…
In this product walkthrough, I introduce my BagpipeLessons.com Precision Tuning Tool Kit, built around the idea that the pipe chanter reed is the…
In this live Q&A, I work through a set of emailed and live-chat questions about building physical stamina, choosing reeds, and structuring practice.…
This session is my love letter to John Morrison of Assynt House, the six-parted 2/4 march by Peter MacLeod that many pipers rank among the greatest…
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session opens with a hands-on chanter maintenance demo before moving into a full group play-along built around one of my…
I give an up-close look at the Infinity pipe chanter, made by R.G. Hardie, walking through all three models available. I open with the design problem …
In this free-ranging live 'Ask Me Anything' session, I answer real questions submitted by viewers and readers, covering everything from hand tension…
In this Member Videos session, I review recordings that three Inner Circle members sent in ahead of time, giving each one individualized feedback…
In this second live Q&A, I answer a batch of viewer-submitted questions, starting with a deep dive into bagpipe ergonomics. I explain that two parts…
In this casual live update, I catch up with viewers after a busy month of travel, sharing quick news, the launch of my 31-video Bagpipe Essentials…
I open my personal archive of moisture control gear and walk through the entire history of keeping bagpipes dry — from the plain vinyl tube trap and…
This month's live Practice Chanter Session opens with a quick round of member topics and a practical gear note — how to get the InTune mic working…
I introduce what I call the most important and most unique exercise I've ever created: Power Dot-Cut Fluidity. The dot-cut — a long, dotted note…
This March Practice Chanter Session opens with an easy catch-up about St. Patrick's Day gigs and a trip to Ireland, but it quickly turns into one of…
I open with the core problem: bagpipes are uniquely hard to tune because they produce a loud, continuous sound from four separate reeds at once, and…
In this Power Series lesson, I tackle a note combination that trips up a lot of pipers: the strathspey triplet. I show how these are commonly written …
This is a live "Get the Pipes Out" session recorded March 11, 2024 — a St. Patrick's Day-themed group play-along where members join me over video,…
In this informal, unscripted YouTube live video, I step away from my usual polished lesson format to talk directly with viewers about my own piping…
Recorded in the run-up to St. Patrick's Day, this session is my tour of the Irish repertoire every working piper gets asked for. Before the tunes, a…
In this Power Series lesson, I break down the Power Doublings exercise, a fingering drill built around the single most common embellishment in…
This session is a deep dive into one of the trickiest corners of practice chanter technique: the grip family. Working from a comprehensive chart a…
In this short update video, I walk through what's new with the InTune Mic, the wireless clip-on instrument microphone I designed specifically for…
In this session, I dig into what finger dexterity actually is — the ability to make small, precise movements quickly, with accuracy and control — and …
I tackle a question every piper asks at some point: is it me, or is it my pipes? I debunk the common myth that a great, steady, in-tune bagpipe sound …
This February practice chanter session opens with a wide-ranging conversation about learning bagpipes as an adult, sparked by a panel discussion I…
Using Bill Murray's Groundhog Day as the jumping-off point, I tackle one of the most common problems in piping: a practice routine that repeats…
I share one of my favorite Power Series exercises, Power GDEs, targeting the GDE — a gracenote combination made up of high G, D, and E — found in…
This Get the Pipes Out session opens with a member's real struggle — blowing that goes unsteady mid-set, especially when the tune's energy suddenly…
Fresh off five days in Kansas City, I take members inside Winter Storm, one of the world's great piping events — and one with deep personal meaning,…
In this video, I break down one of the most misunderstood features of bagpipe sheet music: repeats. Bagpipe tunes are highly structured — the…
This is the Inner Circle's first practice chanter session of the year, and I use the fresh start to go back to basics on hand position while also…
This Member Videos session is a working example of how I review a performance in real time. A member's grade five band tune opens the class, and I…
In this video, I introduce my free guide, Starting the Year Off Right: How to Create Your Own 12-Week Plan for Piping Success. Rather than a…
In this session, I introduce my free guide, Starting the Year Off Right: How to Create Your Own 12-Week Plan for Piping Success. It is not a set…
This month's Practice Chanter Session works through two member tunes in detail — Peter MacLeod's four-part reel Major David Manson and a fast…
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session turned into a full live drone reed clinic. Rather than a straight play-along, I set up a brand new set of Easy Drone …
In this comprehensive guide, I walk through a new infographic I created mapping every category of bagpipe tune, starting with the two overarching…
This session didn't go as planned. For the first time in a long while, no members submitted videos to review, so the hour turned into an open-floor Q&…
In this video, I explain why bagpipe sound can feel maddeningly inconsistent from one day to the next, and traces the cause back to a single factor:…
This November Practice Chanter Session opens as an open Q&A, but quickly zeroes in on a single, universal rhythm problem: what happens when a short…
As the weather turns cold and damp, your bagpipes need attention — and this session is my complete fall checkup. I walk through testing the bag for…
This session is a guided tour of the two-parted 2/4 march — the small-scale tunes I call masterpieces in miniature. I open with my tune-type family…
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session is a live play-along class where I work through two tunes in real time with a small group of members, mixing…
I open with one of my favorite recordings anywhere — the third movement of Hamish Moore and Dick Lee's concerto for bagpipes and jazz — and then…
This month's live practice chanter session opens with a member question about the best beginner's tutor book, and I walk through the three I'd…
In this in-depth class, recorded live for Inner Circle members, I tackle what I call the single most important skill for a great bagpipe sound:…
The Highland bagpipe has nine notes — but the ladder from low G to high A actually has more rungs, and in this session I show how to reach four of…
This Member Videos session works through three submissions members sent in for feedback: a newer piper's first-ever video, playing Amazing Grace; a…
This session is a guided tour of some of the greatest bagpipe performances ever captured on video. I pull up historic YouTube footage and provide…
This Get the Pipes Out session opens with a hands-on gear walkthrough before the group plays together. I demonstrate the Infinity B-flat chanter and…
This month's Practice Chanter Session opens with a simple but powerful practice tool I discovered after a student wished for a way to hear a phrase…
In this hands-on session, I empty my reed boxes onto the desk and demystifies the pipe chanter reed — the piece of equipment I call the most…
I set myself a challenge I'd never tried before: make a complete list of every piobaireachd embellishment, then teach through it in one session.…
This is a Member Videos session, where I work through videos members sent in of themselves playing, reviewing each one live and building a…
This July Inner Circle practice chanter session opens with a demonstration I have been asked about for weeks: a homemade foam pad taped to the back…
Using a new infographic that maps the entire piping repertoire, I walk through every category of bagpipe tune — where each type is played, its time…
In this Practice Chanter session, I tackle one of the biggest challenges in piping: how to play clean and fast without sacrificing quality. I revisit …
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session opens with an open floor for questions before members play together, and I spend the first stretch working through a …
In this video I walk through my favorite smartphone apps for piping practice and introduces the Piper's Advantage bagpipe phone mount, a…
I set up a brand-new chanter reed live on camera and walk through my complete tuning workflow, from reed storage to final tape adjustments. I start…
This month's live practice chanter session opens with a genuine puzzle several members have run into: a birl that's completely reliable in one tune…
I finally tackle a topic I've dodged for years: circular breathing. It isn't necessary on the Highland pipes — the bag is a built-in circular…
In this video I break down pipe chanter reeds — what I call the single most important and least understood element of a bagpipe's sound. I…
I spent most of my competitive life treating Highland games preparation as a system: register early, print every entry form, read the rules, and…
This Inner Circle session is a member video review class: I work through five recordings members submitted, giving live, tune-by-tune feedback. The…
This session is billed as a 'Get the Pipes Out' play-along, but it turns into something more specific and more useful: a video study of the pipe band …
In this deep dive on bagpipe drone reeds, I explain why the right set of reeds matters as much for how your pipes feel as for how they sound, and…
This month's Practice Chanter Session is a member-driven workout, with me fielding questions on tunes people are actively working on. A member…
I open with the framework behind all of my teaching: everything in piping fits into three categories — technique (everything you can do on the…
Sight reading — looking at a piece of sheet music you have never seen and turning it directly into music — is a skill top session musicians have and…
In this video I tell the story behind the Infinity Chanter, a pipe chanter made by R.G. Hardie and Company in Scotland that solves a problem…
This is a monthly live Practice Chanter Session, the play-along workout where members bring their own technique questions and I work through them…
This hands-on session is a complete efficiency checkup for your bagpipes. I start from a principle I picked up at a piobaireachd workshop with…
This Get the Pipes Out session opens with an extended live Q&A about chanter tuning, sparked by a member's question about whether the Infinity…
This Member Videos session works through recordings sent in by four members, plus a trio preparing for competition season. I review a strathspey and…
This month's live practice chanter session runs almost entirely off member questions, and it turns into a deep dive on two topics every piper…
Weddings, funerals, retirement parties, school performances — the solo gigs that aren't competitions or parades are where most pipers actually meet…
Nerves, drone shut-offs, early E's, vanishing memory — I open this session by collecting the real performance fears of members who play band gigs,…
This February practice chanter workout opens with me settling a question I get nearly every week: does chanter length matter? I line up three RG…
In this hands-on session I demonstrate my InTune Mic — the wireless clip-on instrument microphone I designed to solve a uniquely bagpipe problem:…
This session opens as a live play-along: I get my own pipes out on camera and walk the group through a quick maintenance routine before playing —…
This is a member video review session: I work through submissions in the order they came in, giving each one the kind of one-shot, real-time feedback …
This January workout is a member-driven Practice Chanter Session built entirely around requests brought to the class: a tricky third part of Cock of…
In this session I unveil the Pyramid of Musical Mastery — a framework I developed to connect the two sides of piping that usually get taught…
In this hands-on tutorial, I walk through setting up and using the InTune mic, my wireless clip-on microphone for smartphones, together with the bra…
This is a full show-and-tell tour of the smaller bagpipes. I pull out R.G. Hardie Twist Trap practice pipes, John Walsh smallpipes, Garvie session…
This open, play-along session starts wherever members are — a member working through a set of marches, another chasing down a measure that fell apart …
In this festive session, I work through a stack of Christmas tunes arranged for the Highland bagpipe, playing each one live and showing exactly how I …
In this short product video, I introduce the InTune Mic, a wireless clip-on microphone I designed to solve one of the most common frustrations in…
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session opens with me checking in on what each member is working on, from a piobaireachd setting with conflicting published…
This monthly Practice Chanter Workout Session opens with a look at homemade grip mods for the back of the practice chanter — foam padding, a…
I continue my tour of the greatest piobaireachds ever written, moving from last week's beautiful melodies into three new categories: tunes with…
In this session, I take on a big question: if experienced pipers largely agree on which piobaireachds are the greatest of all time, what exactly…
Drawing on years playing in grade one bands like SFU and more than two decades teaching bands including nearly 20 years with the Keith Highlanders, I …
This "Get the Pipes Out" session opens as a walkthrough of my pre-play ritual before pipes ever leave the case: checking the bag for airtightness,…
In this member session, I work through a specific request: a small group preparing 'Sound of Sleat' for a competition medley wants help with the tune'…
This session is a one-on-one deep dive built around a single member submission: a video of the funeral lament Flowers of the Forest, sent in shortly…
In this session I break drone tuning down into two solvable problems. The auditory problem: with two tenors, a bass, and a chanter all sounding at…
This back-to-school gear session is a guided tour through my favorite equipment, with members comparing notes along the way. It starts with practice…
This month's practice chanter workout opens as an open-floor session, with me inviting the group to bring their own questions and tunes. The…
In this Practice Chanter Session, I lead members through a complete workout built around one central idea: playing fast and clean depends on…
This is a live 'Get the Pipes Out' session — no lecture, just me and members playing together in real time. I open with a full pre-play gear check…
This August session is an open Q&A and practice chanter workout recorded live for BagpipeLessons.com's Inner Circle, right in the middle of my online …
In this session, I work through James Clear's bestseller Atomic Habits chapter by chapter and translate it directly into bagpipe practice. Starting…
This month's session opens with a member wrestling with crossing noises: I can nail a single note transition cleanly, but the moment two land back-to-…
This Member Videos session features four pipers sending in recordings for feedback, and the through-line across every clip is timing versus technique.…
I devote this session to one of my all-time favorite tunes — Mrs. John MacColl — and to the extraordinary man who wrote it. Drawing on Seumas…
What happens when the fire goes out? In this discussion-driven session, I tackle the question that sits above all goal setting: why play at all.…
This Inner Circle Live session opens as a grab-bag of member questions before turning into a full practice chanter workout on the birl. I field…
Competition day is won before you play a note. I have been competing since September 1990 — every local Highland Games, the B.C. indoor circuit, and…
I devote this session to the complete pipe chanter setup process, taught live on my own pipes with the reeds, hemp, tape, poker, and dental elastics…
This session is a complete tour of the top hand: the position, the tension habits, and every major embellishment that lives up there. I start with…
What do you do when one corner of a tune refuses to come out? In this session, I build custom practice drills live, working from trouble spots…
In this collaborative video, I sit down with seven-time world champion pipe band drummer James Laughlin to break down the fundamentals of…
In this Inner Circle lesson, I tackle two of the most demanding fingering embellishments in bagpipe music: the crunluath and the…
This video is a recording of a live Inner Circle class where I walk members step by step through the Piper's Metronome app, the metronome I designed…
This short promotional video is my personal invitation to join the BagpipeLessons.com Inner Circle, my membership program for pipers of all levels. I …
In this wide-ranging podcast interview for the Life on Purpose Podcast, host James talks with me about the personal story behind BagpipeLessons.com — …
In this short product video, I, founder of BagpipeLessons.com and inventor of the Tone Protector, introduces the Perfect Angle Blowpipe…
In this quick product walkthrough, I introduce the Tone Protector Reed Safe, a digital chanter cap and split stock built around two-way humidity…
In this short product introduction, I unveil the Tone Protector, a digital chanter cap I designed with a built-in thermometer, hygrometer, and…
I introduce the Piper's Ultimate Reed Poker and explain the problem it solves: as cane breaks in, it softens and the reed becomes easier to blow, but …
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