This is me playing pipes for the first time in my parents’ home in February of 1967. If I were teaching myself now, I would tell wee Jimmy to play a smaller bag and have his blowstick shortened by about 4 inches.
So you want to learn to play the bagpipes….
Okay: it’s a big step, because it’s a challenging instrument.
Like any instrument, it’s preferable if you learn as a child or teen, but lots of adults (we call them ‘mature students’) have made a great hobby of piping, provided they combine patience and perseverance with an intelligent approach and good instruction.
Good instruction is a must; this is not an easy instrument to “pick up” on your own. It’s a highly physical instrument with a very sophisticated system of gracenoting. Written tutorials help but do not always steer you clear of pitfalls.
If you don’t have a good instructor near you, there are instructors in North America and throughout the world who will teach online. Use every opportunity you can to travel to workshops and summer schools.
Time commitment
You should be prepared to practice in a very focused way for a minimum of 25 minutes a day at least 5 days a week. Having said that, an hour a day 6 days a week is a wonderful way to make fantastic progress. Many people will do more.
By focused practice, we mean not sitting on the couch wiggling your fingers while you watch the football game. In my experience of 45 years of teaching pipes, the students who practice the most are the ones who advance the quickest. Talent is only part of the package: time commitment is crucial. Sorry to sound like your mom.
Oddly enough, you do not start with a set of bagpipes. That will come. Instead, you will start with a practice chanter, which is a small oboe-like instrument that is very affordable and quiet. You will begin by learning the fingering and gracenoting system required to play Highland bagpipe tunes. This will take several months. Once you can play a few simple tunes and have them memorized, your instructor will probably suggest you acquire a set of pipes. But let’s not worry about that now.
Practice chanters can be made out of polypenco (also called delrin), which is basically plastic. These are tough little instruments that can cost between $75 and $175. They can also be made out of musical-grade hardwoods. These can cost between $175 and $400, and a lot more if you want silver or engraving on it.
Practice chanters come in two sizes: ‘regular’ and ‘long.’ The long chanter is so named because the finger holes are the same distance apart as those on the pipe chanter. This of course makes a lot of sense. However, for well over a century, practice chanters were shorter than pipe chanters, and these are what we now call ‘regular’ chanters. There is less call for them today, though lots of younger children start on the regular-sized chanter. Some companies (like this one) also offer a child’s chanter for very young children, which is even smaller than the regular.
You may also wish to opt for a higher-end wooden chanter. African Blackwood has been the wood of choice for bagpipes and chanters for more than 100 years. Wooden chanters can be more rich and vibrant, but if you’re just getting started, plastic is very suitable and you can upgrade to wood at a later date.
Click here to see the McGillivray Piping line of practice chanters
You may also want some kind of beginner tutor book. If you have an instructor, that person will have his or her own recommendation, and may even have their own teaching program. However, there are several excellent tutors on the market. The College of Piping Tutor, or “Green Book,” is very popular, and seems best suited to learning with an instructor. Produced in 1953 and updated several times since, this is easily the best-selling piping book of any kind ever. It is accompanied by online video demonstrations of all exercises and tunes. 
The National Piping Centre’s The Highland Bagpipe Tutor Book is very good to use with an instructor. It is also the most valuable beginner tutor to use if you don’t get to see your instructor often. It comes with a CD-ROM. 
Another useful book is my own tutor, Rhythmic Fingerwork. This book is not really a beginner tutor; it’s a workbook or ‘method’ book to help you master the intricate gracenoting required to play Highland pipe tunes. It is one of the most popular instructional books in the world today, and once you have two or three months under your belt it might help you with the intricacies of gracenoting. I offer some starter packages that allow you to purchase several of the items described here at a reduced price to help you get started. Some come with a wood practice chanter, some with a poly practice chanter. Some are combinations 
of books in case you already have a practice chanter. You’ll see them on the shopping cart below. And remember: if you don’t have a practice chanter yet, you certainly don’t need a set of pipes for a while! Check out the shopping cart of practice chanters and learner packages below. Additional shopping cart pages for practice chanters and books appear elsewhere on this set. Check out the main menu bar.
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$135.00McCallum Long Polypenco Practice Chanter with watertrapView ProductThis resonant, rich, and nicely in-tune polypenco practice chanter impresses me so much I offer it with all my tutor book packages. This is the “long” model, which uses the same hole spacing as the pipe chanter. The chanter has a watertrap installed in the top piece. Turn the chanter upside down to empty. Each chanter comes with a Frazer Warnock reed.
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$105.00McCallum Regular Polypenco Practice Chanter with WatertrapView ProductA rich, resonant and resilient “regular” length practice chanter, this is a traditional practice chanter design: a slightly shorter chanter with short finger spacing, the way all practice chanters were made prior to the 1970s. Some people like to buy these for younger children and then graduate up to the longer version once they grow. Some people like them because they are a little more comfortable to play while resting the end on a table. The chanter has a watertrap installed in the top piece. Turn the chanter upside down to empty. Each McCallum practice chanter comes with a Frazer Warnock reed.
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$275.00McCallum PC7 – ‘Regular’ Length African Blackwood Practice Chanter, Celtic engraved ferrule, imitation ivory soleView ProductMcCallum makes African blackwood practice chanters that are lovely both to look at and to play. This PC7 is ‘regular’ length (shorter than the pipe chanter hole spacing). The ferrule is nickel with a Celtic pattern, and the sole is imitation ivory. The practice chanter top is plastic to prevent cracking due to moisture.
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$320.00McCallum PC7 – ‘Regular’ Length African Blackwood Practice Chanter, Thistle engraved ferrule, imitation ivory soleView Product
McCallum makes African blackwood practice chanters that are lovely both to look at and to play. This PC7 is ‘regular’ length (shorter than the pipe chanter hole spacing). The ferrule is nickel with a Thistle pattern, and the sole is imitation ivory. The practice chanter top is plastic to prevent cracking due to moisture.
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$285.00McCallum PC8: ‘Long’ African Blackwood Practice Chanter with WatertrapView ProductMcCallum makes African blackwood practice chanters that are lovely both to look at and to play. This PC8 is ‘long’ (same hole spacing as the pipe chanter), and sports a plain nickel ferrule and imitation ivory sole. The chanter has a watertrap installed in the top piece. Turn the chanter upside down to empty. The practice chanter top is plastic to prevent cracking due to moisture.
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$340.00McCallum PC9 – ‘Long’ African Blackwood Practice Chanter, Celtic engraved ferrule, imitation ivory soleView ProductThis McCallum PC9 is ‘long’ spacing — the same as the pipe chanter. The ferrule is nickel with a Celtic pattern, and the sole is imitation ivory. The practice chanter top is plastic to prevent cracking due to moisture.
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$340.00McCallum PC9 – ‘Long’ African Blackwood Practice Chanter, Thistle engraved ferrule, imitation ivory soleView Product
This McCallum PC9 is ‘long’ spacing — the same as the pipe chanter. The ferrule is nickel with a Thistle pattern, and the sole is imitation ivory. The practice chanter top is plastic to prevent cracking due to moisture.
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$370.00McCallum PC7/FN – ‘Regular’ Length Deluxe African Blackwood Practice Chanter, Celtic PatternView ProductMcCallum makes African blackwood practice chanters that are lovely both to look at and to play. This PC7/FN is ‘regular’ length (shorter than the pipe chanter hole spacing) with a Celtic engraving pattern, which you can view closely by clicking on the image at left. The ferrule, bowl, sole and bottom of the mouthpiece are all engraved nickel. The practice chanter top is plastic to prevent cracking due to moisture.
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$370.00McCallum PC7/FN – ‘Regular’ Length Deluxe African Blackwood Practice Chanter, Thistle PatternView Product
McCallum makes African blackwood practice chanters that are lovely both to look at and to play. This PC7/FN is ‘regular’ length (shorter than the pipe chanter hole spacing) with a Thistle engraving pattern, which you can view closely by clicking on the image at left. The ferrule, bowl, sole and bottom of the mouthpiece are all engraved nickel. The practice chanter top is plastic to prevent cracking due to moisture.
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$420.00McCallum PC9/FN – ‘Long’ Deluxe African Blackwood Practice Chanter, Celtic PatternView ProductMcCallum makes African blackwood practice chanters that are lovely both to look at and to play. This PC9/FN is ‘long’ (same hole spacing as the pipe chanter) with a Celtic engraving pattern, which you can view closely by clicking on the image at left. The ferrule, bowl, sole and bottom of the mouthpiece are all engraved nickel. The practice chanter top is plastic to prevent cracking due to moisture.
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$420.00McCallum PC9/FN – ‘Long’ Deluxe African Blackwood Practice Chanter, Thistle PatternView ProductMcCallum makes African blackwood practice chanters that are lovely both to look at and to play. This PC9/FN is a ‘long’ (same hole spacing as the pipe chanter) with a Thistle engraving pattern, which you can view closely by clicking on the image at left. The ferrule, bowl, sole and bottom of the mouthpiece are all engraved nickel. The practice chanter top is plastic to prevent cracking due to moisture.
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$255.50Complete Tutor Package with Poly ChanterView ProductStart with everything you need in this complete tutor starter package: The National Piping Centre’s “Green Book” and Highland Bagpipe Tutor Book, and Rhythmic Fingerwork, along with a McCallum long polypenco practice chanter with a watertrap and a Frazer Warnock reed. (Regular price CAD $268.50)
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$188.00National Piping Centre Highland Bagpipe Tutor Book with Polypenco Practice ChanterView ProductYou can get your piping career started pretty inexpensively with this combo beginner pack that includes the National Piping Centre Highland Bagpipe Tutor and a McCallum long polypenco practice chanter with a watertrap and a Frazer Warnock reed. (Regular price CAD $193)
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$162.50National Piping Centre “Green Book” Tutor with Polypenco Practice ChanterView ProductYou can get your piping career started even less expensively with this combo beginner pack of the “Green Book” and a McCallum long polypenco practice chanter with a watertrap and a Frazer Warnock reed (Regular price CAD $157.50).
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$220.50National Piping Centre “Green Book,” and “Highland Bagpipe Tutor” with Polypenco Practice ChanterView ProductAdd a McCallum long polypenco practice chanter with a watertrap and a Frazer Warnock reed to these two classic tutors and save some cash. (Regular price CAD $230.50)