Worst Advice Ever?

[Mac an t-Sealgair]

With tongue firmly in cheek, what is the worst advice in piping you have ever been given?

On here we strive to provide help and information in an accessible way, but what of the anecdotal tosh and misdirection?

Stick a wet towel in your bag, or a handful of frozen peas on a summers day? Always ping yer drone reed tongue?

A long long time ago there was a neighbour (long since gone now) he was a piper, and (allegedly) a veteran of a well known piping regiment. He was well meaning but could be....... well, a bit annoying. Not to put too fine a point on it.
So an elderly gentleman of the glen gave him a few hints to improve his piping, focusing on maintenance. The piper, looking at the elderly gentleman who was a man of the hills and steeped in the tradition, took on the advice.
Now why a man of an esteemed piping regiment would ever think / want to pour honey and oats in to his bag to improve the pipes volume is beyond me.
Suffice to say it was a good deal quieter in the glen for a couple of weeks

[pancelticpiper]

In 45 years of piping I can't recall ever being given any advice that wasn't good.

My problem has been not listening to it!

[Jim Fogelman]

Worst advice I’ve been given? Play this synthetic bag! It’ll make things easy for you since you’re starting out!

[piper Q]

Originally Posted by Mac an t-Sealgair

With tongue firmly in cheek, what is the worst advice in piping you have ever been given?

On here we strive to provide help and information in an accessible way, but what of the anecdotal tosh and misdirection?

Stick a wet towel in your bag, or a handful of frozen peas on a summers day? Always ping yer drone reed tongue?

A long long time ago there was a neighbour (long since gone now) he was a piper, and (allegedly) a veteran of a well known piping regiment. He was well meaning but could be....... well, a bit annoying. Not to put too fine a point on it.
So an elderly gentleman of the glen gave him a few hints to improve his piping, focusing on maintenance. The piper, looking at the elderly gentleman who was a man of the hills and steeped in the tradition, took on the advice.
Now why a man of an esteemed piping regiment would ever think / want to pour honey and oats in to his bag to improve the pipes volume is beyond me.
Suffice to say it was a good deal quieter in the glen for a couple of weeks

T'is obvious, the Old Sage of the hills, needed to have a quieter time for meditations on the qualities of finer whiskys and whiskeys, and to achieve that he needed to soften the infernal pipes of the Louder Is Better Clansman.... As for bad bag advice, The early Canmoor bags were easier to maintain, true, but struck in and played like a rubber chicken under the arm. To remedy that aspect I placed an old leather bag over the Canmoor. It may of been an evolutionary step but cemented my faith in Hybrids that I currently employ.

[olypiper]

Once upon a time, when I was getting started, a band mate suggested to me that I mark my drone pins, like he had, so I would know where to put them to be "in tune".

[Raibeart]

"Buy these pipes from me; they will be perfect for a beginner such as yourself"

[Joseph Diodato]

Originally Posted by olypiper

Once upon a time, when I was getting started, a band mate suggested to me that I mark my drone pins, like he had, so I would know where to put them to be "in tune".

I'll do you one better. I know a piper that knew another piper that was told to glue their drones in place so that the pipes would never go out of tune. Needless to say that I was mortified, and perhaps some iota of common sense prevailed...

[el gaitero]

Originally Posted by Joseph Diodato

piper that was told to glue their drones in place so that the pipes would never go out of tune...

..

Wait!...you mean..?? ......

[Pip01]

Originally Posted by olypiper

Once upon a time, when I was getting started, a band mate suggested to me that I mark my drone pins, like he had, so I would know where to put them to be "in tune".

Greetings to All,

And again... "Once upon a time"... back... "In The Day"...
and after WW II... and through the mid-60s... this was
not... an uncommon.. practice.

And in that Long Ago... I had... an every-now-a-then
occasion... to actually see... drone tuning reference
points... carved into... some drone tuning pins!!

Thankfully... gratefully... and due perhaps to the ever-
increasing quality of our piping kit... such measures
are no longer deemed to be helpful... to our tuning. :)

All of this was... and of course... back in those Days
of Long Ago... when there was only... cane... :)

And as for the present question at hand... Hmmm...

There were times when I received differing advice...
but never any bad advice. (Well, maybe except for
that one time in one of our band's favorite pubs...
when I was told that our favorite barman was doing
some experimenting with the making of a "French
75"... and I should give it a go... :) ("Well, Your Honor,
did I have a good time?" ... "That's what we were
told." he said. :)

Regards to All,

Pip01


A Quick Post Script Question:

Have any here... in seeing "old pipes"... ever
observed any of these carved reference points
on tuning pins? It has been a while since I have
seen any... but I would think that there are still
some out there... somewhere... :)

(Perhaps best... in a different and new Thread??)
(Just a thought.)

[Matt Willis Bagpiper]

Before even starting, I heard a piper playing at a Renaissance Fair and after the performance, told him how much I wanted to learn. He said "you're too short, and your hands are too small. You don't have a chance, kid. Go get a whistle or something."

Needless to say, he was wrong.