Getting to know the bagpipes

For the time being, I’m not going to get into the extensive and vast history of the bagpipes. For more info of that nature, I’ll provide some links to a plethora of good articles that are already out there.

To sum up … while Highland Pipes are often what people think of when someone mentions “bagpipes,” they are not the only ones out there.

In fact, there are tons of various kinds of bagpipes in the world from all sorts of cultures and regions. Highland pipes simply became the most frequent bagpipes seen and heard because they were eventually incorporated into the British military. Here’s a good list of some of the many pipes one might encounter around the world—more than a hundred.

For more details on the parts of the bagpipe and the main types of pipes that I work with, head on over to the following pages in this section:

• Bagpipe Anatomy
  What’s what on the bagpipes, what they do, and whatnot. =)
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• The Highland Bagpipe
  The loud one, from Scotland with Love.
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• Smallpipes & Border Pipes
  The not-so-loud ones: still from Scotland, and still with love—and bellows.

Learn more about:

Bagpipe Anatomy
All the parts of a bagpipe, what they do, and why.

The Highland Bagpipes
All about the unique properties and music of Scotland’s “loud one.”

Smallpipes & Border pipes
Scotland’s other bagpipes … how they’re different, and why you should look into them at some point.