SETTING THE CHANTER REED:
  The experienced piper can pull a reed out of their case, put it in their chanter, go up and down the scale a couple of times, tweak it, and roll on. And they can do this right before a competition or performance. For the beginning piper, it's not that easy. The first consideration is that Low A and High A are an octave apart. What? How do I know that? Well, if you have an idea of what the scale sounds like, listen to each note. Play Low A, then High A. Does High A sound sharp or flat? If it sounds too sharp, lift the reed out a bit. (Add a little hemp if needed). If the High A sounds a little flat, push the reed down into the chanter. Make sure that you make small adjustments at a time. At this point, if you have a bagpipe tuner, check to see how good your ear is. If you are really off, you may want to use the tuner for a while to tune your ear!

CHECKING THE SCALE:
  The next process is to check each note on the scale. Play the scale up and down a few times. Is there a note that sticks out like a mating duck? (I hope not!) If you have a set of Paki pipes, maybe! Occasionally one or more notes on the scale are a bit off. If you are lucky, they will be sharp! Then all you need is a little tape on the top of the hole of that note. Play the scale again. Sound better? If you have a note that is flat, don't get the file out and ream the hole! Leave that to the people that hate their chanter! What I would recommend is to push the reed in slightly until that note comes in to scale. Then tape off the other notes that have gone too sharp. Again, use the bagpipe tuner if needed. Remember though, you need to train your ear!

TUNING THE DRONES:
  Now that your chanter sounds like Alisdair Gillie's, or Colin MacLellan's chanter, you need to tune the drones to the chanter. At this point you probably realize that you can't leave the drones where they were when you first took them out of the case a year ago when you got them! (Yes I'm a wise "aker"). Get your pipes out! Strike in! Take your finger (your choice) and close off all but one drone. Please make it a tenor! That's right don't tune to the bass drone! Play Low A and listen to the sound between the chanter and the drone. You may hear a "wa-wa-wa" sound. Good! (Not really). It's good that you can detect that sound, but not good for having your pipes in tune! Next, move the top part of the drone slowly in or out on the slide. If the "wa-wa-wa" sound is getting faster, go in the opposite direction. Once it starts to get slower and more spaced out, you are getting close. When you can't hear the pulsing of the drone to the chanter, go up and down the scale. Does the drone sound good with every note? It should! If not, tweak it! Now it's time to get another tenor drone humming! Same thing! But also listen to each drone to each other. Please do not adjust the first drone! Just move the second one. Getting a constant pitch? Good! Now fire up the bass drone! Tune the bass drone to the two tenors. Same thing, same bat channel! Now you're cooking! Are they in tune? Will they stay in tune? An hour from now? NO!!! They will change in less than five minutes! Retune! Play some more. Retune! After about 20 to 30 minutes, your pipes should be settled enough for a 20-45 minute session. But always remember to listen to your pipes! They will tell you if they are out of tune! TRAIN YOUR EAR!!

CHECK BACK! MORE HELPFUL HINTS TO COME!!