Does anyone know how long it will take and how mutch money it should cost to be good at the Irish tin Whistle?

Question

Do you think i will be good enugf to play in bars by the end of next summer?

Answer 1

Like Sam said, if you already have experience in music then it won't take long.  It shouldn't take much money either - just buy a tin whistle and if you need to, a starters book and a book of well-known Irish tunes.

If you know how to read music, you'll pick up tunes quicker from books but otherwise your best bet is maybe to just learn by ear - get cds or tapes of session tunes or well-known jigs, reels, slow airs ... whatever you fancy and try to pick it up.  It might seem very difficult at the start but you'll get the hang of it.  If you learn the notes of the tin whistle (like B A G F E D) etc but don't know how to read music and don't have the time (or don't want to), I'm pretty sure you can get books that just right out the tunes in letters.  And to get the hang of the tunes, you can listen to them.

Check out http://www.whistleaway.com/ for some basics.

Also if you're not sure about buying a tin whistle, go for a very basic one in D.  You don't need to spend a lot of money on a whistle, very often the cheap ones sound as good as the more expensive ones.

Also check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A489693

Another thing is to not get put off if you're listening to whistle tunes and there's a lot of ornamentation.  You can learn the tune first and then add in your own ornamentation afterwards (or not if you don't want to) when you learn it and get more confident with it.

A couple of good tunes to start of with would be:

The South Wind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mplqyvSYa...

You can run straight into Planxty Irwin from the South Wind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NJPpIwBF...

That's the best version I can find even though it's on low whistle (like I said, ignore the ornamentation).  Here's an example of running into it from the south wind (though it's not great quality) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cSIJVcoC...

The Kerry Polka - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGeZGlRZq...

It's the second tune in that video ... sorry ... it's fast but that was the best version I could find.

If you're playing on your own you can start on B (that's the way I learnt it when i was younger) but if you're playing with anyone else they'll start on F# (I think).

Good luck!!

Answer 2

It took me about two weeks to learn to play one properly (sans teacher, guide book, etc-- just a tin whistle), most of which was just sitting around and trying to get my mouth around it the right way. Obviously, you'll learn better if you have a history in music-- I've played the fiddle for eleven years so getting pitch was easier for me than for a friend of mine who had never played an instrument before and was just learning to play a whistle.

Other than that, it shouldn't cost much money to learn, unless you buy an expensive whistle! The one I got was about $15 and I still have it. Works fine :)

Answer 3

Yes,no problem.