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[oggiesnr]

Okay, I know all about the vagaries of what key (in the loosest sense) highland pipes may or may not be tuned to but I'm looking at playing pipe music as notated in the modern manner so ostensibly in D major/B Minor ie two sharps.

So my first thought was to play it on the D row which works fine until you hit the basses when so many of them are in the wrong direction that I ended up with a lot of cross rowing which works but means working out each tune on a random basis.  Given that one has to cross row is a better approach to actually use the G row as the home row and cross to the D row for C# and ease of some fingerings and then use the pull D and A chords as standard except when the push D chord is needed against a push D.

What do other players do?

Steve

[Theo]

An AD box? Arguably Highland pipes are in A with a G natural. So that tonality fits very neatly on an AD box and it puts the chords in a better place than a DG.

[oggiesnr]

An AD box? Arguably Highland pipes are in A with a G natural. So that tonality fits very neatly on an AD box and it puts the chords in a better place than a DG.

Nice try Theo but I can't afford another box 

Steve

[george garside]

the hohner highlander mouthie is tuned in A with a G natural instead of G sharp and the bloke who designed it regulary  uses it  to play with the pipes.

playing in A on the D row, with little or no need to cross row,   gives you the same as the hohner highlander and the pair of A/D bass buttons can be used more or less throughout the proceedings provided they are tapped very lightly to give more or less a slightly tuned (staccato) percussion effect. The B bass note can also be given the occasional quick prod.

Where and if the bass sound bloody awful just leave them off for the duration of a treble note or two and nobody will notice!

george

[Anahata]

The problem notes are A and B. To play them with A and E chords (or at least E bass) means you run out of bellows because everything except D and F# is a pull note. To play them as push notes you don't have good chords, unless it's the sort of tune where a G will work under the B (often does with pipe tunes)

working out each tune on a random basis.

Yeah, that's what it seems to come down to 

[rees]

  Given that one has to cross row is a better approach to actually use the G row as the home row and cross to the D row for C# and ease of some fingerings and then use the pull D and A chords as standard except when the push D chord is needed against a push D.

Steve

Yes, definitely, that is what I do for all kinds of pentatonic stuff in D, and especially pipe tunes. It's the only way to do it properly on a D/G box.
Similarly for playing in A on the D row.

[David J]

I've been practising 'Battle of the Somme' in D of late on a 12 bass D/G, and have found (for the first time) that the pull G chord is very handy. There's only one bar in fact where I use the push G chord. Which, of course makes it much harder to play on an 8 bass. Probably why it's usually played in G in sessions where you can use the C chord in both directions.

[Ebor_fiddler]

I tend to play these on the D row and frequently omit basses entirely. I am experimenting with a running "D" bass which often works, except when it doesn't. "The Battle of the Somme" seems to suit this for most of the tune, though occasionally I have to fall back on my standard method.

Chris B.