r/tinwhistle • u/Sufficient-Pie129 • 15d ago
Low G whistle music?
Hey folks, I bought my first whistle—a low G. I want to play from tabs online but it seems like most sites are geared to D whistles. Any suggestions? And is there a way to convert the D music to G? I assume the same fingering (ie three holes covered) produces a different note for each whistle in a different key?
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u/four_reeds 15d ago
Just pretend that you are playing a D whistle. If you get to the point that you want to play with others... You will have to convince them to re-tune to you or you will have to invest in a D
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u/floating_helium Franci Whistles 15d ago
I would add that if he gets to the point where he plays with others, he could change the fingering of the G major and E minor songs since both the D and the G whistle can play these keys
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u/AbacusWizard 15d ago
I’d recommend using sheet music instead of tabs. That way it doesn’t matter which whistle you’re playing.
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u/Sufficient-Pie129 15d ago
I have a question. When it comes to reading music, is an e on the same staff no matter what instrument? Like is this an e for everyone? https://share.google/images/YWjcgI2k29HsHUySy
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u/AbacusWizard 14d ago
It should be, but there are some instruments that have a tradition of lying about names of notes.
For example, I spent several years of my youth playing trumpet. I was told that if I blew into the trumpet with (for example) all valves up, I’d get a C note, and that when I saw a C note on the sheet music, that’s what I should do; and if I pushed down the first and third valves, I’d get a D note, so I should do that when I saw a D note on the sheet music, and so on all the way up the scale.
Many years later, I learned that my school band director—and the entire world of classical music—had been lying to me. That note that they told me was a C was actually a B♭! The entire system of notation was based on a falsehood!
Apparently this is done for historical reasons; certain instruments are expected to read sheet music that pretends they are in different keys than they really are. These are called “transposing instruments.”
But I find it extremely frustrating. I just want to know which note I’ve got. If I’m playing a G, let’s call it a G and write it as a G! And fortunately that’s how the pennywhistle works. (Okay, sure, it’s off by an octave, but as far as I’m concerned that makes no difference; it’s still the same note, just double the frequency.)
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u/lmolter 12d ago edited 12d ago
I agree with this despite the other comments (which are equally as valid). I play the C and the Bb all from D music. Learn the D fingering on a cheap D whistle and play any key whistle as if you were playing on the high D.
Disclaimer - I do not like the whistle tabs and I prefer to look at sheet music. I download all my music in D and just play the C and Bb whistles with the same fingering as if I were playing a high D. Obviously, I don't play with anyone else, so the keys don't matter. I just like the lower pitches of the C and Bb.
And I forgot to mention, just play the same fingering as the tabs show -- it doesn't matter that you have a G whistle and the tabs are in D. You'll just be playing in the key of G and not D. But if you're playing by yourself, it doesn't matter. However, if you want to record a backing track, you'll need the chords for the key of your whistle.
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u/Winter_wrath 15d ago
The opposite, actually. With sheet music, a D note is a D note and you can't play that with just any whistle, but tabs are fingering charts and the fingering is the same for every whistle regardless of the key.
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u/AbacusWizard 15d ago
If I play an A on a D whistle and an A on a G whistle, I get the same note.
If I put two fingers down on a D whistle and two fingers down on a G whistle, I get different notes.
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u/Winter_wrath 15d ago
Yes, but not every whistle plays the note A. If you read sheet music for a tune that's in D major and try to play those notes with an Eb whistle, that's not gonna work.
With tabs, the key of the whistle doesn't matter because every whistle works the same fingering-wise, you'll just be playing the tune transposed higher or lower.
Personally I don't like tabs (nor can read sheets), I play by ear and then just use whatever key of whistle I feel like playing.
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u/AbacusWizard 15d ago
Yes, but not every whistle plays the note A.
It does when I’m playing it. :–)
If you read sheet music for a tune that's in D major and try to play those notes with an Eb whistle, that's not gonna work.
No, that does work. You just need to know the fingering for that whistle.
If you know how, any whistle can play tunes in any key. Some keys of course will be easier than others.
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u/Winter_wrath 15d ago
Well yeah, the whistle is a chromatic instrument if you do lots of half holing but that's beside the point.
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u/ColinSailor 15d ago
Can I suggest that you get yourself a generation, Walton or similar high D whistle. They are about £10 in the UK and more than good enough to get you well underway. The vast majority of Trad Irish, Scottish and English Music is in the keys of D and G so easily played on a D whistle where you will be in tune with others any you will easily be able to play alongside online whistle lessons and videos. I play mainly by reading sheet music due to learning the trumpet when younger which is now a disadvantage. As soon as you know the finger positions for the notes, get in the habit of learning by ear - it is a hugely valuable tool and one I am trying to master.
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u/floating_helium Franci Whistles 15d ago edited 15d ago
You can play in E minor on a G whistle, and many songs that are played on a D whistle are in E minor, but you will have to use a different fingering than you see on the tabs.
I suggest you learn the notes, scales and keys, on a g whistle you play in G major and E minor, and with the oxx ooo cross fingering (the F note instead of F#) you can play C major and A minor.
A G whistle is not a bad choice since these are very common keys in general, E minor for celtic in particular, but you have to learn some basic theory in order to not get confused or too reliant on tabs.
Yes, same fingering will produce different notes on different whistle tonalities. For example, when playing the D major scale on a D whistle, with the same fingering you will get the G major scale on the G whistle.
If you don't want to learn theory yet and just want to play from tabs, it's best to get a D whistle. As your whistle journey progresses you will eventually obtain various keys of whistles anyway.
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u/ecadre Andrew Wigglesworth 15d ago
Here I am going to comment on what tends to happen with tin whistles in British and Irish traditional/folk music.
Because of historical reasons (fiddles and sessions etc) the keys that we tend to play folk dance music (this includes sessions as well as dance events) generally fit on a "D" tin whistle. If I go to a pub music session playing these tunes, I will only take a soprano D whistle (and in my case, a melodeon).
A little care needs to be taken with terminology since what we call a "D" whistle is at the same pitch as a "C" (soprano/descant) recorder. We simply use different conventions in classical and folk music, and sometimes "classically" trained musicians get a bit confused.
So, on a D whistle we play generally in the keys of D major, G major, A major, A Dorian, E Dorian and B Minor.
The music for tin whistles is generally written on the treble clef for a D whistle (not strictly true since on a soprano D whistle we actually play an octave higher than written .. but that's another story).
If we wish to play in other keys, we change the instrument but use the same written music and fingering as on a D whistle. ie. Tin whistles are a type of transposing instrument.
For instance, suppose you have a tune written in D, but decided that you wish to play it in C. You would not try to find sheet music written in C, you would instead change your instrument. In this case to a C whistle.
btw. a lot of us don't use much written music much but learn "by ear." However, the same principle applies.
In your case, on an Alto G whistle, any tune written in D, and then fingered the same as on a D whistle, would sound as G.
A G tune would sound as C. An A tune would sound as D ... etc.
Treating tin whistles as transposing instruments simplifies everything massively. We don't need different written music and fingerings to remember for each musical key.