I bought my first ever whistle the other day, I play acoustic guitar as my main instrument, & i was looking for something to record/play along to my guitar with.
Anyway i bought a sweetone whistle in āCā and am getting along ok. i can play the first scale and so onā¦But the Open note of āBā (000000) just sounds so rough!
i checked the tuning with my digital tuner and its playing the note āBā, but the open fingering just sounds awful. is it me? Or are the high notes always not that good sounding?
Also i need to learn some VERY basic tunes i think, stuff like.. Row row row your boatā¦ anyone have links to basic tabs (typical lazy guitarist )
On my āDā whistles, the āC sharpā always seems to have a slightly different tone. On one it sounds awful, on the others not so bad. You might be able to sort of alter the air stream a bit as it goes through your mouth. If you whistle a tune just using your lips, you notice how you are changing the shape of your mouth inside and your lips when you change the pitch? Well, sort of mess around with that on the whistle. Sometimes you get a better tone. I think you can also cover any combination of the 3 bottom holes and the pitch will stay the sameājust tried this on my whistle, but not sure about yoursāso maybe covering one or some of those bottom holes will help with the sound. But make sure something worse isnāt happening! I am not an expert.
Okay, tablature isnāt used nearly as commonly for the whistle as it is for the guitar. The first website has a sort of tab for C-whistles. C-whistles are not as commonly used as D-whistles so there is not as much sheet music for them. The second website has the names of the notes under them, which might or might not help you. But they are really meant for a D-whistle. I think there is another whistle notation place that someone will remember. I just canāt seem to find it.
The bottom four websites are on-line tutorials. They have simple tunes you can learn by ear. The first website of the bottom four has the tune played slowly and then more quickly. The written notation would be in keys best played on the D-whistle, but by ear you can easily work the tune out on your C-whistle. That would probably be your best bet. They are simple tunes, so you could start getting practice at learning by ear. Have a good time!
When you say the āhigh notesā, does that mean that youāre having
trouble specifically with the second octave B? I mean, if the first
octave B is OK, and the second octave is bad, it can probably be put
down to inexperience. The second octave above the F takes some
practice to get the right breath control so that it sounds good.
But, if the B in both octaves are bad, then itās probably the whistle.
(I love my SweeTone D, but the C is not as good, so it certainly could
be the whistleā¦)
This was the website I was thinking of but couldnāt find so good for you and thanks for posting it! I had it bookmarked as it turns out but I have so many tune places bookmarked that I canāt remember their special properties. So my bookmarks are really pointless . I guess we posted at just the same time since I only noticed this now.
I was assuming that it was your first octave B that didnāt sound very good.
i thought we all agreed to quit telling the newbies about the second octave? just teasing. please just keep playing, it only takes a little time, youāll get it.
thanks for all the replies , after reading them i now do think it is my technique thatās at fault.
iām getting a lovely note when i play the C with all fingers covered (lower octave) i really do like the sound of that note. but by the time i get to the Bā¦it sounds like a cat who got his tail trod on
i havenāt really played the upper octave much yet!! i have far to goā¦
If you can post a quick recording of a very simple scale from C to B, Iām sure someone here can give you specific advice, or be able to tell if the whistle is at fault. Try blowing REALLY softly on the lowest note, as soft and steady as you can and still have the whistle sound. Then go up from there increasing your air pressure only very slightly for each note, and see what happens.
Confucious say: āMan who discovers masochistic cat has earned the mystic goat.ā
Thereās another forum (somewhere round here) dedicated to an instrument composed of a series of strangled sea birds, frogs and desparate crickets (invented by an insane plumber). Strangely, one of these played well enough can actually be called musical! Surely the grail of goat. Amen
A little word of advice, as I remember having issues tooā¦
When in doubt, it never hurts to try more whistles! When I first started playing I couldnt stop squawking and thought I was completely hopelessā¦ It was actually my whistle.
Granted my playing isnt all that great, but different whistles have an effect. Sometimes, whistles might have a little defect or a little tempremental attitudeā¦ if you are just beginning, sometimes knowing what you are listening for is a bit fuzzy.
Not sure if Iām making any sense here, but Good luck!~
is it me? Or are the high notes always not that good sounding?
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