Playing a Grip on C from B Position

Oct 5, 2022 | General | 0 comments

Written By Gary Guth

Somebody was saying, “You know, I’m having a real problem playing B to a grip on C,” and you know the thing about that particular movement is it’s used in a lot of tunes.  So how do you fix that issue? Okay, the first thing that I think you should do is talk your way through the movements. We’re going B to a grip on C, so I’ve got B, G, D-grace note C.  See if you can talk your way through it, starting out real slow: B, G, grace note, C. You know, when my brain gets it, what happens is it starts to peak; all of a sudden, it starts to get faster. Okay, so you know when you’re practicing a coordination exercise like this, the best thing that you can do is talk your way through it because if you’re saying something, like B, G, D-grace note, C, and you’re doing something else,   you’re going to catch yourself doing it wrong. 

After you’ve talked your way through it for a while, tap your feet. Okay, so I’m at a walking pace: B, G, grace note, C.  If you can do that, you can play it. Now you’re going to play it in 4 straight beats. and , not necessarily the rhythm of the grip, but we’ll get to that. The only thing we’re doing right now are the movements in four beats, so we’re going: one, two, three, four. Now, if I can do that, the next step is to try it twice as fast. So now I’m going to go: one and two, and one and two. And see what I’m doing now? The grip in rhythm is one, two, and three, one, two, and three. Right now, if I want to go twice as fast as that, I’m going: one, two, and three, one and a two, one and a two. And then after I have the coordination, it’ll automatically speed up. I hope that works for you. If you have any questions, just let me know.

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Written By Gary Guth

Bagpipe Teacher

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