Poll: How do you feel about Bagpipes?

[Zontar]

My family is a very mixed one in terms of where from Europe we came from. On my father's side it's mostly Normandy (we where Briton after all) with a mix of some native but not enough to legally be considered part native (was over 200-400 years ago after all), but on my mother's side it's half Western Slav, half Baltic and a bit of Germanic peppered in the mix. Now I (and my father given the jokes he cracks) have noticed that when the family gets together and someone starts playing the Bagpipes, well there seems to be a clear divide over who is enjoying it and who is in pain. Seems only Celts in our family like the (or aren't put it pain by it), so that got me to wondering, how to you guys feel about them?

Personally I love them, much better instrument then most, and one you can take on the battlefield at that.

 

[MHR]

Love them. Haters gonna hate.

 

[Zhukov]

They sound like someone strangling an alley cat in an echo chamber.

Not a fan.

 

[Evonisia]

In the background, reasonably far away (as in a street)? Fine, fair enough.

Close up? Allow me to choke you with your own bagpipes, please. Hrmph, fine, I can't, plus it would be messy.

 

[M0rp43vs]

Well, I love Celtic and Scottish music so I'm gonna say yes.

They're kinda like a massive musical multiplier. If you're REALLY good at playing them, they'll sound badass and powerful. If you aren't, People will be lining up to shove them up/down several of your orifices.

Plus, They are classified as an instrument of war. So there's that.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

My favourite folk band, Stary Olsa, has a lot of truly magnificent pipe work. So yeah, I do like them quite a bit. That's mostly when mixed with percussion and middle ages instruments like lutes and flutes. Bagpipes on their own, such as what you typically hear from the UK, are a little boring. I feel them best in a band setting.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I really don't like them at all. If I ever go to a funeral with them, I'd be tempted just to leave.

 

[Aerosteam]

Spoiler: Well...

Actually you can put this music with any instrument and it would sound great.

Being a Scot you'd expect me to like them. Which is actually the case, bagpipes are awesome.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Bagpipes are awesome, I love'em. I even use Rob Crabtrees Duart's Castle as my ring-tone.

 

[Barbas]

They sound like someone strangling an alley cat in an echo chamber.

Not a fan.

Ah, I see what the problem is. You're not listening to a large enough mass of pipes and drums. Like 'em or not, though, you've got to give them one thing: they have a petrifying psychological effect.

Spoiler: Force multipliers!

I love 'em when they're played with skill. The trick is to find somewhere secluded enough to practice in peace. :I

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Where is the option: "only outside"?

 

[Teoes]

Yeah, they're ok when played with skill and (optional extra) en masse as part of a band.

The trouble is getting good. I work in the centre of Glasgow and we get a lot of buskers either nearby or right outside the office. Many of those buskers play the bagpipes. Very few of those buskers can be qualified as anything other than "shit" and just about every one of those buskers has a repertoire of the same four or five songs. During the summer I am forced to listen to Auld Lang Syne, Highland Cathedral, Flower of Scotland and Scotland the Brave, played poorly for hours on end. If I'm lucky it's from only one source and not from two nearby competing buskers. For a bit of variety we'll get another of the infinite screed of limp foppish tosspots with a guitar and a desire to show how in-touch with their feelings they are, by mewling through the same soppy songs or pop nonsense.

I fucking hate buskers.

Sorry, got a little bit offtopic there.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I have to say I love them in part because of KoRn. Seen them live and Jonathon Davis plays an awesome bagpipe. Also Roddy Piper was another factor because I'm a wrestling fan and he was one of my all time favorite heels... Yeah, I know he's Canadian IRL, but he's of Scottish and Irish descent. Plus he's really good at it.
Third was the awesome bagpipe scene from So I Married an Axe Murderer, doing a bagpipe cover of Rod Stewart's Do You Think I'm Sexy (Bagpipe solo!!!).
There's other things I love that has to do with admittedly one of the strangest instruments aside from the hurdy-gurdy.

 

[shootthebandit]

Im scottish and they sound fucking dreadful

 

[MysticSlayer]

I personally enjoy them. Granted, if the person playing them is terrible, it isn't hard for them to quickly become my least favorite instrument. However, with someone who actually knows how to play, they become one of my favorite instruments.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

I live in Scotland, near the largest city in the country and I have to say... I'm not a fan.

Don't get me wrong, they can sound really good sometimes:
But would I listen to Bagpipe music on it's own? Fuck no!

 

[Zen Bard]

Like any instrument, it depends on who's playing it. If the person has skill, they can have a really unique and haunting quality.

If not, it sounds like herd animals being slaughtered.

Personally, I dig the sound. A band I was in used to cover AC/DC's "It's Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" and I used to simulate the bagpipe part with my guitar.

 

[L. Declis]

A bagpipe is a warrior's instrument.

It's not meant for pansy English tea parties, but when you're smashing down Hadrian's Wall, the effiminate cockneys can't help but run from the righteous music of the truly free.

As a source of enjoyment, it's terrible. But to show anger or sadness, it's perfect.

 

[Something Amyss]

I own a pair. I'm horrible at them.

They sound like someone strangling an alley cat in an echo chamber.

You've heard my record, then?

 

[Fijiman]

I don't mind the bagpipes. Then again, I've never had to listen to someone play them inside of a building I was in or by someone who's not very good.