Help (with "setting up" pipes)

[pbutts]

Welcome to the club.....you are beginning a well-worn hazing ritual.

From your post it's not clear whether you've learned a few tunes on the practice chanter yet or not. If you are trying to learn on the "octopus," I would strongly recommend you put them away for a few months and concentrate on learning several tunes on the practice chanter first. Coming from several years on the oboe, I can attest to the fact that it takes awhile to get used to playing the chanter.

My other recommendation is to get a teacher. There are several people that you'll find on the Bob Dunsire site that will do Skype lessons, and with your musical background you should progress fairly quickly....

....oh, and when you come back to the beast, you'll still experience the joyful frustrations of leaky joints, reeds that won't play nice together, etc....it's a great learning experience!