Bagpipes vs. tinwhistle and fingering techniques

[haukehaien]

Short answer:
1) No.
2) Not really.
3) 8.

Longer answer:
1-2) The tinwhistle only has 6 holes, and is a chromatic instrument; that is, it is possible to sharp and flat each of the notes on it. The pipe chanter has 7 fingerholes and a thumbhole, and is generally limited to nine notes. (It is possible to produce other notes that are more or less actual notes by means of cross (non standard) fingerings but is generally only done when one is trying to put a tune on the pipes that wasn't intended to go there.) Playing a tinwhistle is completely different from piping - which makes it odd that so many pipers also play whistles. The fingering techniques are completely different, even in so far as what part of the finger is used to close the holes. Tinwhistle players (except when playing large low-D whistles) generally use their fingertips to cover the holes; pipers use the first joint from the fingertip (most of the time.) Whistle players curve their fingers to play; pipers work at keeping theirs straight. Tinwhistle playing does not really translate to piping, which is not to say that things like reading music and figuring out timing and expression won't translate. Some whistle ornamentations look a bit like piping ornamentations, but in general they're quite different. Look at Richard Gross's whistle fingerings page and Dennis Havlena's pipe fingerings page and notice the differences.
3) Eight.