Before I give you my answer, let’s watch the video that’s generating all this controversy. So here goes:

“Many pipers that I’ve seen are way too high. The reason you want to have your thumb right down there between the middle and ring fingers is that it’s perfectly balanced right in the middle. Anytime you’re moving your bottom hand to cover all the holes — for those low G-based movements: birls, D throws, grips, taorluaths — any bottom-hand notes, you’re using your thumb to help. You’re not just pushing your fingers on the chanter, you’re actually using your thumb on the back for a little bit of a very light pinching motion. And having that thumb down low is the perfect spot.

Not up here. Some players put it right across from the middle finger — that’s still a little high. You want it just between the middle and the ring finger. That’s the perfect spot for you.”

All right, there you go.

At recent count, we’re almost to 20,000 views and 200 likes, and over 30 comments. I think some people are even posting and deleting their comments because they didn’t like the feedback they were getting from other people. So, pretty amazing that this got so much interest and heated debate.

I’ll put the link to this Facebook video in the description — you can check it out and actually post a comment on there.

So, what is all the discussion and debate about? Well, a lot of it has to do with people saying that putting it low — right there between the middle and ring finger — is painful. Others argue that it doesn’t feel natural. Some say you should just put your hands on the chanter, and whatever feels natural the first time you do it, that’s the right spot for you.

I’m going to say the right spot is right there between the middle and ring finger — and that’s lower than a lot of people. Definitely, you don’t want to be up high. Even straight across from the middle finger is too high. You want to get it right down there, between the middle and the ring finger. That’s right where you want it to be — straight across from there.

If that feels unnatural to you, try it right now. If you’re a little bit higher, try scooting it down and see how that feels. You’ll probably feel a little tightness in this joint. You might feel a little bit of pain and tightness in this muscle here.

So why would you want to do that if it feels unnatural or painful?

Well, I think the answer is we’re really talking about the difference between short-term versus long-term. We’re talking about the difference between something that feels right the first time you do it, versus something that works best long-term.

When we say something feels “natural,” often that just means that’s what you’re used to. But that can be different from what’s the best way to do it with practice.

Something that’s innate is something you can do naturally without any practice. But that’s different from something you can do well after a lot of practice. Often the best way to do something is not the way that feels natural at first. It takes time to learn and develop — not just skill, but also physically changing your body: strength, flexibility, range of motion. That’s what you need to get that thumb down in that low position.

People have described the game of golf as a game of opposites, where often the best way to do something is counterintuitive. What feels right to a beginner is not the way to get good at something long-term.

So let’s say that again: what feels right to you as a beginner is often not the way to get good at it long-term. Or another way to think about it: the right way, or best way to get really good at something, often feels counterintuitive, awkward, wrong, or even painful when you first start out.

Let’s talk about why this low thumb position is so important. It’s because of the bottom-hand notes. On the bagpipe chanter — practice chanter or pipe — we have nine notes, from high A all the way down to low G. On the pipe chanter, the low notes have the biggest holes, with the biggest spacing, and with the smallest fingers.

Big holes. Spacing. Small fingers.

So we want to do everything we can to get our hands in the right position to give an advantage to those bottom fingers. I mean, check those out — really big holes down there on the bottom, for my little pinky. Even if you have bigger hands, it’s still your smallest fingers on the bottom with the biggest holes.

This is an Infinity Pipe Chanter. I love this chanter because it’s got smaller holes than a lot of other chanters. But even still, they’re way bigger than your practice chanter holes.

We’ve got our nine notes, 13 primary embellishments. We have a doubling for every note — low G doubling all the way to high A doubling. And we have four bottom-hand embellishments. What are they? D throw, birl, grip, and taorluath. These are embellishments that really focus on low G — and that involves your pinky, the big hole on the bottom of the chanter.

You want to get that thumb in the position to do everything you can to help develop control and dexterity of those little fingers down there.

The position of the thumb is also really important for keeping your hands relaxed. The two most important pillars of good bagpipe form are:

1. Keeping the hands as relaxed as possible
2. Keeping them close to the chanter

Tension makes things worse. Raising your fingers way off the chanter makes things worse.

I want you to grab your practice chanter — or if you have a pipe chanter like this, you can try it as well. Go into low G position. Now hold your practice chanter just with your bottom hand, and try it in what I would call the correct position: thumb nice and low, between the middle and ring finger.

When you do that, raise your pointer finger as if you’re doing a D gracenote. Then middle finger, ring, and pinky. It’s a little bit wobbly here because you’re trying to control this chanter with just your bottom hand.

Now, slide your thumb up. Try it. What I feel is I have to pinch a lot harder with my index finger because all of the tension from the thumb is going into that one finger. And when I lift, it really moves — middle finger, ring finger, and then pinky.

Anytime the thumb is way up here, this actually causes me physical pain right here in the thumb. I have to push so hard to keep the chanter from flying around. My thumb is high.

When the thumb is low — much easier, more relaxed.

You can try the same thing with your pipe chanter. When I slide it up here, the whole thing wants to move. What that thumb does, when you have it nice and low, is it gives you a balance. When you’re playing, you’re not just moving your fingers — you’re actually using your thumb on the back for a very gentle pinching motion. And when your thumb’s in that position — between the middle and ring finger, perfectly in the center of your four fingers — it’s the most relaxed it can be. And these fingers can be the most relaxed, because they’re spreading out that tension across all four fingers.

About 25 years ago, I was in Scotland for the World Pipe Band Championships, staying in Glasgow, playing with the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. I think this was the very late ‘90s or early 2000s.

Leading up to the Worlds, which were on the weekend, there were all kinds of cool piping events — recitals and other things — happening all week. I was with some friends from the band, and we were having lunch and heading to the Piping Centre to watch a recital by the great Alasdair Gillies, who was one of my teachers and one of the all-time greatest pipers.

It was a very popular recital, and we got the very last seats in the little recital hall there at the National Piping Centre. We were in the front row, all the way to one side — I think all the way on the left-hand side — so not where you’d necessarily pick for the best seats in the house for getting a nice center view of the stage.

But I’m really glad we got there late and got those seats because I saw something I had never seen before.

What I was able to see — a side view of Alasdair playing. Imagine you’re in the very front row, but you’re not staring straight at the performer because you’re all the way over to one side, so you’re looking almost directly to your right and a little bit forward. There he is, playing.

What I saw — I had never seen or noticed before on any other piper. As he was playing, his thumb would just move like this. It wasn’t in time, and I don’t think he was even conscious of it. But what it showed me was that he was keeping his thumb very relaxed. He wasn’t squeezing down — he was just keeping it very relaxed. Not moving up and down, but just a little bit, like just taking it off and repositioning.

I noticed the position of his thumb was right there — between the middle and the ring finger — and very loose, relaxed.

If you hear Alasdair play, and you can hear it on the recordings, he had a great sound. He had a very powerful sound, especially on that bottom hand. His technique was very clear — getting that really nice, strong kind of ripple sound out of the D throws and grips, taorluaths — and a very powerful way of expressing his tunes with a really driving beat. One of the greatest 2/4 march players of all time, in my opinion, if not the greatest.

So he had a very powerful way of playing musically, and his technique and his sound — but what I noticed was that power was not coming from tension. That power was coming from precision and control and clarity, but with a very relaxed hand with that thumb in position.

Look around at the other top pipers. Get on YouTube and see if you can find videos of top pipers. If you can get a view of that thumb position, look for that. Almost all of them have the thumbs low and in that position. Not because there’s a rule, not because they’re trying to fit in and copy each other — but because it’s the best way to:

• Increase your finger dexterity
• Decrease tension
• Increase the clarity, consistency, and speed of your playing

That’s what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to get your technique clean and consistent, fast, and played in these really difficult tunes.

Having your hands as relaxed as possible is crucial — and having that thumb in the perfect spot to optimize your execution is what you’re going for.

When you’re in the right position, you might say it’s biomechanically friendly — the best spot for you to do what you’re trying to do with your body and this piece of equipment.

So what’s the plan for you?

If you find your thumb is way too high or a little bit higher and you want to get it down into that lower, better position, here’s what I want you to do: just try moving it down.

You can do it with your practice chanter. Try moving it all the way down into that position I’m talking about — between the middle and ring finger. Or if that’s too hard, painful, or too tight, just move it down a little bit.

Give yourself time. Move it down. It’s going to feel weird. It might feel tight. It might even hurt. Try to keep your hands as relaxed as you can — but it’s going to feel weird.

Give yourself time to adjust. Your body needs to adjust — physically. It’s not just a position. The muscle needs to change. Things need to loosen up. You’re going to get used to that position, but it takes time.

Anytime you do something big like this — changing something about your body position — it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Anytime you make a big change like this, it’s going to happen. To get really good at something, you’re going to need to make some fundamental changes to your technique. And anytime you do this, things will probably get temporarily worse as you make the change and get used to it.

But don’t give up. This is part of the process. Stick with it — it will work. Trust me.

So if you want to see if you can improve your bottom-hand execution by moving that thumb down, try it for a week. Try it for a couple of weeks. I’d love to hear from you. Post a comment below and let me know how it’s going for you.

If you want to dig deep into mastering your bagpipe fingering, check out my Bagpipe Essentials Masterclass. It’s an online course with 31 detailed video lessons on all the essentials of bagpipe fingering technique — from hand position, the nine notes of the bagpipe scale, grace notes, strikes, doublings, taorluaths, and more. You can check it all out at BagpipeLessons.com/masterclass.

And for everybody watching this video today, I’m going to give you a coupon to get the masterclass for $50 off — just use the coupon code: THUMB.

Thanks everybody for watching. Until I see you next time — happy piping!