Great Highland bagpipes The Great Highland bagpipe was developed in Ireland and Scotland, and continues to be the most popular type of bagpipe. A typical model is made up of a bag, a blowpipe, a chanter, one bass drone, and two tenor drones. It plays in a mixolydian scale ranging from the natural key of low G to the key of high A, and is commonly used by pipe bands and soloists in military and civilian performances. Irish Uilleann bagpipes The Irish Uilleann bagpipe is considered the most developed type of bagpipe. It plays in a diatonic scale two octaves in the keys of D major and natural C. Most Irish Uilleann bagpipes have leather pads (piper's apron) that can be replaced with air-tight popping valves at one end of the chanter (to make it more convenient to close the pipe against the knee). These bagpipes are commonly played in short staccato passages. Northumbrian smallpipes The Northumbrian smallpipe is a bellows-blown pipe. It has some of the unusual characteristics of the Irish Uilleann bagpipe. It requires unusually tight fingering to produce a staccato style. Northumbrian smallpipes also have chanters with seven to 17 keys designed to be played with the left pinkie or the right thumb.
A typical bagpipe of this type usually consists of four drones that can be tuned to various combinations of pitches. [LINKHERE]Scottish smallpipes The Scottish smallpipe is also a bellows-blown pipe. It is played using the fingering system of the Great Highland bagpipe, and is popular among Highland pipers.
Scottish smallpipes can also be mouth-blown, but they usually produce low-quality tone and sound due to the delicate construction of their reeds. Biniou The Biniou is an old style bagpipe from Brittany, France.
It is designed to be blown by the mouth and is played in a one-octave scale with one note above the octave and a flat lead tone below it.
It produces a very high pitched sound one octave higher than the sound produced by the Great Highland Bagpipe. Binious are commonly played together with the bombarde for folk dancing in Breton. Center-France bagpipes The Center-France bagpipe is also known as a chevrette, which literally means “little goat,” as its bag is made of goatskin.
It can be mouth-blown or bellows-blown, and is commonly used in the Nivernais, Morvan, and Bourbonnais regions of France. Gaita The Gaita is a bagpipe commonly used in Asturias and other regions of Portugal.
It has a conical chanter tuned to a partial second octave that can be produced by overblowing.
Gaitas can play in the keys of G, A, B, B flat, C, C sharp, and D.
They have different drone arrangements, and are usually played by folk groups and pipe bands. | 
