Making a pvc and duct tape set is cool, but it may make learning more challenging to start out with it.
The standard method of learning starts with a practice chanter, so you can start learning the fingerings and some tunes before you add in having to squeeze. Practice chanters also take a lot less air, most people don't have the diaphragm strength and lung capacity out of the gate to jump straight to pipes. Once a student starts on a full pipe stand, they usually plug the drones and add them back one at a time for that reason, too. Plus, you keep using the practice chanter to learn new tunes forever, so don't think of it as a throwaway item.
The super cheap practice chanters you find online are trash, unfortunately. They're usually wildly out of tune, if they sound at all, and add in all kinds of skirls that will give you make you think you're doing a bad job even if you're playing correctly. Be wary of anything made of rosewood rather than blackwood or delrin/polypenco. I have a McCallum one made of delrin and it's great, I highly recommend it. Blackwood practice chanters are more expensive and less durable, not necessarily good for a beginner.
If there's a local pipe and drum band, they'll offer lessons. Sometimes they even do it for free. There are some good resources on YouTube, but having an in person teacher to start out can save you a lot of trouble as you figure out how to do the fingerings. They'll catch you making a lot of mistakes you won't notice, and those will come back to bite you hard when you start getting into more complex tunes. People offer lessons over skype, too, if you can't find anyone local.
If you have any questions, I'm happy to help.
(post is archived)