Tune, How She'll ne'er be Guided, played on a late 20th century Lowland bagpipe by Iain MacInnes (audio clip)

A modern Lowland bagpipe, bellows blown, featuring a conically-bored chanter pitched in A, and three drones mounted in a common stock The drones comprise a bass (sounding two octaves below the keynote), and two tenors (sounding an octave below the keynote). The instrument plays in a pitch similar to the Highland bagpipe, but is considerably quieter.

The tune How She'll ne'er be Guided, is from Robert Riddell of Glenriddell's Collection of Scotch, Galwegian and Border Tunes published in 1794. The tune, in 9/8 time, is of a type particularly associated with Border pipe music.

The Lowland pipes, or Border bagpipe, was a distinctive instrument by the 18th century. It has a chanter and three drones - two tenors and a bass - and sounded and tuned as the Great Highland bagpipe but would generally not have produced such a strident and carrying sound. A distinguishing characteristic was the mounting of the three drones in a common stock, and the use of bellows strapped under the arm to provide a supply of air. Such a bagpipe would sometimes be described as a 'cauld wind pipe', in contrast to the mouth-blown bagpipe in which the player's breath was hot and lurid. The lowland pipes were the instrument favoured by the Town or Burgh Piper of Lowland Scotland.

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