To help you get started with your Native American style flute, we’ve gathered two videos that work beautifully with Red Kite flutes and shared some important tips to get you playing and enjoying your flute from the beginning as well as more advanced techniques to really take your playing to the next level. 

The first video is to get you started from Guillermo Martinez. For more than three decades, Guillermo has dedicated himself to reviving and crafting both Meso-American and Native American–style flutes. Red Kite flutes flute-making lineage traces back to Guillermo. His influence shaped the early design foundations that Red Kite later refined.

The second video is from Jonny Lipford, a highly talented modern flute teacher known for his clear and supportive style.

Together, these two lessons will help you build confidence, explore your sound, and start adding simple embellishments as you settle into playing your new flute. Enjoy, take your time, and let the music unfold.

Guillermo Martinez’s Beginner Flute Lesson

This lesson introduces the basic pentatonic minor scale typical of Native-style flutes, and shows foundation techniques for breath control and fingering.

Jonny Lipford’s - Five tips to dramatically improve your Native American flute playing

Discover five powerful tips that make a huge difference when learning the Native American style flute — from phrasing and dynamics to mouth shape and modulation. You’ll also explore note bending, vibrato, expressive phrasing, and the well-loved “pop” embellishment.

Quick Essential Tips for New Players

• Check the block position – Practice finding the sweet spot for your flute by adjusting the gap between the flat part of the end of the block and the air hole on the flute.  The below shows our Red Kite Flute block positioning, If the block is reversed in direction the flute will not play properly.  Each flute and block is different, some may need no gap, others a millimeter or slightly more.

• Relax your breath — soft, steady airflow is key to a warm tone.

• Cover the holes fully — gentle finger pressure from the pads not tips gives cleaner notes.

• Practice and use the minor pentatonic scale - Taught in Guillermo's video above. 

1. Start with all holes covered.
2. The 3rd hole stays covered the entire time (this is key).
3. Play the scale by lifting one finger at a time from the bottom up, while keeping all holes above covered.
4. Think of it like peeling your fingers off one by one as you go up, and placing them back on one by one as you come down.
5. On the descent, reverse the process, again keeping the 3rd hole covered throughout.

• Practice little and often — even 5–10 minutes a day builds confidence and builds motor skills.

• Let it be intuitive — the minor pentatonic scale means most combinations sound beautiful.  Allow the spirit of your flute and your intuition guide you.

• Use your breath to deepen your expression – Practice playing with your breath, expressing your emotions, you can do this by creating vibrato with your breath by moving your diaphragm in and out. Imagine the movement of the wind, the rolling hills by lightening and strengthening the breath, fading in and out.  

• After each play we recommend you slide the flute block upwards and remove moisture – do this with a cloth or tissue, you can also turn the flute over and blow hard to release moisture to continue playing.  Higher and softer wood flutes will water out more quickly than the lower flutes and may require this moisture to be removed more often.  Most Red Kite Flutes will play for long durations due to their enhanced design without the need for clearing moisture.

New to Red Kite Flutes? Here’s Why They’re Loved by Beginners and Experienced Players Alike

• Designed and precision crafted in the UK from sustainable sources
• Easy to play for beginners as holes are closer together compared to many other types of flutes
• Smaller breath hole rand inner coating which reduces mositure build up allowing longer playability and less chance of watering out
• Flute tuning is per block not flute, easily switch between tunings

Whether you’re new to the flute or an experienced player, a Red Kite flute is a wonderful gift from nature to enrich your life. Explore our collection here.